Randy Grubb’s “Volkstream” Bus Conversion - Jay Leno’s Garage

It really makes it nice to drive with that power, it's not crazy right, it feels sensible, it's functional power, yeah, in the

garage

, the car I'm standing in front of, where the vehicle I'm standing in front of seems to be a 1959 Volkswagen bus and technically it is. C this was designed by our old friend Randy Grubb where Andy made my tank car and we've seen a lot of his creations on this show this is one of his more subtle modifications Randy is kind of an automotive performance artist, I guess you'd say he does rolling sculptures that actually work and drive and this is the last one, very subtle for Randy.

I'm a little surprised, let's find out Randy, come here my friend, it's good to see that it's been about four or five years since I've been here in two blinks with Jeff, yeah, yeah, I mean this one, the more I I look, the more I realize how many modifications have been made, but this is more subtle, Randy, not so exaggerated, it doesn't. It's got a tank engine, it's not two stories tall, I know, but I like it, I like it, it's cool, so tell us what we have here. Right, are we starting with a 59 VW? Yes, we actually started with a 59 VW, but not even me.

Dumb enough to cut a real 23, so it actually started out as an 11 window. Well now you can buy the roof kits to convert it to this amazing setup with the big sunroof and all the overhead lights. Oh, that's interesting. So what are you saying? Are we going to see many Volkswagen Zordons that didn't leave the factories with 23 windows? You know, as the value of things increases, we entered an area with more aftermarket suppliers and right now, believe it or not, you can buy all the panels to build. one of these new material Wow, it's amazing what the aftermarket has offered.

I guess that's good and bad. I'm sorry that people get fooled into going to an auction and thinking they're buying an original window 23 when it was just a regular, that's right, playing Jane, yeah, so you gotta look up those VIN numbers because there's a huge difference, as you say, between the true original originals and I'm not claiming that this was real 23, it wasn't around 11, right? because that was an affordable place to start, plus there won't be any VIN number on that engine, tell us the engineer has MIT, well you know I like hot rod, yours, the tank engine, right, I didn't have horsepower, you know?

I have a little propensity for a little more power, and these old original buses you had to get out and push from time to time, you know? So now we have a hundred and sixty horsepower Subaru boxer in this thing, which is a really great

conversion

, very popular. yeah, that's a very popular

conversion

that's almost the Chevy v8, the 55 Chevy guy in the Volkswagen world, has done it. Yes, it's the best thing to do, they put it in and it gives you a huge advantage instead of maybe 60 horsepower now. It's up to a hundred and sixty horsepower so it's cool well let's get started and if anyone else would like to make a major modification the view is a subtle thing tell us what we've done here now obviously the most striking one is the rear of the vehicle here, yes.

This is nothing like a Bernard has a bus what's his? The flexible flex looks like a 1949 flex from the back. I'm a big fan of the early Airstream trailers, just before Airstream, they were balls and built these beautiful ones. trailers with this kind of treatment, and I'm a big fan of overlay panels, I remember my decorative pods with overlay panels, so I love this whole aesthetic, so this bus is kind of a combination between an old Volkswagen and a trailer Old Airstream, let's take a look now, did you make these tail lights or are these with something?

Well, you know, I find a shape that I like at that time, I give it to my sand thrower and we cast them in aluminum, okay, so we can match our patinas and it's all polished aluminum, so it's about of scaling and finding the piece that really speaks to balance the sculpture. To me, it's all about sculpture, right, yeah, normally there would be another square window here like this, so we removed it. one and this window is designed to look like the rear quarter window of a VW Bug, true, it's a little bigger, but that's the aesthetic and we're just starting out, so we wanted to put the piece together and create this flowing rear section.

Remember in one of the Airstream trailers, now this treatment is the exact same treatment I did on my Magic Bus, the 2 decker bus with a VW on top, oh right, so one day I was upstairs polishing the VW top and I just thought, man, this is such a cool piece. I want one that can drive well, so we did it again and it has a very similar story treatment to what I told you about the Magic Bus, so that was the inspiration, okay, yes, now the wheelbase is unchanged, unaltered, completely original, yes, and we only added maybe less than 10 inches to the overall length, okay, and it's in the rounded section of the tail, so I was a little worried that the sculpt might get too long and turn out of balance, but I was thrilled that it wasn't like that.

It looks great, although it's water cold now, so the radiators go here. I can feel the heat. Yes, we actually have a radiator underneath right now and we get a lot of air that way. I think it can be tidied up a bit and I'm going to work on hiding it a bit more. Okay, you want to move to the front, now stay back, where do you want it? Well, the rear is one of the really cool features. and this is what makes it a Randy Grubb original: this aluminum on the right rear, but on the front, I mean, when I was in high school, one of my best friends' mom drove a 23 combi windows like this so that's where I discovered the beautiful big sunroof the sunroof is huge on those biggest sunroofs I think have ever been made so it's a lot of fun and the fact that we have these crazy tilting windshields on the front and that's all style, it's a stock option.

It was very strange, but they were Safari windows and of course we just had to add them to the sculpture. Did this come? Did this bus come with those windows you added? Although no, I added them because it is a very rare option and the original 11. I didn't have it no, yeah, yeah, that's pretty good, although I thought heaven would let the cars open from third. You know, the speed limit was 45 or 50. It was a good thing to have because you had a nice breeze, obviously, these things were It's seventy-five eighty miles now or you just have to be a little crazy, but before air conditioning that was the way to get a lot of air, but now I imagine you updated the brakes completely, we have everything in order. -the art, so instead of the 59 link pin front end, we have a ball joint front end that would be like the 1969 one, which will handle much better.

We have converted to Wilwood disc brakes. We actually have a rack and pinion that they make for this, instead of the old buses that you actually had to chase going the right way, it actually drives much more like a new car, well let's open it up and see what you've done here inside, well, this is Here you go, you got your book right. I can't help but say it. No, no, but it's okay. This is good. Let's show some of the vehicles. There's more here. You brought us about four or five. Well. It's my tank car, people remember that thing that really put me on the map and selling it to Jay Leno was the best thing I ever did in my life.

I still have it, it's a lot of fun and then it's okay, oh, the decoupage, although this was one of my favorites, have you built any more of those? No, the editing was finished. I bought six, moved on and didn't follow your advice to make many and get rich. No, no, I love them. They are very fun to drive. then of course the decorative trim, the decorative trim with the driving station and the roof don't get any sillier, yeah that was pretty wild too and it really worked, it was fun to drive, no one else did what we did, pissed off, Pete got angry.

Pete with the big Detroit Diesel 12v 71, that two stroke screaming machine, that's cool. I think it probably got the most hits from almost almost mine, the original tank car. I think it's probably the biggest, but there are a lot more vehicles on Here too, where can people get a copy of this? Well, you can get it on eBay. Just write from mind of metal by Randy Grubb. There you are guys, available. It has all my work and some beautiful photographs. Yes, well, there's the ego. the one I was talking about before, well, very good, well, let's get that out of the way, let's talk about the interior, the seat treatment, here's something to show people what we're talking about.

Go ahead, the seats are pretty good at that. It's a party van and it's given a lot of space for people to sit and have fun and the way we did that was by laying out the seating. This is a rare thing. Volkswagen did offer this on some of the delivery seats. Oh me. Look, it was a little weird, but it would help the delivery guy turn around and go in the back to get his load so he wouldn't have to go out the door, walk around, but what a great thing for a caravan, this allows us and the other , it wouldn't turn to let me turn it for you, why would the driver want to turn?

There's nothing here again to be able to sit in the back seat and pick up the load, whatever it was that was delivering. Yes, now we are ready to sit down and have a good time. Okay, in case you have a conference or something, exactly and everyone can have a conference room. Could you come into my office, sir? Yes, there it goes. now I remember this rug from the Jack Nicholson movie the trip back in 1969 it's kind of like an LSD movie this looks very familiar there's all kinds of space here you can yeah that's the fun part where you get a kick out of sitting down a lawn chair and let's open up that Sun oh yeah a small area a lot of people don't know Samba Sun roofs were that big yeah these are huge so when I was designing and building the Magic Bus the client told me he said Well, the idea of ​​the decorative coating is that you remember that up there or at the driving station, the rails were pretty low and if you got a little drunk, you could fall off the well, well, I'm worried that a lot of people don't think that I, when I build, I build without regard for safety or sanity and I understand that when I build things that you can drive from the roof and all this crazy stuff, but I'm as proud as I am to say that I had built the car that Jay Leno has.

I take the functionality of my parts very high, it's really the highest I have in mind because Jay Leno is going to be Driving my car and I don't want to say that I built the car that killed Jay Len high, but I think high is the most important, yes, I think it's very cute, that's why we chose this particular piece in the Magic. Bus, it was right that all the people come in and stop them from fighting, even if they are dads, yeah, it seems like there should be gogo girls doing this, you know, if you go down the highway, that's not that feeling, it's like 1969.

Sit it down this week and this is a camper bed that's what's really cool about this this thing you just pull it right out no they are and it becomes so thank you hundreds of julienne fries so you know if the buses are rocking, don't bother. knockin it's true all campers are a pain oh it's a Randy Grubb camper oh yeah I mean no it's always if you're really smart imagine if it's really interesting but can I get them out of a jean shirt and put them with a tie? -tint, that's very little, I realize it's going to take some time to get it right and this is still considered a work in progress.

We just finished the part, we had it at SEMA last week, we only had 25 miles right and that's why we brought it. down here and we've been driving the freeways in Los Angeles fighting a little bit of traffic at 580 miles per hour and what's still running, let's take a look at the engine. I think people would love to see that step over here. Oh, and you've got this step bar down here, sure, which wasn't, wasn't, isn't original, but it sure looks cool. Has Volkswagen ever made a step bar? It was an option. They made some very interesting choices.

Yes, this one goes right first. that in itself, and I liked it, you chose a color combination correct for the period, you didn't give me this look outside, yes, believe it or not, it's one of the things I plan to do with this bus. I really like to interact. with the kids so we'll wrap it in clear from here on down and when I go to the shows we'll have poster paint so the kids will help me paint flowers on my god's side and then we can hose it off afterwards oh cool , very cool oh yeah, let's take a look at the engine, so we actually get to the engine from in here because well, this doesn't open Oh, okay, no, now we're type three, I'm glad.

You brought me here, yeah, I thought you'd need the exercise, a little walk, well that's convenient to check the oil, oh, therewe're, yeah, there we are, so that Subaru boxer we just have an adapter, a Kennedy adapter, we bolt the Subaru on. It looks like you have a lot of space, that's the fun thing. I mean, the Subaru 2.5 liter really fits so well and it's such a tried and true way to do it, it's foolproof, yeah, this has become, like you said, a very common swap almost. All the sprinter replicas I've seen, you know, the fiberglass ones use the Subaru engine and people love it, it's much more cost effective than building a hundred horsepower.

Also, Volkswagen is huge, this is good. I see how much you've added there, yeah, so it gives us a little bit more storage space. I'm thinking about making a storage box in the back for some of the heavier camping items, as you know. the table and the barbecue and things like a little tail, well, I don't know, we're so late, yes, I don't think it looks bad, we can add a few kilos, very cool, well, don't put chocolates on it, that steering wheel would be well made, very good, very cool, thank you Jay, hey man, stop your war machine suddenly, it's 1969, yeah, now the front looks totally original.

Am I right about the fouls now? So, Jay, you know it's like that, but it's cool. I mean the tilt song, but you know that's my favorite thing, it's cool how many cars they had in the '20s and '30s, you know, I have an old Citroen drive that had that, that's cool now, this looks like, does it? Is it you or is it that factory that is the factory with our tilt windshield car, we have a way to remove this, remove the wipers and look how cool it is, this little rubbery plastic thing holds the wiper, then you twist it and turn it on and, oh I see, they are now functional windshield wipers.

Oh, I got you, so yeah I'm sorry, we just have to hang out for a second. You know, I have to step outside for a second to activate it. You know, in the pouring rain, I just have to get out. and do this right, you have your umbrella, yes, no, great, it's perfect, it's very clever. I love it, you know, look. I like it when there is. I can always tell what something used to be. I hate cars that are so modified. Actually, that was a 49 Studebaker. I can tell I like this, the front coming towards you looks like it was this big chrome in 59 actually it was most of them were painted why that's what it's much more subtle that's what it was yeah yeah yeah but I like the way it looks Okay, that's the original size of that giant Volkswagen.

I'm very American, yeah, how can we take it for a spin? Why not, let's try it. Great, let's use up the seats. Yes, I don't make it easier. Go get a vegan lunch, yeah, or them. hearing an electric field, uh yeah, I'd start here, come on, it really makes it nice to drive with not crazy power, it's functional power, yeah, that's what it's all about because nowadays you can't be plugged in on the freeway on 4045, You're going to be, you're going to be a danger, so now, what would have happened here? No matter what, then, of course, back in the day when we smoked in our cars and smoking was a big thing, a little cigarette like with the windshield open, yeah, ashes blowing in your face, yeah, you know, I got that one that It has five and a rear part. the window opens that was the smoke when the smoke disappeared it's stained yellow from all the nicotine the side fee pretty good coincidence that was when I was standing back there it looked like you couldn't even see them but I think a rearview mirror a little The monitor It would be great, yes, and you don't have to worry about someone stealing it.

Nowadays, no one knows how to drive a stick or came with mirrors, so I'm thinking of making a small addition in these small series these days. of these, you know, a little different treatment. I think the vertical stabilizer coming out of the middle of oh yeah, the taillight on would be hilarious and I was a little worried in Seema that Volkswagen fans were burning my effigy in the parking lot. Wow. no they were very responsive and got a lot of thumbs up and some of the guys of course the real purists it was a cup of tea with internal tone as you say now you could build one of these like 30 too far from more Katies in fiberglass. when you say this is your most practical vehicle today, by far, it was funny all last year when people asked me what you build in Randy, I would say oh, nothing because it doesn't even count right, a thousand horsepower.

I think so, they were the most popular things, so usable, yes, exactly, that was the name of the game, yes, if that's enough, but you know everyone likes your tank car, but it's a little scary, and come on to Orkut and we continue and we know what we are going to do. It's so hot that it's like it's the middle of winter when it's very cold. I'll drive your shirt please it's so hot riding that macho guy yeah I'm actually burning perfection you can't actually drive it in the summer. pass out okay I think this is cool because I think most guys can picture one of these in their

garage

and they can see a picture of their family enjoying something like this yeah yeah so if you need a really crazy bus like this, just look at me.

Get up and call me, says chassis one of these Volkswagens, chat about errors, if you like it, the fragment matches. The beautiful thing about the Volkswagen is the front and rear and the transmission, its link jewelery box and that's it, that's how, like I said, we unscrewed it. the link in the front 59 and we have a 69 with much better ball joints and suspension and we just bolted it up tight so now the only question is the problem with 160 horsepower is that the thing actually works so now We're looking at some sway bars and some way to make it handle a little better, because with all the power it has, you can go 70 or 80 miles an hour in this thing, 70 or 80 miles an hour is like a bubble of soap, it's okay to just throw off our balance when we were kids, you just put the biggest engine in and try to go as fast as possible with no sense of stopping or going, everyone wants to have a balance, well you know the Subarus of course, they are available in a turbocharged WRX and can develop up to 400 horsepower and I had no interest in that because that would appear here today seems fine, don't you think we're getting used to being a little taller here, what is that, Yeah?

We are in Cork right at 40 and it seems to be third and able to hold out for another year. I'm surprised that Randy has developed a sense that he is so different from what he visited. I know if you're high when you build it. beauty Jay I'm always high yeah that's the great part so it's amazing thanks Joe before you can take this it's really functional and it's really easy I mean real the power could you bet your bus? Oh boy, consciously slow, it's dangerously, yes, exactly. but you still get a really funky dunky, they all feel, you know, with a fun shifter and the big scale is certainly a lot more stable than the marriage.

I think the shifter rod might be a little bent in the turns and I think that's affecting the shifting a bit, yes. a little bit, it's actually to open the gas door, there's a special tool, oh, the rest, right there and I don't know what had the impact, yeah, yeah, it's a factory tool diary key, yeah, it's a funny little square thing with a wedge to square it then. You put it in the yes, better than anyone. Both men have the right to the ice. Well, you know that the functionality of the piece is always paramount for me.

It has to look great, but they also did a great job and that's what I really love about you. The parts work. You know you don't care about disc brakes on a Bugatti because you need that to stop it. What is the average bond time on a project? You know it's a serious medical condition. You know, I spend between five and six thousand hours on a project, but. I do it in 18 months, none of the projects have required more than 18 months of drawing and handling, so when you take a bath, you know you really wonder. I look at it this way, your normal work year is 2000 hours, all you have.

To be doing all you have to be willing to do is work, you accumulate another thousand hours, so now we are three thousand hours here, so people wonder how can I get four or five thousand hours on a project in such a short time? . Over a period of time I have a new project that is the same, not at all, it's OCD, it won't let me. Only my mind goes around in these circles, so every night I solve the day's problems before letting the previous day's problem marinate for a day or two before coming back to it.

It's amazing how the mental marination of a protocol is actually so conscious while you sleep, so that no one projects in time from start to finish completely with these two hands. I don't have employees, I have a friend who helps me with the upholstery, sewing my seats and on this piece, Jeff painted it for me, so you know I like a minimal amount of help, yes, Jeanette is a sweetheart, she is out of the question. store. Every morning I put away the tools so I can make a bigger mess that day. I save a lot if I don't have to go back and clean up the mess behind me.

I can move on and you know, let the dust settle where it is. That may be true, so I'm a lucky guy. I mean what maybe you would say if you knew you came home and said, "I'm going to spend our life savings on this crazy project," but don't worry, everything will be fine. Have you ever started using water? death and I just have to throw it away because you couldn't complete it or my jaw. I say it luckily, I can say no to that. You know, I always start with a blank sheet of paper and it all starts with a good design.

It's not an accident, we have to plan things carefully because, at the end of the day, what really matters is the balance of the sculpture. You know, most people who would use a tank engine would be happy to drive anything fine. In my opinion, that's a gimmick, not a beautiful sculpture, so there is a difference and that's why I don't call myself a hot rod builder. I call myself an automotive artist, right? because I see things a little differently, yes, of course it is. the tail of this thing that really makes him a Randy Brooks, try it, you know what a lot of people have seemed like.

I said, you know why you did that and you know it well, otherwise it would just be another bus driving against another boss, but sure. but you know my style J. I like to boldly go where no man has gone before, right, and I can't believe it's been almost 15 years since we sold you the tank car. I know it's been over 15 years for the police to watch out, well there's a glass artist who came out of nowhere, a guy who sold out that party and really put me on the map. You know, there were a lot of questions before we bought it at the Grand National Roadster Show, where we saw the part and won. chip foose for excellence and design award for the piece.

I could walk up behind the people here, what they were saying and ask if this was cool. They would talk about what you do with it while I drive it. Oh, where would you drive anywhere? so a lot of you could see him struggling with the idea because it was so bold that no one had ever seen anything of this scale, Brian, so it was a real departure, then when you bought it, that was the now. Thumbs up where it was universally agreed that if J Bond had to be cool, worse for me, how they get it is like that in aerodynamics, you just feel when you feel the wind, it doesn't make a difference or the 30 horses must be just, oh my god, every time, yes, it only slows down to five miles per hour, it has all the aerodynamics of a brick, yes, but I guess you want to reach top speed, you're lucky, okay, anammox didn't do it.

Oh no, they didn't plan it. that these would be available within 50 years after they were manufactured and that we need to be Dyson through traffic at 75 or 80 miles per hour, yes, so we gave them the part last week and Seema with only 25 files we made it. a symbol with it, you drive it to SEMA, no, oh, we, the trailer, this was only 25 miles, you know, we thought, so after we got back from SEMA, we took it out of the box, so we've been driving until Los Angeles all the time. wow genius, for the mileage Wow, we are doing great speeds at the end of the day sixty-five not like 50 55 laps with a tailwind Mandy, congratulations.

I hope it's not the harbinger of a sensible error in Randi's preparation, this is just a minor blimp gets something reasonable at some point, but I like it. This is one of my favorites because you can actually go for a drive if you secretly watch and they do what they then watch again so you know it sets. It's more subtle than before. This is the I guess he reads Randy from the subtle theory, there you have a place to go after you die, they review the work they do with the great artist, it will be a completely new phase, the truth is that Jinni, it is always fun to come to visiting you, you always have a great time. when you have a lot of things we haven't seen yet and if you need a copy of the book, it's mine to the core, just type it in eva, it will appear immediately, it will be very funny and it will make you laugh now. tell us about some of the vehicles you haven't had a doctor, we have seen mostOf them in the picture, of course, those who have not come to this store are one of my favorites, it is my falconer, Deecee, you saw it.

At the Playa Juan show right now, one features this Ryan Falconer 12 650 horsepower injected v12. It's just incredible, inspired by the 1937 Delahaye type 145, one of my real favorites and then the last piece I just finished with my magic bus that had the devil. milk truck with one of these buses stacked on the roof had the elevator to take you to the top floor very ridiculous now of course at your show we had two angry P's we had the right Deco line and of course we had a lot of fun around of the decorative capsules that day J see you next time quickly Aragón there you have it