Grant Cooke’s patina Bay is his first crack of the air-cooled whip and what a way to get started
“There’s something about Delta Green that just fades so well.” Not our words, but those of Grant Cooke, the owner of this fabulously faded and sunburnt ’69 Deluxe and we’re not about to argue with him. Heck, we have a near identical vehicle on the Camper&Bus fleet ourselves. Same year, same colour and same amount of sun baked perfection. It’s a look that only baking in the hot hot sun can create and takes decades to perfect. You either totally get it and love it or you don’t and simply never will.
The truth is, scorched paint and dented bodywork aren’t for everyone and this Bus was once deemed so bad that nobody wanted to buy it. Can you believe that? Infact just $2,600 was all it took to own it. At the time Grant didn’t have the cash to buy it and
had never owned an air-cooled Bus before. Truth be told, he wasn’t even looking to buy one, and says: “I didn’t really get the Bus thing until I drove one. When I did it was such a blast and as soon I saw this one I just had to have it.” Lucky for him the man who had just bought it was very encouraging . That man was his boss Rusty Lee. Yes, him of the rock ’n’ roll beds. Mr. Pickering bought the ’68 from the chap who’d found it in languishing in Texas. Like all good things VW shaped, it was posted on thesamba.com, but with its massively stoved in front panel it was only Lee, and then Grant, who saw its potential. Lee was so encouraging that he said Grant should just have it for what it had cost him and pay him back when he could. Better still, he could work on it in the workshop and he’d lend a hand where necessary. If only we all had a boss like that, eh?
First past the post
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