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  • 2 months ago
85 SPEAKERS, neon lights, and an incredible 13ft 2” height are just some of the incredible features on a giant replica VW bus. Kirk Strawn is the owner of Walter The Bus, a super-sized version of the Volkswagen classic, custom-built on the chassis of a 1963 fire truck. Once Kirk and friends discovered the truck in a junk yard, they decided to build the world’s biggest VW bus and Walter, named after the Walter Truck Company that made the fire truck, was born. Kirk, of Arizona, told R.Rides: “There’s always a smile whenever anybody sees Walter. You just don’t see something like this driving the road every day. It just brightens your day. It opens your eyes and makes you wonder what else might be possible.” After the truck was found in 2003, it took three years and more than 100 people to collectively bring Kirk and his friends’ vision to life. The bus’ unique features have seen him attend desert festival Burning Man 11 times, as well as appear at events for Google and SpaceX. The truck is a three-speed manual with an air clutch and torque converter, and runs on a 330-horsepower engine with a 40-gallon gas tank. 85 speakers have been installed throughout the bus, powered by four amps on each side of the vehicle, giving it a 360-degree sound system that’s perfect for mobile parties. Meanwhile, more than 20,000 coloured LED lights line the contours of the exterior while an onboard misting system adds atmosphere to any event.

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Motor
Transcript
00:00Walter had his military service.
00:03Next, he ended up fighting wildfires.
00:06He's been to Burning Man 11 times.
00:08He's worked events for Google and SpaceX.
00:11You don't see something like this every day.
00:13It makes you wonder how the heck did that thing get created.
00:20Walter is a 2 to 1 scale Volkswagen bus.
00:25But Walter certainly wasn't built this way.
00:28Assembled as a fire truck in 1963,
00:31Walter saw years of Air Force service
00:34before moving to the New River Fire Department in Arizona.
00:37A couple of us found Walter in an old abandoned junkyard,
00:43parked never to move again.
00:45Kirk and a few friends set about an incredible conversion.
00:51In his original form,
00:53he kind of looked like a giant Volkswagen bus.
00:55He was boxy and had a split front windshield.
01:00And the driving position was out in front of the front wheels,
01:04which was very, very helpful in ultimately doing the design
01:09and pleating the fabrication.
01:12The team that assembled to turn this old fire truck into a Volkswagen bus
01:17has really become kind of family.
01:24I am Nate Motzenbacher.
01:25I am the lead mechanic behind Walter the bus.
01:28Original chassis of the fire truck is still there.
01:31It's all underneath this shell of what is the bus now.
01:36When you're in the, I'd call the observation deck, the big party deck on top,
01:40you're actually walking on the roof of the original fire truck.
01:44When you're in the cab, when you're sitting in the driver's seat,
01:47you are sitting about five feet above where the original driver's seat was
01:51and all the controls are just extended up through the floor
01:53and you're able to drive like that.
01:58From firefighter to party starter,
02:00this vehicle is packing a serious sound system.
02:03Walter actually has 85 speakers on him.
02:06It takes a lot to be able to compact 85 speakers,
02:09so we had to hide a few.
02:15I can't say for sure how many people we've ever had up here is the max,
02:18but I can tell you that after one event,
02:21we had to take the rear springs off and have them recurved
02:24because they were flattened out from so much weight
02:27and so many people up here.
02:28I have backup cameras and cameras all around
02:33so I'd be able to see when I'm doing anything in tight spaces
02:36or with a crowd.
02:38Essentially, kind of be able to drive a two-story house
02:41from the second-story window.
02:42Quite a trip to be able to drive this thing.
02:45And at 30 feet long and 13 feet tall,
02:47this vehicle makes a big impression out on the road.
02:55Take the whole lane here.
02:56We need the whole road.
03:03There we go.
03:05Walter drives a lot like a Volkswagen bus.
03:09There's just something special about the way you drive a vehicle
03:13when you're over the front tires.
03:16Whenever anybody sees Walter, it's a smile, a wave, and you just don't see something like this
03:28driving down the road every day.
03:31I think the coolest part of Walter is just like that.
03:34Just like whoever that was,
03:35they certainly weren't expecting to see something like this today.
03:38It brightens your day.
03:40It opens your eyes.
03:41It makes you wonder what else might be possible.
03:43And just wonder how the heck did that thing get created.
03:47Get created.
03:48Get created.
03:54Get created.
03:56Get created.
03:57Get created.
03:58And just篝ezed
03:59...
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