All language subtitles for WOODSTOCK BUS - Doocumentary (2020)+

The 50th anniversary of Woodstock is coming up.

We just happen to know the guy, Dr. Bob Hieronimus,

who painted the original Volkswagen hippie bus.

They went up to Woodstock.

(guitar music)

So, our idea is we can find

that original symbol covered hippie bus

and restore it for the 50th anniversary of Woodstock.

The bus, itself, if you took a look

at the various stories within it,

it says, "We are one people."

That's a hippie manifesto, if there ever was one.

You're not okay with that word?

No, no because we weren't hippies.

The hippies who owned it and took it up

to Woodstock, they can't remember what they did with it.

I never thought that this bus would become famous.

Never.

You're asking me if I was thinking, oh, is this high art?

Yeah.

No.

It's just your car,

your old car.
That's correct.

It was the old car.

Let's be honest, something from 1963

is probably gonna be rotted, rusted.

The bus, which was called Woodstock bus,

was kind of, well, it fell apart.

So, this is the last known photograph of the bus.

The photograph says April '72.

Back in '72 you could just ditch

a car on the side of the road.

I learned to drive on that bus.

I think someone has it somewhere.

I think the story of looking for it

is actually the power of its longevity.

(upbeat music)

So, the Woodstock bus really becomes a metaphor.

Yeah.

For looking for our soul.

You're gonna find that bus and you're

gonna resurrect somethin' that deserves to be resurrected.

(engine running)
(upbeat music)

Woodstock, the most famous rock concert in history.

This is where our story starts.

It's the symbol of a generation, and an idea, peace.

At the center of it all there was

a Volkswagen bus, called Light.

The bus parked on a hill above the stage.

Its bright colors and artwork stood out,

even in this colorful crowd.

An associated press photo of the Light bus

went out on the news wire and became

a global symbol of the festival.

My name is John Wesley Chisholm.

I'm part of a community that came together

over two years to resurrect the Light bus.

Using old fashioned detective work,

a lot of effort, and a little magic,

to get to the truth about what may be

the most mysterious and valuable piece

of American automotive art, ever.

The problem is, somewhere on the road

from Woodstock, the bus, like the message

of the Woodstock generation, was lost.

I originally met the artist, Dr. Bob, about 10 years ago.

(light music)

We kept up a correspondence and when we got talking

about this Woodstock 50th, I knew I was hooked.

I really wanted to help him rediscover his masterpiece.

From Woodstock, his bus traveled into the public domain

and was seen all over the world,

but, he never really got credit for his work.

And when you and I first talked about--

We met, I don't know if you remember this,

but we met 10 years ago in Washington DC.

Oh, I remember that.

We wanted to talk about symbols in the architecture.

And you came down and told us so many interesting stories.

And, just as an insight, you said, PS,

I painted that original hippie bus went up to Woodstock.

And I never forgot that story.

And he showed me one of the most interesting things

that I'd ever seen.

He had an unused Woodstock ticket.

And when you think about it,

that's a very provocative thing.

Dr. Bob didn't go up to Woodstock,

he heard it was gonna be over 50,000 people.

And he could see the bands, he was friendly with, anytime,

including Hendrix.

But the Light bus he painted made

the journey into its place in history.

The bus, itself, you take a look at the various stories

within it, when you're joining Sanskrit with Hebrew,

with American-ese, English-ese, so to speak,

and Atlantean, and Lemurian,

all in one bus.

What does it say?

It says, "We are one people,

"one people on this earth."

We're looking for a bus that's covered

in symbols, which is, itself, symbolic of a music event,

which is symbolic of a generation.

So, we're in deep with so many layers.

That's why this Woodstock 50th

is gonna be so important, John.

We do what we said we were gonna do with it.

We'll take it and find the place

to paint it and get it done.

Gold sun right here, with Aquarius.

Bob believes that the bus is magic.

He believes that if we can resurrect the Woodstock bus,

we can set America, and the world,

back on the road to a better future for all.

Our first big problem, Bob can't remember

where he left the bus.

You're gonna meet a lot of Bobs in this story,

so follow along close.

Dr. Bob is the artist who painted the Woodstock Light bus.

He painted it for Bob Graham, the leader of the band Light,

who, along with the band's drummer, Trudy Morgal,

drove the bus up to Woodstock and into history.

Dr. Bob, he was what we called our guru.

He was welcome to come along with us all the time

when we played, and sometimes he was

the reason that we played, you know,

get us a gig or something.

He traveled with us and told us a lot about numbers

and astrology and what's really out there.

And that was great.

They took the bus up to Woodstock

and placed it squarely in the center of the circle

of events that marked a turning point in history.

I think what I take from the whole experience

of Woodstock, especially since I've had years

to think back on it, is that people,

the way they responded to each other,

it just shows that humanity, you don't have to be a hippie

or a guy with a three piece suit, or anything.

We're the same.

We're just all the same and we always were.

We need to stay away from anything

that divides us, that's all.

That's what I think.

(murmurs), at the time, the Woodstock rock festival

was also an art show.

And then they did really manifest in that way.

We noticed, getting closer to the grounds,

how many more cars were there,

and, upon going up the one road,

there were state policemen everywhere.

The one guy said, "You can't drive that bus in here."

And, you know, being a young smart-ass,

I figured, I just said, "Wait a minute,

"I'm going to the art show, man."

He was like, "Oh, okay."

He was too, he didn't have time to give me

a hard time anyway, he was pretty busy (laughs).

He says, "We're in the art exhibit."

And the guy goes, "Oh, okay."

And he moves the cones and lets us go up the hill.

Actually have a picture in my photographs

of me sitting on top of the bus,

with binoculars, watching the stage.

I would stay on top of the bus

'cause I was quite fascinated by what was happening

on stage, of course projecting to my own

stardom in those days.

You know, at 24, you have stars in your eyes.

A long time ago when I wanted to paint murals,

I didn't realize that there was so much boredom involved.

By the time Bob and Trudy, from the Light Band,

met Dr. Bob, he had established himself

as a mural artist, he was a guru to many musical artists,

and he lived here, a communal community, called Savitria.

The last time anyone can remember seeing

the bus, it was the spring of 1972,

that's three years after Woodstock.

It was left out in a field at the commune,

where Bob and his friends lived.

Bob was in this band, Light.

Yeah, he was the leader of the band, Light.

And, was that their band bus?

Yes, it was the band's bus.

He was making a big name for himself in England,

and eventually he became one of the Four Seasons,

when he came back.

But, by this time, the bus had been painted

and he left the bus here.
The bus was left here.

He left the bus here.
Where?

Well, we had a parking lot here.

What happened after that

is where the mystery begins.

So, this is the last known photograph of the bus.

The photograph says April '72.

The license plate says '72.

Is this photo taken here?

Yes.

Where is this?

Right here.

Well...

Right.

See, we didn't have this sidewalk here.

Yeah.

So, it was right here somewhere.

Yeah.

(light upbeat music)

So, you and some of the others from the house

bought the bus for 40 bucks, you held it in common,

used it for kids and groceries.

And then it became a dangerous piece of work.

We traded it in, this wreck of the Woodstock bus,

to the person that always worked on all of my art cars

and put engines in before I met--

So, whoa, whoa, whoa.

So, this is a new piece of information to me.

So, not the new Atlantis bus,

but the Woodstock bus was traded,

you believe, to the mechanic?

Is this mechanic still alive?

No.

So, we now have another step.

So, it went from Bob Graham, to your group here,

to the mechanic, who you think has passed on.

No thing is ever really lost.

Objects hidden, wait in whisper.

I'm unreasonably optimistic about these things.

I was ready to talk to some of

the other folks who lived at the commune during those days.

(light music)

Vickie was Bob's partner at the time.

She helped him paint the bus, and she paints

a pretty vivid picture of the summer of '69.

I remember being in Druid Hill Park,

which was a park not too far from here.

And we would park next to the lake.

And we'd have these cans of paint,

and I guess Turpentine, rags, brushes,

paint brushes, and we would just paint.

I mean, he had it all outlined.

So, I wasn't actually

doing any of the design,

the design--
It was paint by numbers.

Pretty much, yeah.

He would just tell me what color.

But it was, you get into a zone, it's like a meditation.

It was a pretty exciting time,

and it was a pretty exciting place.

And, it really did serve as a magnet,

and, people came looking for, I don't know,

maybe the same thing that you're looking for, I don't know.

So, maybe as you go along, you'll be able

to hone in on more on what it is that you are lookin' for.

Yeah.

The bus and Bob were one.

(laughs)

Interesting.

I mean, where Bob went, the bus went.

And, actually,

I learned to drive on that bus.

Really?

Yes.

(light music)

Being at the commune, with Dr. Bob

and his friends, was a bit like being in a time machine.

So these are the original sketches?

Well, copies of the original sketches.

(murmurs)

Okay, here's the original
Oh wow, yeah.

designs for the front of the bus.

Oh my god.

Here's the original idea,

literally.

Oh, and here's the bus, it was first called the Taze.

So, this version of the bus was never made?

No, it started to get made

and it was painted on there in the beginning.

And then the name of the group changed,

that was the problem, rock groups names changed.

You can find exactly what date.

That's why I always dated everything, right?

So, July 25th, 1969.

So, this was just before the concert.

Yes.

(guitar music)

♪ I got nothin' for you ♪

♪ But my song ♪

Almost 50 years later,

it feels like the spirit of the bus is coming back to life.

(guitar music)

Yeah, this is my first time back here in 47 years.

I guess it's been about that long.

And...

It doesn't look anything like it did (laughs).

Many fewer people.

(guitar music)

Being here makes me think of

the way it was, and it was a great hoard

of young people all over that field.

It's quite different now.

It's quite peaceful and serene.

Well, the stage was here, in this area.

Just right down where those rocks

and piles are and everything, the stage was right there.

And the towers, of course, were on either side.

And, Swami Satchidananda kicked it all off,

with his blessings, and Richie Havens.

First day, it was a lovely day,

but soon afterwords the rains came

and people were running around sliding through the mud.

Many people left because of the wet weather.

Interesting, though, by the second day,

there were helicopters flying above.

It was the army, and they were dropping raincoats to people,

they even threw down some flowers at one point.

It was kind of a definite hippie festival.

Must say, good times.

The bus, were it to be found again,

would represent the Woodstock generation, essentially,

because

it was a symbol of

a type of spiritual evolution that I believe

was sort of founded in the '60s.

I can't imagine there's really anything left of it.

I'm guessing it's long since rotted in some junk yard.

So, the bus that Bob painted,

went from Bob Graham, to Woodstock, to the commune,

to the mechanic, and then out somewhere into the world.

So, now what?

Great.

(laughs)

Well, we've got, summary is,

Bob doesn't know where the bus is,

other Bob doesn't know where the bus is,

and now we're lookin' at psychics, so...

That's--

And the detective.

And the detective.

And license plates.

And we'll just go lookin' for it.

Yeah, yeah.

There's no other way about it,

I wanna put a film crew together and just go out

on the road, start looking for the bus.

But go where?

I think that, so say the bus was last seen in Baltimore.

So, say we take a flight down to Newark,

and we just start there, we start

from the top of New Jersey, through

Maryland,

and down Arkansas?

Roadtrip.

Road trip, just visit, like, go to the Volkswagen clubs,

the Volkswagen shows and events,

junkyards, the last Volkswagen mechanics.

We'll just hit up everybody we can find.

And, with the, just, have you seen this bus?

You gotta suffer for your art, Amanda.

Let me look for a couple of months and try to find the bus.

Okay.

The bus is a 1963 Volkswagen,

11 window deluxe.

Our model shows it the way it looked

the week it went up to Woodstock in August 1969.

We think there's about 10,000

of them left in North America.

Wow.

I think I've seen photos of this bus from back then.

'Cause I recognize this, right here in the front.

Yeah, it was on the cover of Rolling Stone,

it was in Time magazine.

You're gonna find that bus, and you're

gonna resurrect somethin' that deserves to be resurrected.

We learned one thing right away,

even this model of the bus brings

a certain kind of joy to everyone who sees it.

Imagine when we find the real thing.

We're taking in every Volkswagen meet we can

in the search for the Light bus.

And we're visiting the people who know

the most about these things,

the last of the old time mechanics.

So this is the bus, this is the exact model

of the bus we're lookin' for.

It was painted like that?

Yeah this is how it was painted for Woodstock.

So...

Aldo has spent a lifetime turning wrenches

and tuning carburetors out

of his back yard garage in New Jersey.

These cars never go away.

I mean, these buses are universal.

So is the bug.

Rich people want them, poor people want them,

in between people want them, you know.

We have the license plate number from 1971.

They should be able to find it.

Yeah, '71's not that long ago.

But it's before computers.

That's better.

Even besides us finding the title,

what do you think the chances are

of that bus, it was quite rusty,

it was on its third transmission in 1971,

Well,
What do you think?

A lot of them went to the junk yard, you know?

Yeah.

Because, especially the early ones, they rusted so much.

But you never know.

From New Jersey, we searched through New York

and all the way back down to Maryland,

where we met Paul Bressler.

He's a real life private detective.

I have had cases similar to this,

never one that went back quite so far.

And they may well have been salvaged.

So, if the bus is on the road,

can we find out where it is?

If it's still in Maryland, yes,

I can find out where it is.

If it has been transferred to another state,

I can steer then you to that state.

The goal is to find the vehicles most recent owner,

who can then, in turn, tell us

where the vehicle is.
Yeah.

In theory, these records will still exist.

My friends, Andrew and Bob,

are helping take the search to the next dimension.

They're meeting with America's top skeptical psychic,

Nancy Dutertre.

So, my feeling is that that bus got left behind.

I don't think it was cared for.

Somebody from the commune got it.

My sense was they drove it, literally,

into the ground, so left it discarded.

I really get a sense of complete, total abandonment.

So I think at this point, it really depends

what you believe this journey is about.

(light music)

People love their Volkswagens.

And on any given evening, you can find them

in almost any town, around coffee shops,

and drive-ins, meeting, talking, swapping parts,

and generally helping each other out.

The problem is that--

Go ahead.

I mean, split window buses are really rare now.

Yeah.

20 years ago, you might of had a much better chance.

Yeah.

Probably more than 20 years ago.

Yeah.

So, anyone who had one, even if they didn't know

it was a Woodstock bus, would want big bucks for it,

even if it's sitting, it was a rusting heap

in a field.
Do you know what?

You're exactly right.

As long as you know what you're getting into.

Yeah, the worst thing that can happen to us

is not that we can't find the bus,

it's that we do find the bus, and the person who has it

thinks it's worth a--

No way, or I want a million bucks

for it, or somethin' like that.

And you know what?

A million's not unreasonable.

Where you see them
That's true.

Nicely restored, goin' for 300,000 American.

That's true.

So, this bus, which is, arguably,

one of the most important pieces

of American popular modern art, what's it worth?

Yeah, exactly, it's priceless.

If the people who have our bus,

the Woodstock bus, find out what they have

and are of a certain frame of mind,

it would be very easy to imagine

that they would, you know, even if it's

a piece of junk sitting in a field,

that they would say it's worth a million dollars,

and it would be hard to disagree.

We could start a kind of Volkswagen bus gold rush

and push the price of our bus up over a million dollars,

and out of our ability to get it,

to restore it with Dr. Bob,

it's a very scary situation.

As we headed down through Pennsylvania,

we learned from the folks at the BC salvage yard

that they're goin' fast and getting rarer.

So, what we'd like to do is just

to have a look around, if that's okay.

Yeah.
We have six acres of 'em.

Probably 500 Volkswagens here.

After weeks on the road,

we know enough, now, to know

the kind of bus we're looking for.

(light music)

But to recognize the real Woodstock bus,

we need to see a sign.

(light music)

63, four, five, six.

I'm gonna look for the VIN number.

The number's gone, but I can tell

from the interior that this

was factory delivered as a camper.

That's not the bus we're loookin' for.

It's a beautiful place, but it is a graveyard.

It is, isn't it?

It's hard to see many of these ones,

that we're seeing here, being able to be restored.

I think that's what's gonna happen here, Kaylee.

It's getting pretty clear

that we're picking through the leftovers.

The question is, where are all the great buses going?

Did you find it?

(laughs)

I feel like we came 10 years too late.

Mm-hmm.

We've gotten rid of most of the split windows.

So, this is just what's left after the...

Yeah.

Collectors.
The big rush of buses, yeah.

(rock music)

The collectors are mostly in California.

We're learning about a great westward migration

of vintage buses, maybe that's for the best.

The worst that can happen is the crusher.

So,

this is the place.

Though, I'd like to imagine a kind of hippie bus nirvana,

meeting Michael at Beltsville Auto Recyclers

revealed what really happens to vehicles

at the end of their useful life.

So, how does a vehicle end its life?

Well it ends getting crushed, ultimately,

and the guts recycled.

Is this also how people just get rid of cars?

Because we're looking for this really old van,

we're interested in how cars come

to the end of their useful life.

Just like, I'm not gonna fix that motor one more time,

nobody wants to buy it.

That sometimes happens, and we buy 'em

from the general public all the time.

But ultimately, this is what I think happened to the bus,

I think it ended up getting smashed.

Yeah.

But what do I know?

Well, you know, if it was any other vehicle,

I would be pessimistic, but people love these things, man.

Yeah.

So, our guy, Dr. Bob,

was one of the first guys to look at cars as a canvas.

This is connected with Bob.

Every time I see the coexist symbols and the peace

and love, I instinctively think back to Woodstock.

Yeah.

Just as a memory.

But you're only 40, you're not old enough to...

No, I wasn't old enough
What connects you

To be there, but...
With Woodstock?

But it was so popular, that group

of people that got together at the right time,

during turmoil in the country, everything else

that was going around, and they still

got together and made music the focal point.

And I love music so much that I

could see how that could help.

You can't disconnect it, right?

You can't disconnect love, and music, and art.

You can't.

They're all, they're all

part of the same thing.
It's in interrelated.

That's the way to go.

It's like a treasure, in some ways,

like, we're lookin' for somethin' that's lost

that means huge amounts to some people

and nothing to--
To others.

To others.

Leaving the junkyard philosophy behind, we keep goin'.

My great hope is still that the bus

was simply abandoned and ended up in a field somewhere.

(light music)

The most legendary field, in the vintage Volkswagen world,

is on a misty mountainside in rural Arkansas,

appropriately called, Way Out Salvage.

Holy crow.

There's an 11 window, right there.

We have some work to do now, Kaylee.

Yeah.

Hey.

We made the pilgrimage

and asked the owner, Derrick,

for permission to dig around.

I'm John Wesley.

Hey, John Wesley.

Look, we wanna look around, is that okay

if we just wander around?

Yeah.

Okay.

(guitar music)

Here's one.

This is an 11 window.

They say there's over 500 buses,

but I don't know how they're counting them.

This is the model we're lookin' for.

It's in pretty good shape.

No, Kaylee.

(laughs)

Can you imagine if we found, just,

a door with a fragment
Oh man.

Of Dr. Bob's painting on it.

(soft music)

We can't go much farther.

This is leavin' Missouri, we've crossed the Mississippi.

We've seen every Volkswagen junkyard,

graveyard, wrecker, and collector, for a thousand miles.

Yeah.

I haven't, yet, seen someone have a glimmer of hope

in their language when they're talking to us.

I should know better than to get caught up

in treasure hunting, but that's

what I've been doing, and I gotta stop.

We're getting to the point where,

even if we find a Volkswagen, we spent too much time

and too much money to buy it and get

it restored in time for Woodstock.

So, the most important thing is getting Dr. Bob's art done

and getting the Light bus out on

the road, to share with folks.

(rock music)

It's amazing how freeing it is to just change your mind.

It's been a disheartening search for the bus,

but finding a bus, a perfectly matching sister of Light,

is a lot more fun.

(light music)

After a long search through Ohio, Virginia,

the Carolinas, and Kentucky, we ended up heading down

the old Knoxville highway to an event

called circle your Wagens.

For the last 25 years it's been

the biggest vintage VW event in the Appalachians.

See, "Woodstock or bust."

"Honor I give to this old bus but it's about gone,

"took over by rust."

It's all familiar, Woodstock, art, love, and peace.

I don't know that I've ever seen that bus, specifically,

certainly not at one of our shows, that I know of.

You would think that that vehicle would be there somewhere,

would be out there somewhere.

'Cause I think getting as, if you're not gonna

have the original, getting as authentic as you can,

to me, would be important, I think, to the purists,

the more a person considers themselves

a VW purist, that they probably feel the same way.

Kaylee.

I found the exact model year,

it's a perfect canvas, it's for sale.

It's got no price on it, they're just sayin' best offer.

You know, there's only 10,000 of them in the world.

Yeah, yeah.

So, to find one.

Okay.

We can't just walk by it.

We have to talk to him.

All right, let's go. Let's go.

All right.

This place is such a maze, man.

There it is.

So that's it, there, with the broken window?

Yeah, there it is, look.

(light music)

So, what do you think

the chances are of this being

the bus, or just a good fake similar?

Zero, zero, this is like a model year later.

But this would be an identical canvas

for Dr. Bob and the crew to paint on.

It's exactly the same.

All right, Chris, can you tell us where you found this bus?

Found it in Nash County at a garage.

It was comin' in a packaged deal,

couldn't just buy it, had to buy everything.

Wow, so because you bought it as a packaged deal,

you don't really know what you paid for this,

you might of gotten this for free.

(laughs)

We're gonna find that out right here in a minute.

(laughs)

All right, put us in the zone, man.

What do you think?

(light music)

I think 10.

That's was startin' to think, too.

Shut the front door.

Yeah, okay, we're done.

I thought that was gonna be a big deal.

(laughs)

Wait, you wanna start, I think 20.

(laughs)

We can start this over.

It's not gonna make much drama for TV,

but, yeah, look, we've seen a thousand of these things,

so I'm really in the zone.

And, I think that's a very fair, fair place to start.

Okay, we got our van, now here's the plan;

Chris will bring the bus up from Tennessee

to his shop in South Carolina.

We'll drop in a new engine, gas tank,

brakes, windows, and lights,

and everything we need to get it on the road.

Then, we'll take the rolling bus down

to East Coast VW Restoration in St. Augustine Florida,

for the interior and body restoration,

and prime it for painting.

Then, it's back up to Baltimore,

where we'll find a place for Dr. Bob to paint, easy.

Well, no one around here believes that.

(garage door closes)

I've asked my friend, Bob, to head down

and help Chris get the bus rolling,

so we can deliver it to Florida for a full restoration.

Well, here it is.

Wow.

It's changed a lot.

It is in better shape than I thought it was.

Put the new heartbeat in it.

That's right.

We're so lucky, in this project,

to find people, like Chris and his crew,

who are willing and able to help us

with so much of this work.

Regular people who are able to turn wrenches,

tune carburetors and think mechanical thoughts

are getting pretty rare in America.

Like a kid in a candy store.

(bus honks)

Gosh damn.

Sorry.

(laughs)

This is a big moment.

(engine runs)

Gotta get a feel for the gas.

Woo-hoo.

(upbeat music)

I love the steering wheel, man.

(honks horn)

(laughs)

Gonna be hearin' that a lot.

(laughs)

How do you feel?

A little torn.

There's still gonna be more stories,

that's the good thing about it.

This is just the middle of it.

That's what makes it a little bit easier.

It's just not going to a random person.

Oh, no.

I mean, it's gonna have meaning behind it.

This is where it won't start.

(laughs)

Well...

I was hopin' you'd pay attention to where I was at, so...

(engine starts)

See ya down the road.

See ya, man.

(instrumental music)

It looks like the bus is rarin' to go

on its next adventure across America.

All right, Dr. Bob, here we come.

(instrumental music)

It shifts nice.
It does, doesn't it?

Yeah, so Dr. Bob, we're comin' at ya.

The bus is on the road and it's about,

I'm gonna say 200 hours of labor away

from ready for you to paint.

This is the place.
No this isn't it,

I don't think so.
East Coast VW Restoration.

From the beginning of this project,

I knew I wanted to work with Fallon Taylor

at East Coast VW Restorations.

Fallon's shop, in St. Augustine Florida, has produced some

of the most amazing vintage bus restorations,

and customizing, that I've ever seen.

(light music)

She agreed to help us on a schedule that was already tight.

And all my messing around, with finding

the bus, didn't make it any easier.

What do you think, Fallon?

Our deadline to get it to Dr. Bob is?

First of June.

I can get the metal ordered right away.

Yeah.

And I'm gonna say two weeks metal work,

now that we have the body.

Say, another half week to prime her and make it perfect.

Not only do we want the restoration,

of course we want to make

it to last now.
Last, yeah.

It's funny, I don't know

if people will look at it as art or as a Volkswagen.

No, the money that you're gonna have into it,

from what we've talked about so far,

is nothing compared to what it's gonna be worth.

Sure, but the bodywork we're talking about

is easily another 10 grand, for 30 total, so far.

And, to be realistic, there's no way

that more problems aren't gonna reveal themselves.

So, we finished the disassembly.

Next step, step two.

I want motor out for sandblasting.

After sandblast, hopefully the metal will be here.

Match the metal up, cut the rust out.

And, once we get some metal patched in,

I think the rest of it's gonna go pretty darn fast.

Thanks.

Okay.

All right, guys.
All right, let's

get out of here.

As Fallon goes to order up the parts,

Bob and I head back to the office

to figure out where this restoration budget

is gonna come from.

I wasn't even in the door before somebody told me

there's a big problem.

Hey, we're back.

Hey.

And, somebody said there's a problem?

Yeah, so this guy on Instagram

has contacted us about

a potential issue with the back window.

There was a significant change after '64.

So...

This would be the original Light,

and it has the smaller window, and our bus, a '65,

has the larger window, but not only that,

the whole door is actually wider.

We can't just get a '63 door and put in...

No, 'cause this is the difference.

It's literally, the frame is wrong.

Show me the back of the bus.

So, we would be losing a lot of his art.

Right?

This is a huge problem.
This is legit.

We got the wrong bus.

We are so far down this road.

We're 20 grand, plus, into this van now.

You know, we don't have the original bus,

we have a sister bus, but this is not really a sister,

This is a cousin.
This is a cousin,

or a grandchild bus.

Yeah.

So, we need to have a sister bus.

I was so happy to post the pictures

on Instagram, and now this.

But the social media also revealed an opportunity.

Because of doing Instagram, and doing the social medias,

we had this Robert Skinner contact us saying,

"I would love to help in any way."

Could be super helpful.

One thing's for sure.
And he

wants to talk to us, like, he wants

to be involved in this project, so...

Okay, so let's talk to this guy in California,

'cause one thing's for sure,

we don't have any time.

Skinner Classics is the top California restoration place.

Good morning, it's Robert.

Hey, Robert, it's John Wesley Chisholm.

We just started into our social media this week

and since then a huge problem has revealed itself.

Well, the choice is you replace the bus,

because to try to do any type of modifications

to that bus is--

It's not cost effective, it's kinda sacrilege, too.

And it really does miss the point.

It would be nice to

have the proper year bus, '63.

I don't know if you know that I own the bus

in the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

Wow.

So, when I think about

the most iconic buses in the world--

Yeah.

The Light bus comes to my mind as number one.

Yep.

Okay?

And the "Fast Times" bus comes to my mind as number two.

The reason why I always think of

the Light bus first is because of Woodstock.

And, really, the purpose of my call

was I didn't know that you chose a restoration shop,

first off, but if you need any parts,

or you need anything, I would like to be involved

in this restoration, some way, and getting you guys up

and going, and on the road, and

just having Skinner Classics apart of this would be amazing.

Thanks, very kindly, Robert,

and we'll talk again this week.

Okay, John, thank you, bud.

Bye.

Bye.

Just as I'm facing facts, that we have the wrong bus,

we just heard from this guy in California

who is the biggest restorer

of split window buses in the world.

Okay.

This is a news article about him.

(murmurs) Collectors is called

the "Fast Times" bus.

I'd say we're pretty into this project.

Yeah.

I now see that this is the guy

to be involved in this project.

(light music)

From the scrapyards to the psychics,

everything's been pointing towards California.

And as soon as I started looking,

I found an exact matching bus for sale out there.

I made the tough decision to abandon our bus

and I asked Robert Skinner to check out

the bus I found in California.

(light music)

If it all makes sense, we'll move

the whole project out there and bring

it back east in time for painting.

Looks good, patina looks good.

They plan on hand painting this thing anyways.

At the same time, we still wanna try

to get a solid body for it.

Yeah, yeah.

Right? It needs a little bit of love.

It needs a little, few things.

Little pieces here and there.

I mean its, the interior is pretty complete,

because you guys--
I don't even know what

the Woodstock bus looked like inside,

I don't think anybody does,

I don't know.
except Bob.

Maybe it just had a front seat

and everything else was stripped down?

Yeah, you never know.

Yeah.

The frame looks good, solid.

Okay.

Let's do this.

(guitar music)

I think we found a really nice bus for you.

If you want my honest opinion, I'd buy this bus.

(relaxed music)

Robert teed up the deal with the seller.

We got the bus for 22,000, as expected.

Then we headed out to San Francisco.

The magic was that Robert wanted

to help with the bus, and I really didn't understand

how much that meant, until he offered to pick us up

at the airport with a trailer.

Well, hello there.

Hey, how are you?

I'm well.

Oh man,
Good to see you.

It's so nice to meet you.

Thanks very much for coming.
You too.

Hi, I'm John Wesley.
Hi, (murmurs)

Nice to meet you.

This couldn't of happened without you guys.

Thank you for letting us get involved in this.

This is my pleasure, it really is.

It's gonna be a great project,

we're gonna bring back something

that everybody imagines they know, but they don't know.

It's a very interesting bus, and a very interesting story.

Like so many of these vintage buses

we've heard about, ours followed

that great westward migration to California.

They just seem to fit into the surf scene

and laid back lifestyle of the old coastal highway culture.

(light music)

Wow.

Here it is.

Oh, man.

This bus is in so much better shape

than anything I imagined.

And the other bus that I mistakenly bought.

(light music)

Let's open up this door, take a look at it.

Get that old bus smell.

It's like a time capsule.

(light music)

This is so great, David, we are

so grateful to find this thing.

Yeah, no, I'm excited you guys are gettin' it.

I couldn't be happier.

And it's really special to us because my wife

and I met at a Volkswagen show.

Really?
And that's where we met.

Oh, that's romantic.
That's cute.

And that's what this is all about,

'cause it's more of a family thing.

These cars are really special,

they're really like, they're almost like people,

you fall in love.

It really couldn't be goin' to a better home.

Drive it out.

Should we start it up and...

You should be driving

it out to the trailer.
You gotta drive it out.

I should.

So, we have the pink slip.

We have the pink slip.
You signed it.

Signed it.

I'm just gonna drive it out of the driveway,

and this is happening, isn't it?

It's happening, it's going to a very happy home.

Thanks.

(guitar music)

(engine starts)

(laughs)

It starts up better than my car.

Ah man, I'm excited to put my foot

on the gas of this thing and get goin' on this project.

(bus honks)

Whoa.

(upbeat music)

I don't know exactly where

the journey begins and the road back to Woodstock starts,

but every time I get in one of these buses

I start to feel a little magic happening.

(guitar music)

It's hard to even imagine how this project would work

without so many people just appearing

and saying, "Yeah, I'd like to help you with that."

I came along a generation after Woodstock,

but I can't help feeling, this must

be something of what it felt like.

(guitar music)

It was great to get to know the Skinners

on the long drive up to their shop in Northern California.

After talking it over, I decided to keep

the wrong bus, just in case we needed some parts

as we get into the restoration.

Now, with only six weeks left before

the painting is scheduled to start, back in Baltimore,

we're racing to get this restoration done.

(drums)

This is our shop.

Wow.

Yeah, welcome.

Holy crow.

We've seen 500 buses in a field in Arkansas,

but I've never seen

(murmurs)
A collection of operational

buses, like this, before.

(light music)

This is in astonishingly good shape.

It is.

(knocks on bus)

When I looked at this for you I made sure

all these cross members were solid

and your frame rails were solid.

We have a good buildable foundation.

And so, we have some rot here.

Right.

So, this inner should be replaced.

And the outer should also be replaced.

So, what's left?

The body work.

Take care of all the rust issues on here

and getting the inner and outer rockers replaced,

getting the body straight outside

so Bob can actually paint this thing.

And, of course, the transaxle.

You know, that's somethin' we stock here.

(light music)

(car lowers)

Do we leave the old fashioned, like,

kinda hacked up, but original cool?

Or do we replace it, for 10 grand,

with a full new inside.

I like the patina of original exteriors

because it's literally nature carving time

into steel, and it looks beautiful.

But the interior is just like a record

of how many people spilled their pop on the seat,

it's not as interesting.

I'm really strugglin' on the notion of,

do we put a new interior in it, or shine up the old?

I think this is in great shape.

It needs some detail work is what it needs.

It really needs to be cleaned up,

and just scrubbed clean.

And you think any...

I guess some of that might.

Detail and clean off, yeah.

I have to think about this because there seems,

to me, there's some value to opening this up

and having it kind of look old,

rather than all look brand new.

Definitely.

The dash is gorgeous, it's beautiful.

I'm not gonna let you touch it.

Okay.

(laughs)

That's fine.

The plan is comin' together in my mind.

Robert will do the body work and drivetrain in California.

Dr. Bob and his crew will do the artwork

at the barn in Baltimore.

And Fallon will finish the interior of the bus in Florida.

As much as the seats are in pretty good shape,

I know this 50 year old upholstery will start

to fall apart under the heavy use we're going to put it to.

Here's the inner structure repairs.

Oh, wow.

And then, we ended up replacing the wheel well section.

We replaced the full panel from here all the way over,

so that you got a new wheel well.

Wow.

This was all rotted out in here.

So, where did this come from?

Woolford West.

They have, like--

Yeah.

Amazing.
Isn't it amazing?

It is, it's fantastic.

Well, what other vehicle could you go to just order up

on the day and go, "Yeah, I need a 50 year old part,"

and here it is, brand new.

Right?

It's about love, right?

It is, it is.

I mean, it's great that we have the access

to all these new parts today.

And, we don't have an engine.

Well, the engine will be here today at 10:30.

Okay, so we if have 20 days till it has

to be in Baltimore, you're sayin' five days for the shipper,

We should give 'em that, definitely.

That means two weeks from today,

this has to be a working, driving bus, ready to paint.

That's right.

Can you do that?

I can do that.

(laughs)

(relaxed music)

This is amazing, Robert.

Yep.

I'm so glad we met you.

Hey, I feel the same.

(light music)

Gentlemen, hey.
Greg.

How are ya?

What's up Greg?

Hey, we talked by phone.
Privilege and a pleasure.

Yes sir.

How ya doin'?

Fantastic, good morning.

Good morning.

How are you doin'?
This is my son, Jack.

Good to see ya.

So, Greg, where is our engine, buddy?

What's happenin'?

I got it in the back of my Suburban,

just went through, cleaned it all up.

Yeah.

It's original, you know, 40 horse, proper one for the era.

Greg is one of dozens

of Volkswagen specialists, who heard

about the project, and want to help.

So, there's the big 40 horses of power.

Greg, this is looking great, man.

(light music)

We need this bus to take us 5,000 miles, back

to Woodstock, in the next year.

Change the oil, tuneup.

Tuneup every couple

thousand miles.
And it'll do it.

You know, a bomb adjustment

is all important in these things.

Right.

You know you're not gonna win

any speed contests right, in this thing.

We don't have to go fast.

We got a year to get there.

Yeah.

(laughs)
It might take that.

It will get you to wherever you wanna go.

Everybody will be waving at you

as you're goin' down the road.

I am honored to be apart of this very historic, you know,

and amazing project, so it's the least that I can do,

and I just wanted to give you that

so you have it for your records.

And this bill says no charge.

No charge, no charge.

Thank you very kindly, Greg.

(Greg murmurs)
It's really appreciated.

I'm honored to be apart

of this project.
That's awesome.

And, you know, just so, you have any questions

on anything, you got all my contact information there.

And...

(power tools screeching)

(light music)

No charge.

Gonna be following every step of this bus's history.

I'm really grateful and I really appreciate

this contribution to the proceedings.

My pleasure.

(laughs)

Thanks, again.

Thanks, again, John.

I really appreciate it.

(guitar music)

Hey, Allen.

The flower of the Woodstock era really bloomed three years

before the concert, in the summer of love,

when over 100,000 creative souls gathered together

in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood

to make music, art, and love.

We got an irresistible invitation

from Allen Graves, at Love Tours,

to visit the heart of the old neighborhood.

Your bus, it's like the great-grandchild

of our Woodstock bus.

It sure is.

Nice.

Yeah. You know, we had a inspiration of doin' this

because we loved Volkswagens,

and I love the city, I grew up in San Francisco.

And I love talking to people.

The counter-culture, goin' against the grain,

it really changed the way

that we see many things throughout the world.

You think San Francisco really was

a ground zero for, what we'll call a hippie movement?

I absolutely believe that.

(relaxed music)

Back in the '60s, when black and whites couldn't

get married, when people couldn't coexist in the same house

if you were not of the same race, or marry, and so on.

That changed here in San Francisco,

the whole having a commune.

We had all these people from different walks

of life sharing and coexisting together.

And it happened that it was great music,

it happened that we have great artists,

here, in San Francisco.

It attracted people from all over the world

to be free, to be just themselves,

and then it echoed throughout the world.

(upbeat music)

So this is it.

This is the epicenter.
I didn't realize

that this is it.

This is the center of the universe.

So, this is where people come

from all over the world to kind of catch

a glimpse of this corner.

So, Haight Ashbury, we had all these great artists

that created a movement, living within walking distance,

so, where do we meet?

Let's meet at Haight Ashbury.

The pink building, over there,

that is where Janis Joplin used to live.

So, that's 635 Ashbury.

Now, truth be told, she lived in 21 different places

while she was here in San Francisco.

And then, Jimi Hendrix just lived down the street

about to where that red awning is.

And then, "Grateful Dead" house is...

Is just up the street from here.

I feel now, like this is ground zero of our story.

The story didn't start at Woodstock.

Woodstock is really the culmination

of something that started here.

Wow.

That actually, surprisingly, makes kinda sense,

doesn't it?

At Love on Haight, it hardly seems

like a moment has gone by.

People are still wearing flowers in their hair.

But our bus shows a more accurate record

of the passage of time.

Tranny out.

It looks like we really

are resurrecting this transmission from the grave.

We're wrapping up the transaxle.

So, that's good, it's ready to put wheels on.

It is.

And we're ready, actually, to stuff an engine in.

We're really close to actually

just sliding one in tomorrow, I'll have the engine in here.

This is an epic rebuild.

Epic restoration.

It's been fun.

I've had a lot of enjoyment.

Okay, we're gonna roll out.

Thank you very kindly.

You're very welcome.

Nice shirt.

(laughs)

I'm gonna keep wearin' it, don't you worry.

Bye.

(guitar music)

Sometimes you just gotta believe.

We're heading back east, ahead of the bus,

to meet Dr. Bob, and the apprentices he's chosen.

We'll be there when the bus arrives,

hopefully, ready to paint.

(guitar plays)

(whimsical music)

Hey, I just got word that the bus

is gonna be here in a few minutes.

I'm excited, I mean, we've been talkin'

about this forever, so, let's see it.

Let's see the thing.

All right, here it comes.

Is it here?

I'm just waitin' for it to come around the corner.

Here it comes.

Oh, oh, oh!

(whimsical music)

49 years later, we get

to start again with a new goal in mind,

to help Dr. Bob recreate his lost masterpiece,

and put it on the road to our Woodstock future.

There she is, there she is.

Look how smooth she looks.

(clapping)

Yes.

(clapping)

(whimsical music)

It's beautiful.

No matter what I was told, I expected

to see dents, see a little rust, but it's perfect.

It's going to be easy to draw on and paint.

(whimsical music)

This is unbelievable, I don't believe it.

You know, it's hard to say that this is it,

finally, after thinking about it all this time.

For all of it to fall in place, it's almost like there's

a higher force working with us, in a sense.

I know how corny that sounds, but that's the way I see it.

Woohoo!

(uplifting music)

It's the end of a bunch of maybes,

because during the whole process you don't know, for sure,

if it' all going to work out.

And, John, of course, was the kinda guy

that is a very positive guy.

It's gonna work out with John.

(whimsical music)

I'm dreaming.

I'm dreaming, it just does not seem real,

not at all, after all of the ideas

of trying to find the right thing, get it done right, etc.

And then, realizing that when you have a certain time limit

to make sure it gets done, that's

what I'm more concerned about than anything, now.

We wanna do the best job we can

in the limited amount of time we got.

(whimsical music)

Over the last six months we've found

and restored a perfectly matching bus.

Did you happen to wipe this down or anything?

See I didn't--
I did.

You did, okay.

So many people helped,

and more contributed, to a restoration kick-starter.

Oh yeah, this is just surface rust, that's really good.

I handed over the pink slip to Dr. Bob,

and with just a little more effort,

the bus is ready to paint.

Okay, Bob, the windows will go down to Fallon,

she'll rebuild them, restore them,

get them back up here when she comes for the assembly.

I think we have all the mechanical preparations done now,

all the latches are off and all

the lights are out and so on,

so you can get right at the painting.

I'm just amazed at how much easier this is gonna be now.

(John laughs)

We have to go.

I'd love to stay and talk to you

about this all day, but we gotta go.

Well, we accomplished a heck of a lot in a day and a half.

Oh, goodness gracious, yes.
Indeed.

And we'll keep following your progress

and we'll come back in a week, or so, to check in.

Good.

Painting the bus was an incredible creative effort,

repainting the bus is even harder.

Dr. Bob has found some great help.

The most difficult thing to do,

on the bus, was the roof,

because

we had to create scaffolds, by which nobody

was going to be able to sit on the roof

as they're painting, you had to sit above it.

Our scaffold worked out well.

(whistles)

I needed to get a crew together

that had some knowledge of how to move into

the fourth dimension from our third dimension.

And that means a crew that had to be curious

about symbols, consciousness, and the meaning of things.

There's a lot of emphasis on everything being,

most important thing being meaning and meaning of life.

(whimsical music)

Justin, I have worked with, and he has

a very important PhD that allows him

to do grid work, Allah, Leonardo da Vinci.

Because the toughest thing to do,

on this bus, from the beginning,

is all the drawing, and most importantly,

the grid work, and he is a genius at that.

The grid work is key to getting accuracy,

but with a bus, you don't have square corners,

you have rounded corners.

Doing grid work on round corners is really

tough, and he was able to do it mathematically.

Woodstock was something that I had heard of,

as a kid, but didn't know much about.

And, to be working on

the bus for the 50th anniversary is just great.

It just seemed like another great opportunity

to do some meaningful art with Dr. Bob,

who I've been working with for more than 10 years now.

So, yeah, it means a lot to me to be on this project.

(light music)

The other people, I've never worked with before.

Roger, I find to be very creative, and he,

like the others, are extremely hard workers,

and well read, again, that makes all the difference.

Lindsey, her graduate degree is from RISD,

which, when you take a look at the quality

of artwork from people from RISD it's always been very high,

and she is excellent at accuracy and drawing,

of course, all of them are, and have

the patience to do this kind of work.

(light music)

When you take a look at Jesse,

Jesse, also, is one of those, fortunately,

like Lindsey, that learn quickly.

You know, that's the advantage,

believe me, it's important to have intelligent artists.

(instrumental music)

Bob's art is about symbolism

and that starts with the colors.

Black is potential energy.

The white of the canvas is purity.

Gold is our spirit.

Purple represents wisdom

Silver is our intuition.

And yellow, our intellect.

The vibrant orange is the energy and pride we feel.

Red is our blood.

And, of course, brown is the earth.

The key to the bus is connecting

these colors in a meaningful way.

The bus, like life, starts with a galaxy of stars.

(light music)

(guitar music)

I am working on a scarab.

We didn't know, until we really looked up close,

that there was a face concealed within the beetle itself.

For me, it's tracing Bob's brushstrokes

with pencil, at first, and then filling them in.

It's such a joy.

I get all sorts of little moments, here and there,

where a shape, that, maybe wasn't intended,

will pop up in my mind.

It's lucky, happy magic.

I'm so pleased to be here, and I don't mind

at all turning down that T. Rowe Price graphic design job

so I can

help out a fellow dreamer.

(light music)

Right now, I'm working on the bumper

with the important word, Ra, which is the sun god,

Ra, being the masculine, Om, being the feminine.

All this chalk, when it dries, you can wipe it off,

which I'm anxious to do.

It's a great distraction.

And that's what's disturbing me now,

because it's not as precise as I want it to be.

Never would of thought the bumpers

would be this much trouble.

(whimsical music)

Dr. Bob says his art isn't psychedelic,

it's symbolic.

In the ancient mystery schools,

before most people knew how to read and write,

education and knowledge was imparted through symbols.

And Bob believes the bus is a rolling school

that teaches us we can all do better.

The snake eating its tail symbolizes

the circle of life, eternity, and the cycles of the seasons.

The symbol of the sphinx, with its animal body

and human head, teaches us that human reason

must control our animal passions.

With wings, we might fly.

Wings are symbolic of possibility, potential,

belief that we can aspire to higher and better things.

And with the water flowing down

from the waving American flag, all over everything,

the whole bus proclaims, we are moving from Pisces,

an age of believing, into the age of Aquarius,

a time of coming together and knowing.

It's like a trip to an ancient museum,

the more you look at the bus, its art,

and symbols, the more layers you see.

(birds chirping)

Once Dr. Bob got the first pass at the paint done,

he invited us all out for a preview;

me, Fallon, the Skinners,

Bob and Trudy, from the Light band.

It's an exciting moment.

Looks like we're the first ones here,

but I know where the key is,

I'm following you.
Should we just do it?

Should we just go in and see

this thing for ourselves?
You just wanna go in?

You want a sneak peak?
I'm nervous.

Are you?

Yes.

(laughs)

I'm super excited.

I'm excited.
I know.

I can't wait.

All right, I'm excited.

We can see all our hard work.

You ready to see your fixer upper? (laughs)

Fixer upper, right.

(garage door opens)

Oh.

Wow.

Wow.

(laughs)

(whimsical music)

Wow, wow.
Oh my god.

(whimsical music)

Can you imagine?

(murmurs)

(whimsical music)

This is crazy.

Can ya touch it?

Is it dry?

Yeah.

It's dry.

It means a lot to open these doors

this morning and bring tears to my eyes

and everybody else's eyes, was huge.

It feels, to me, like the model has gotten bigger.

Grown, right?
'Cause I've spent two years

looking at the model, and it's exactly the thing.

I'm feeling teary, Bob.

(laughs) teary.

Well, is it not, correct me if I'm wrong,

it's two years, right now, since we met you, and

the crew came up to see you.
It was, yes, yeah.

And said, "Hey, we wanna do this thing."

Oh, that was quite fascinating.

Amazing, I can't imagine what's

goin' through your mind, Bob.

Pretty wild.

Well, some memories, some of which I'm trying to forget,

and others I'm savoring, so...

Let's meet the artists.
Unbelievable.

Just to see it.
Yeah, definitely.

Roger!

Jesus.

(laughs)

Hey, John, good to see you.

Hi, nice to see you.
How are you, sir?

How are you?

You guys must be so happy.
Good to see you.

(engine running)

Yeah, like it was gray.

(murmurs)

Right?

Everyday.

Good to see you, brother.

(clapping)

Bob, hi.

Hi, nice to meet you.
Good to see you.

How are you?

It looks amazing.
Good to see you.

Thank you.

Hi.

In commemoration for being able to drive this bus,

you need keys, these are the sacred keys,

in this sacred little pouch

that we're passing on to Uncle John.

The strangest looking keys I've ever seen for a bus.

Thanks, Dad.

(laughs)

Now you got the keys to the car.

Well...

(laughs)

(whimsical music)

We're gonna move on to see

the artists paint the final stars on the bus.

(whimsical music)

It's really tough when it's

so many people watching over your shoulders.

Bob Graham.

I was excited for it.
Yeah.

Passing of the torch.
I know it ain't much,

but it's exciting for me to see you do that,

that's all.
It's been over 50 years

since I did this.

You guys have a thousand stars on here,

but that star was important.

(whimsical music)

Hi, how are you?

Welcome to Arlington.

(whimsical music)

All right.

From below.
This is mine.

Okay, I like this one.

Yeah, right?

That's dry too?

(murmurs)

(whimsical music)

Yeah.

We're going on the bus right now.

(laughs)

(cheering)

Watch your head.

(party blowers)

So, were you into all these symbols

when he showed up with that,

did you think, oh, Bob, you're--

Obviously, yes, because Bob talked so romantic.

I can't believe he let people get on the roof, really.

(murmurs)

(laughs)
Anywhere you wanna put it.

You need two.

Well, the impacts gonna be,

guaranteed be positive, for sure.

I mean, it's gonna blow everyone's minds.

It really is.

Just to come back and see it like this is huge.

To leave it as a blank canvas

and come back and it look like this, just huge.

I just thought I'd show up and there'd

be some paint slapped on it, but the time

and effort, and all the thought

that went into it, makes it priceless.

The basic philosophy of the bus

is we are one people on one planet.

And the basic symbolism in Woodstock was, we are one.

We don't have to fight,

we don't have to compete with one another,

we can cooperate and work together.

(light music)

(rock music)

It was great to celebrate the completion of the painting,

but all the wonderful folks who inspired and made it happen.

Now, we have to reassemble the bus,

finish the interior, and deal with all the details

of getting a vintage vehicle on the road.

Fallon did the midnight express run

in her truck and trailer, from Baltimore,

down the I-95, overnight, so that we could get

to work at her shop in St. Augustine.

You must be so tired.

Between Five Hour Energy and no sleep.

(laughs) But you did it.

We're here.
You got us here.

Just seeing, in the rear view mirror,

the amount of people that stopped or slowed down,

takin' photos, takin' videos,

doin' peace signs out the window,

takin' selfies out the side.

It would of been awesome to capture some of that.

As Fallon arrived,

we had some supporters show up with encouragement.

So, how do you know Dr. Bob?

How did you meet him?

You know, my band, Lovin' Spoonful,

had a mural at the market and--

Sorry, hang on a second, your band, the Lovin' Spoonful,

I missed that part, could you explain that?

Yeah, you did miss that part, earlier.

I'm the bass player, and songwriter

for the Lovin' Spoonful.

(laughs)

And that was one of the connections with Bob.

That's pretty cool.

(laughs)

So, that was our connection, was music, initially,

but then when I saw what he was actually involved with,

it just instantly clicked.

Yeah, he's a very charming man with a huge idea.

I'm glad it's not lowered.

(upbeat music)

Looks pretty good to me.

Yep.

Pretty close to the same, but...

(upbeat music)

Oh, they even still smell like paint.

Oh yeah.
Oh, that looks amazing.

It was so funny.

So, this woman sent us money,

and so, we got this big check from

this woman named Janie Hendrix.

And this is how weird this project is,

it hadn't occurred to me that

it's actually Jimi Hendrix's sister who sent us money.

Is it really?

Yeah.
Whoa.

(light music)

Look at that!

So, that turned out fabulously.

Yeah.

That is so '60s.

It is, isn't it?

It's lookin' beautiful, man.

(light music)

With the exterior final assembly

coming together really quickly,

we start to turn our minds to

the interior, and how it should be.

You know, this is nice because it's original,

but it's too messed up.
It's too far gone.

And it's not, it's not patina value,

it's just destroyed value.
Yeah, oh yeah.

These pieces are in pretty good shape,

but it's not good enough.

No, and it's the wrong color,

that's the problem.

I believe this is the color that it was originally.

The Gray.
The Woodstock bus, yep.

Okay.

So, we just need to push, now,

because really we should have this done before Christmas.

Okay.

So that we can get it out,

do that final bit of transmission tinkering.

Yes.

We wanna do.

And now, Volkswagen wants to do

the photo shoot with the bus.
The photo shoot, yes.

We need enough lead time before our, kind of,

coming out party.
To get it where it needs

to go.

So, we'll see you again at the OCTO Show

in February.
At the OCTO show, for sure.

For the big coming out party. Let's go, let's go.

(laughs)

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

(light music)

Fallon got the Woodstock bus

into her shop for Christmas.

It's an unusual present with a new deadline.

Volkswagen of America has offered

to do a professional photo shoot, in LA, with the bus,

before its formal unveiling at the OCTO show in February.

It's the country's biggest gathering

of split window bus restorers, and we need

to get the light bus perfect for the show.

Business is booming.

The Woodstock bus comes in at a bad time, that's for sure,

but who would not take on this project?

I mean, it was a no brainer.

I couldn't pass up not bein' apart of this, no way.

I wanna keep it original.

I mean, we can still use it, but I'd still put something.

Yeah.

Adhesive spray will help keep all this together.

So yeah, Gina's literally gonna just blow this off,

sand the legs, paint the legs,

and we're ready to re-foam it.

And, so I am installing the cover

that goes over the rising sun.

Yeah, there's a huge use for these,

and, a lot of the older buses, people wanna go original.

Okay, this is where this piece goes.

(light music)

(power tool grinds)

Oh, this one lines up way better.

So, we are putting the original foam back on the seats.

So, this is the original horse hair,

Germans made it out of horse hair.

And then, this is just a soft foam

that goes over and kinda makes everything,

kinda smooths everything out.

This is just gonna help hold the horse hair into place.

(light music)

Okay.

Great day, today.

Got a lot of stuff done, seat covers went on fantastic.

So I'm really excited that there's not

gonna be a lot of headaches with that.

Obviously, we got a lot to go, we're under the gun.

This one's cuttin' it really, really close though,

so I'm definitely, definitely a little nervous about it.

So, I might be here for a few more hours tonight,

and then, come in first thing in the morning.

But, we'll get it done.

(upbeat music)

Fallon got the bus ready for its close-up.

And we raced it out to California early in the spring.

I haven't looked at the interior yet.

Whoa, it's a brand new 50 year old interior.

(light music)

The way the colors blend together,

until you see it in full sunlight,

you don't understand what's going on,

and just as the sun has come over that hill,

I can see, for the very first time,

the true impact of the colors.

(upbeat music)

The Volkswagen photo shoot looked great.

The light in California is magic.

(upbeat music)

After a few finishing touches, we are

on the way to our first big show,

to share the Light bus with the world.

Oh man, this drives nice.

(light music)

This is going to be amazing

when there's 300 buses and 3,000 people here tomorrow.

(light music)

I'm thinking it's gonna be nice tomorrow.

(light music)

It's just after 6:00 am,

and there's hundreds of people,

and hundreds of buses, lined up.

People are into this.

(whimsical music)

Hey, how are you doin'?

Good morning.

We're here, we're comin'.

(whimsical music)

And, the unveil of the Woodstock Light bus.

Sharply at 9 o'clock.

Who's pullin' the cover off?

(cheering)

Mr. Skinner, over there.

(applause)

That's good, everybody's ready.

Any time, whenever you want, go for it.

(applause)

Let's see that pretty bus.

Do it real nice and slow.

(cheering)

Ladies and gentlemen, the Woodstock Light bus.

(cheering)

(light music)

If you haven't met him yet, come up and say hi.

JW!

He's up there.

He's up there.

Yeah!

The bus is perfect.

Everybody's happy.

The unveiling is a total success.

As far as we've come, we're just getting started.

(relaxed music)

As the 50th anniversary of Woodstock gets closer,

we've found a way to celebrate the anniversary

that's more than just nostalgia.

This Light bus time machine takes us back

by going forward.

From California, we'll head out across America,

to the green fields of Yasgur's farm

for three more days of peace and music.

It's the people we meet along the road

that make the spirit of Woodstock come alive.

It's our shared purpose that makes us one.

Today, we call the hippies and flower children

of the Woodstock era, grandma and grandpa.

(uplifting music)

But even as they grow old and leave us,

the ideas they shared will never grow old.

We found a matching bus,

we got Dr. Bob's original artwork recreated,

I thought we were on our way

to the Woodstock 50th anniversary.

But now, there's a big problem.

(instrumental music)

Hey, guys.

Hey, how are you.
Hey.

Production meeting, June 21st,

eight weeks out from Woodstock.

I don't know if this is real,

it's a local article from upstate New York,

but it looks like the concert is losing its funding.

What is this?

Woodstock 50, 11 possible replacement sites

in upstate New York.

What it's sayin' is, they may have paid everybody,

but they didn't pay at the site.

People are now saying without

the money they're not doin' it.

But my problem is, I told people that we were takin'

the bus back to the Woodstock 50th,

and, now they don't have a site.

And it's two months away, like,

I know he pulled Woodstock together last minute,

but do we have faith in this guy?

I have to get the bus from California, out to New York.

And we have to figure out how this is gonna work.

Yeah.

Doesn't sound good.

(light music)

So, Woodstock, like the original,

is now homeless.

And everyone is wondering if Michael Lang,

like he did in '69, will be able to make magic happen.

We decided the best thing to do

is take the bus home, back to Baltimore,

back to where its journey began.

There's still a couple weeks to go,

we'll figure out the rest from there.

(light music)

We talked to Dr. Bob, and he organized a homecoming.

Jane.
How are you?

The artists, Fallon, and the Skinners,

who worked on the bus, and the Light band members,

who road the Light bus up to Woodstock 50 years ago,

friends and supporters, and even the folks

that lived at the Savitria Commune, where the bus was born.

The perfect location?

Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm fantastic.

It looks just like the one I used to be in.

(laughs)

It looks exactly like it.

It's amazing.

(light music)

It is my joy to introduce the most unusual man

I have ever met, visionary artist, historian, author,

and broadcaster, my husband, Dr. Bob Hieronimus.

(applause)

(light music)

So, I'll tell you about two

or three particular symbols on this bus.

My favorite, right now, is the rear of the bus,

where it says,

"She

"is

"coming."

She is coming.

Our country is split.

Other countries are split.

The world is split.

We need balance.

(light guitar music)

It's the wings that I noticed first.

That's what I first, with wings we might fly.

And that's what this bus is,

at first glance, it's a flight from sadness.

It's completely incompatible with melancholy.

It has a humane, almost classical moderation,

but it could carry rockers or realists,

socialists or senators all equally well.

And, while you're in it, the world

is breaking someone else's heart.

It's freedom, in machine form.

(light music)

The first thing I was super excited about, in Baltimore,

was to get Dr. Bob and Bob Graham,

who originally got the bus onto the field at Woodstock,

to take the new Light bus out for a spin.

And then, the years kind of disappeared.

Seeing these two old souls coming back together

and gearing up the bus, it made me realize

that it's this coming together, and shared love,

that created the Light bus.

If you remember, when they were advertising the festival,

they were advertising it as all the rock bands,

and there was gonna be an art show and everything.

Yeah.

Well, the art show never really happened.

I'm just glad that New York state policeman

let me in the fair (laughs).

Well, I'm glad you had thought

of the right things (murmurs).

Well, you and I know that this thing had its own destiny.

It has consciousness.

Well, I believe it does.

So,

point us out.

Yeah.

The route you took.

Oh.

50 years ago.

Yeah, we went up, and we went

to the Jersey Shore first.

I think we went to

Atlantic City.

So, that's what you did 50 years ago.

Yeah.

Now that you're older and wiser,

which route do you recommend?

I recommend that you pretty much do...

Do you have GPS?

Oh, yeah.

Well, put GPS, and put Bethel.

Right.

All right.

I know we'll get there.

(laughs)

Maybe the dream is losing some grandeur coming true,

but, to me, after years of work

and everything that's happened,

I believe in Woodstock, now more than ever.

I believe it really did change everything.

At Woodstock, America got our hopes up.

I don't know what it feels like to be

in a real time machine, but this has

to be as close as it gets.

The journey of workin' on this bus

has brought so many people together.

And I think that's what took us back,

closest to the ideas and ideals of Woodstock.

Up until the Woodstock era, all of human history

was concerned with basically three things,

war, disease, and starvation.

But somethin' magic happened, during that time,

where we stopped accepting the violence,

and the poverty, and the disease,

and we just collectively said, "We can do better."

And it's that belief, that's what changed.

You know, I've been thinking about this for three years,

and, in my mind, and in my dreams,

I kinda had a picture of what the road back

to Woodstock would look like.

It looked exactly like this.

An Arcadian field of green, pierced by black asphalt,

and a time machine that can take you wherever you wanna go.

(light guitar music)

To nobody's surprise, Woodstock 50,

the 50th anniversary of the 1969 festival

has officially been canceled.

It's been plagued with--

Coming as no surprise,

but it's official, Woodstock 50--

Woodstock 50 has officially been canceled.

No, wow.

The co-founder said,

"We are sad that a series
So, that's it.

"of unforeseen setbacks--"
Woodstock is canceled.

What?

The new location fell through.

They don't have the money.

Michael Lang officially cancels Woodstock.

So, that's it.

No...

I mean, that's it for the concert.

Obviously we'll think of something.

Yeah.

Gonna go back to the original site.

I'm sure a crowd will show up for the 50th anniversary.

And, we came a long way, we have to finish it now.

(relaxed guitar music)

By the time we got to Woodstock,

there might not of been half a million of us,

but we joined a joyful crowd heading to the site

for the 50th anniversary.

I didn't realize how much tie dye there was in the world.

Let's do one of those pictures where everybody smiles.

(laughs)

(murmurs)

Get in, come on!

There you go.

Nice.

Woodstock!

Yeah.

Don't tell me to get on the ground.

We're going to Woodstock.

I can feel all the people coming,

the cars are starting to roll in,

but we're ahead of the game.

(car driving)

(upbeat music)

Look, there's the field, there's where

the original stage was, right there.

That's where the bus originally sat,

right on that dirt road.

Two years, 5,000 miles, 10,000 hours of work.

And a hundred, or so, the best hearted people

I've ever met in my life, that came together

to make this happen.

(uplifting music)

Like all the journeys in life,

it's about the people you meet along the way.

Hey.

Carol Dupresha.

Hey, I'm John Wesley Chisholm.

How are you?
(murmurs) Sparkle Godmother,

real for the bus.

Oh, wow.

My friend, Dr. Bob Hieronimus, painted this bus

for the band Light.

Right.

They're a Baltimore band, and they drove this bus

up to Woodstock 50 years ago and parked

it right on the hill, right over

there.
Oh my god,

you were with the Further bus, then.

Yeah, yeah we're parked right

by the Further bus.
I've got (murmurs)

and everything.

Yeah.

Fross Decker.

Oh my god, I can't somebody scream Fross Decker toward him.

Fross Decker!

I drove 95 miles.

I was 15 years old, I had no drivers permit,

nothin' like that, but my father told my grandfather

I knew how to drive, never drove

a standard shift in my life.

When I got there, there was thousands of people

in the streets, and I had to keep my foot

on the clutch, keep from hittin' anybody.

Yeah, I got the newspaper home with the iconic picture

of the girl and guy up on the roof.

Yeah, yeah.

That's the picture I saw, too.

And you know what, we invited that woman.

What does she look like 50 years later?

She's a rocker, man.

She's still alive?

She's a rocker, and she kicks ass so hard.

I can could never keep up with her.

This is like 1960s Instagram.

(relaxed music)

My mother's husband delivered the baby

that was born at Woodstock.

Your mother's husband

delivered the baby
Delivered the baby, yes.

That was famously born at Woodstock.

Is that why?

His name is Tommy Kats.

Wow, and is that why you're here now?

Well, no, but, it's just a fun fact.

(laughs)

That's nice.

The thing here was being able to kiss Janis Joplin.

You kissed Janis Joplin?

Back stage, in a complimentary tent.

I mean, it was 30 people around her.

And we were like this.

And when you finally worked your way in, man,

it was like,

you know, she took your heart right there.

Yeah.

I mean, she took your heart.

When she started singing, these kids

had tears running down their face.

You know what I mean?

Yes I do.

It was unbelievable.
I do.

(relaxed guitar music)

Well, we're here, and we're not alone,

a lot more people are showing up.

This is gonna be awesome.

(upbeat music)

I'm so happy for Dr. Bob, he loves people,

and he loves sharing the story and the purpose of his art.

If one man could usher in

the real age of Aquarius, he's the one.

The story of this bus is that we are one people,

on one planet, we gotta work together,

you know what's ahead, with our climate change

and all that other kind of stuff,

so, just, we need a lot of service.

Helping others without being concerned

what you're gonna get back.

Absolutely.

And that's where we need to go.

(light music)

What a long, strange trip it's been.

(laughs)

Look at us, we're 10 years older

than when we started this journey.

It is amazing.

Thousands and tens of thousands of people

have come to appreciate your art

and recognize you as a great artist.

And this is a masterpiece.

Thank you, thank you.

It's wonderful, really, from my perspective,

after 50 years of not knowing anyone,

no one knew this, not even my home town.

This is the amazing thing, without any promotion,

without any advertising, for 50 years your artwork

has been speaking for itself, to the world.

And, people see in these symbols

what they wanna see, for 50 years.

And now that they get to associate it with you,

and you're able to clarify the story,

people are just overjoyed.

And the story is a very positive one.

We are one people on one planet.

So, you believe it's service

that will last with the bus, through

the boundless realms of eternity.

After we're all gone.

When we see what people would do

for each other under terrible circumstances, yeah,

because we'll have to.

Okay, get the ladder.

I'll get it.

Get the ladder.

Tom's got a ladder.

50 years later, Trudy and Bob,

and the Light bus, back at Woodstock.

That's pretty cool.

All right, here we go, one, two, three.

Woohoo!

That's awesome, awesome.

I really, really like that.

Thank you guys.

(raining)

(murmurs)

Camera in there.

What would Woodstock be without rain?

Please go back to your vehicles at this time.

Dangerous lightning, high winds, in the next few minutes.

Do you think that's real?

If you are leaving the venue,

please make sure you make it right

to your vehicles, thank you.

Storms come in fast and hard around here,

and the Woodstock generation, now 50 years older,

is a lot more cautious than the kids

who slid naked, in the mud, in the summer of 1969.

(murmurs) I've seen him go 150 feet into the air.

Everyone, no, sir, sir, sir.

That way, sir.

(relaxed music)

But the rain cleared,

and in the fields around Woodstock,

50 years turned into just a single moment.

(singing)

(relaxed music)

Nearly 60,000 people showed up over the weekend

to celebrate, to remember, party,

just to be together and to spin the circles of the seasons

into their own, personal, Woodstock.

(light guitar music)

I love watching this, I guess I spent

the last two years just to see this.

But, there's Dr. Bob,

and he finally got credit

for his beautiful artwork, and people love it so much.

And it is, now, exactly what it was 50 years ago, the icon.

You know, somehow, the bus, with its symbols and signs,

captures the whole thing in shorthand.

And, through sun and rain, morning to night,

folks have just gravitated towards the bus,

and they wanna get their picture taken.

And, it's like the Woodstock generation

has transformed, pretty naturally,

into the Instagram generation.

And the bus stayed the same through the whole thing.

It's amazing.

(relaxed music)

With Woodstock in the rear view mirror,

the Light bus, and all of us, are headed down a new road.

The reason why the windshield is so large,

and the rear view mirror is so small

is because what's happened in the past

is not nearly as important as what we do in the future.

It's how we look at the road ahead that matters the most.

This is what I learned on the road to Woodstock.

A hippie is just a person who

got their hopes up about the future.

Like Trudy said, you gotta stay away

from the things that divide us.

We got to look for projects, like the Light bus,

that bring us together, that give us a purpose.

We need reminders, like the symbols of Dr. Bob's art,

that we're all one people, more the same than different.

When we work in the service of each other,

when we go towards that light, the shadows

of life fall behind us.

We can't wish for a better past,

but we can hope for a better future.

So, get your hopes up, expect better things,

whatever you can imagine.

Everyone has a time machine to the future.

(uplifting music)