Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: 1978 Volkswagen Transporter
The second generation of the Volkswagen Transporter (sold in the United States from the 1968 through 1979 model years) have been too valuable for genuinely broke hippies to own for at least the last quarter-century, which means that not-so-broke Transporter enthusiasts have driven up their prices enough to keep nearly all rough examples from ending up in car graveyards. During the last 16 years of documenting interesting discarded vehicles, I'd photographed just a well-stripped '71 and a battered '78 prior to today's bus, which met its junkyardy fate in the same way that far too many air-cooled VWs have over the decades: fire.
Before we get to the sad part of this story, let's talk about this Transporter's day job during happier times. It was owned by the Boulder Convention & Visitors Bureau, presumably because Boulder is known as a haven for VW Bus-loving hippies (or at least it was known for that, back when genuine hippies—rich in principles and poor in dollars—could afford to live there).
The BC&VB has a beloved orange second-gen Transporter named Delilah, which is equipped with a photo booth and can be rented out for events. I can't find much online evidence for Delilah's blue sibling; there's a 2018 Instagram post showing this bus at the University of Colorado campus and a post from the same year on the BC&VB's Facebook page soliciting suggestions for a name. Violet, Blueberry, Moonbeam, Indigo and Pearl were listed as possibilities. Maybe this van burned soon after that and then spent five years awaiting repairs that never came.
I thought about calling up the BC&VB and asking about this VW, but I didn't want to traumatize anyone by bringing up the painful subject of the deceased companion of Delilah. Sure, I cheered the destruction (by Caterpillar D9) of an orange second-gen Transporter as a 24 Hours of Lemons official back in 2009, but I understand how someone might have become attached to a T2 Transporter that wasn't a clattering, disintegrating rusty-ass hooptie.
