Well, thanks to all who have contributed in the last 2 years to the resto of my bus. Those that worked on it, those that added their support to keep me motivated. The bus had a point to prove. It is possible to build an air cooled Espresso Van for about the same money as a pull along coffee cart and half what those franchise sharks would eek out of your hard earneds.

Ran it on Saturday at a local Soccer Gala Day with great success, so its officially a viable business, as well as fun ride to go cruising in. Not quite motivated enough to give up the day job...but will do a few shows and stuff...as its a lot of fun to stuff about with.

Thanks to Kimm/Damo/Dave at Indian for turning it from a snot box that gave home to pigs in a field. To Honest Ron, old school painter, Andy, Steve, Tony and everyone else at DSK that helped me out with advice and parts.



Look forward to catching everyone over the spring/summer festivities ... next project - 62 Ratty Beetle (quick), and then onto Coffeebus 2 - a Split Double Door...Here's the first pic I've taken with Frieden Liebe as a poser.



[ Edited on 20-8-2006 by crewcabconnection ]

Congrats Dean,I've enjoyed watching this come together.You'll have to come for a run to dubs by the pub in February,take home a trophy and make a few bucks while you're at it!!!
Cheers
Damo

aaah I love this thing....and you are pretty sharp with the camera too!

Well done. Look forward to the coffee at the DOVW..

Very, very nice, top work.

Haha, good work CCC, youve got a bit travelling coming up in the next few months

for sure ... not sure that the 'organisers' will agree to it though, seems that you can have endless amounts of spare parts traders, but not coffee. Hoping to catch up with 65Notch and complete the circle using his roasts too. Hard to go past Vendfelts though.

The neighbours drop round more often now...

Yumm! Looks the goods, well done!

That's great news Dean. I'm glade it worked out. So many dreams are often never full filled so it's great to see your vision become a reality.
Looking forward to seeing some pics of the 62 rat beetle.

Hey you managed to talk Kim into parting with the double door panel. Sweet! Also looking forward to seeing the progress pics.

Dean, great news. You are right about the franchises too, $136,000.00 start up plus the monthly fees, thats a punt load of $3.00 sales to recover the investment. Retro EspressoWagen gets my vote. You just need a VW engined genset now for sites with no power, any one happen to have one for sale ?

its looking very good,
those photos are awesome
when your bus is running in penrith next time ill come round and buy a coffee :P
should i recognise where the photos were taken by any chance?

Thanks, do say hey over the next few months ... more than likely it will just be a toy at VW shows...cant be bothered with the damn politics...will defo be at Old Bar for the weekend ... staying in a cabin at Lanis, so come on over ... bring yer own Chivas.

Zentfelds...how good is it

Mate thats fantastic!! Well done, like you said, another commercial back to work. The rest of the franchise dudes will wish they were that cool.

good stuff....

is there such thing as a GERMAN ROAST by any chance?

would match the car, lol.

Look forward to seeing and sampling this if you get it to Canberra in October.

Here you go Dean, looks like $1400 well spent. It would compliment the EspressoWagen just nicely.
It isnt mine for sale, just copied the add from the VWMA classifieds.

Wayne.




NSW - VW Genset, 10KVA 120/240 volt ex army, factory re-conditioned 1500 SP motor, ser#126-026642. Ph Peter on 02 6558 9242
$1,400 ono

Hey Deano, just tried the website. No worrky

Look forward to a good coffe at DOVW. Perhaps you could run on a 'donation' program to avoid the politics...

Are you interested in doing parties? (either on a flat rate or per cup).

Organising a party at the moment for close to 200 hotrodders... coffee would be good from around 10pm.

whats that I see on the centre cap for the rear wheel. RUST? no no no, Coffee!!! :P :thumb

showin the young girls a real van....

btw, thanx for dropping in Deano. Need to organise a picnic or drive in night soon. :thumb

do u need a barista?
nice work, looks great.

How do you power your machinery?
Do you need mains?

NICE WORK CCC I HOPE MINE TURNS OUT AS GOOD

prefer mains ... 5.5Kva standalone at start up.

Sure Matt, happy to do hot-rodders ... part of the attraction was that I can come up with a decent excuse to spend more time at car related events, go to more VW shows as her in doors isn't really interested in car stuff, especially VW stuff.

This one is really designed for 6-8 hours work, and shifting about 60 litres of moo-juice in a session, as the interior will (by Old Bar I hope), have a cafe fit out so people can sit inside and have a drink, watch a video or surf the net. I also want and overnight bed so I can take the kids away in the summer, so it's a bit of a compromise.

I've always been into commercials and love to see them working for a living, which is what they were made for.

Looking for another one suitable to start (fingers crossed it might be sooner than later) ... already been to talk to the Chief and Yoda ... done my homework on technical drawings ... and aiming to build one of these.



Not as early as this, but build the same body. Run a bigger espresso machine, and set the interior up for more advanced food preparation and selling ... you don't wanna know how much work there is in this ... but I'm expecting to spend twice as much as I did this time around ... but as we know, it takes years to get from a dumb idea to rego ... but that didn't stop me this time around, so hanging out to get started on that, and just have fun with this.

Thanks for all the feedback ... more than happy to drive it. I suspect that I wont be allowed to sell coffee at VW shows in the main, as most have pre-arranged deals with people with carts, vitos or T4s...but then I don't really care...not there to make money out of dubbers.

the bus is part of the DSK stand. Perhaps you might be able to buy a bag of the 64 Notch blend, and even try a sample ... I bet the samples would only be a few bucks.

But seriously, not interested in someone getting the shits over it. But then again, thats the ebb and flow of business. By the same token, if they showed up and sold 10 drinks, chances are, they would not be back next time either...

Up to the organisers at the end of the day. Worst case ... everyone in here, DSK etc., is welcome to come and say hi ... its un-Australian not to share, pass a beer, offer a drink now isn't it.

[ Edited on 23-8-2006 by crewcabconnection ]

i need to have a long chat with you at old bar dean, pick your brain & dont worry not coffee hah hah
cheers wally