Karl
Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2007
- Messages
- 82
I am starting this conversation with all Ron Paul Supporters because the idea has potential but needs to be discussed fully. We own a 1964 Bristol Lodekka double decker bus (FLF6B) and we are Ron Paul supporters. Our idea is to make this bus into a driving advertisement for Ron Paul. Before I get to far into that, let me start with our story.
Two years ago we started a small business on the central coast of California. After a year or so, we realized that though our financial prosperity was greatly improving, our joy in life was not. We had a deep longing to live a different life of travel, community, family and freedom. So we decided to buy an RV. However, after seeing the cost of RV's, the fact they are poorly built and still not very large, we started looking for other options. We looked at school bus conversions and decided it was much more our style to live in a converted school bus. After doing the math and looking at buses I had the funniest idea, we should convert and live in a double decker bus. I was joking of course, but my laughter eventual turned into curiosity and I started a search to see if there were double deckers available. As fate would have it, I found one. One that was only a 1 hour drive away from where we lived. So, long story short, we bought it. We have been working for the past 2 years to convert it into an rv and live in it full time.
In the last Ron Paul campaign I was as active as I could be. I helped organize the Ron Paul DVD Project for a fabulous video made by Neal Fitzgerald. I also organized the Ron Paul DVD Bomb which was responsible for shipping 25,000 Ron Paul Revere DVD's to Iowa and New Hampshire. I was very active in my local Ron Paul meetup group being one of the first 3 to sign up. I went to one of Ron's campaign events in Mt. View California and was able to shake his hand and get a picture (not without a lot of crowd surfing might I add). I am not posting this for bragging rights, just to let you know that I didn't just pop into this effort recently. I was there from the beginning though maybe not well known.
Here is the idea. Since we are working towards making our bus into a RV and traveling in it, we would be happy to donate a year and a half of our time to use our double decker house to help spread the liberty message of Ron Paul. However, there is going to be financial needs to do this. I am presently working at getting this bus done but we can only go as fast as we can afford, and I doubt we would be able to do this before the election season is over. So, for this to happen, we would need financial support. I can understand there may be some concerns and some people who will think it is a waste of money. I want you all to know that my intentions are not to do this for personal gain. I do admit I will have a lot to gain from it, but that is not my intent. If it is something that does not seem worthwhile, I completely understand and I am not going to push this. I respect everybody's opinion and if it turns out to be a bad idea or something that will be too expensive, we will just drop it, no big deal. However, I feel I must at least bring it up and put it on the table as it seems like a very useful tool and would be a shame to let pass without at least addressing it as a possibility. So that being said, here is the latest video of our Double Decker Bus for you to see what you will be helping to support.
I originally brought this up in the chat room and was given some very good advice on what to do before presenting the idea. It was suggested that I give a detailed breakdown of the costs and what to expect. Unfortunately, I can't break down all the expenses quite yet because I do not know them. I was doing all the work myself and by bartering over a long period of time. To make it happen, it would have to go much quicker so I have to reanalyze the costs and how it would be done. So here is a list of basic costs and other things to consider. If the idea based on this estimate seems like something you all want to support, I will update this over the next week with precise figures for everything involved. I am sure this will be evolving so I will keep updating as the conversation continues.
This is the first and probably the most important issue with this bus. Currently, the engine that I have is running but is a very rare 1964 Bristol BVW engine. I would like to change that engine out for a International DT466 Diesel. Mainly, the engine that is currently in may be unreliable because it is so old and if it broke down, there will not be parts for it. When I say there is no parts, I mean I only know one other person in the world who has one and he wants to buy mine from me for parts. I am completely willing to use this engine as long as we have the money committed to switching it out when/if it breaks down so to not leave my family and I stranded. To switch the engine out will not be cheap. A guy I talked to recently gave a quote of about $10,000 for a used DT466 including the install but would not put it on paper until they saw it. I am working on finding a good price and have been in contact with a few different local companies with no solid price as of yet.
Also, this bus is all original which means everything on it is from 1964. So, it goes without saying that there can be mechanical issues as is the case with any vehicle. But hey, it is a double decker bus and they are what they are, historic.
If we get the DT466 Engine, we would like to convert it to run on used Veggie Oil. That is an additional cost but in the long run the savings in gas should make it well worth it. In addition, it shows respect for the environment which will only serve to help Ron's message with those who find this to be a crucial issue. Not a necessary cost but one I think is worth while.
We are sending it in two weeks to have all the walls put in, most of the electrical and plumbing infrastructure will be complete in about 3 weeks. So the costs of making it road ready for us to live in is estimated to be roughly $6,000 which includes water tanks, water heater, shower, composting toilet, etc. I will give a detailed list of everything down to the penny once we are sure this is something you would like to support.
Exterior Ron Paul Graphics- not sure price but will check on it Monday when the graphics companies are open.
Monthly Expenses for living- My family and I need to eat, be able to buy weather appropriate clothing and have a safe place to park the bus to sleep/live while we are not campaigning. Traveling and such, I will not be able to work a job so we will need your support. This may not be appealing to some, but if we can figure out a way that could maintain an income while still being effective at campaigning, I would be very receptive. It has been suggested that we sale merchandise and we are completely open to that. My wife has suggested that she can bake and sell teas/coffees etc at rallies. However, if it did not work out we would have to forfeit our effort.
We will need fuel if we cannot find veggie oil, assuming we decide for the conversion. We will need to be able to dump our tanks and pay to park in some places. What I am proposing is a Monthly living allowance. That way we can keep ourselves on the road, keep our living needs met and not be begging on street corners for money. We must keep a cell phone on, be able to take days off for our family to relax and spend time together and would like to keep a satellite internet connection so we can post pictures, and video of our travels while staying in communication with everybody. I am not sure how much that will be but I leave that up to discussion.
Insurance is rather cheap at $600 per year.
I can commit to TRYING to be at all of the polls, rallies and so on that I can be at. Consider that I am not going to be able to keep up with Ron as he will fly most of the places he needs to be. I will have to drive and possibly at a measly 40 mph. So, some events will probably be missed. But as long as it is in my power to do it without sacrificing our safety, I will. I do need occasional days from campaigning for family time as I am sure you can all understand. I also recently had a radio station setup, I can easy get it back on the air and do mobile broadcasts from all the events.
It was suggested that the bus could be a mobile campaign center. Unfortunately that will not work for our situation because I have a 9 year old boy and a 4 year old girl and this will be our family's home. I can transport materials, do podcasts, broadcast radio shows, supply an internet connection for various functions, take video, pictures, serve as a hub with limitations and so on. All this is also up for discussion as I want to assist in any way I can.
I am hoping that if this is supported, that many supporters with land will allow us to park on their property while we travel around to avoid needing to pay for RV Parks. It will be a joy to meet some of the lovely Ron Paul supporters out there and look forward to participating with the meetups all over.
Things to Consider-
Size of bus for parking and driving- The bus is 13' 5" tall and 30 ft. long. There are no shortage of places we will not be able to go. So, considering that fact, it is essential that we make clear that we can only do what is safe and in our power. Some of the venues may not want us there and I don't doubt we may have the police up our rear from time to time, but we will try.
I think the bulk of our campaign efforts will be in the important primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire. We will work with supporters to determine the best strategic places for us to spend our time to better spread Ron Paul's message.
This is just a beginning, but as a rough estimate for total costs, I expect that it will be in the range of $50,000 although I can't be certain until I get all the info. No small sum of money but like I said before, if it doesn't seem worth it to continue the discussion we can go ahead and dismiss it. I leave that up to you all and would be both humbled and proud to travel as a messenger for Dr. Paul. =)
Two years ago we started a small business on the central coast of California. After a year or so, we realized that though our financial prosperity was greatly improving, our joy in life was not. We had a deep longing to live a different life of travel, community, family and freedom. So we decided to buy an RV. However, after seeing the cost of RV's, the fact they are poorly built and still not very large, we started looking for other options. We looked at school bus conversions and decided it was much more our style to live in a converted school bus. After doing the math and looking at buses I had the funniest idea, we should convert and live in a double decker bus. I was joking of course, but my laughter eventual turned into curiosity and I started a search to see if there were double deckers available. As fate would have it, I found one. One that was only a 1 hour drive away from where we lived. So, long story short, we bought it. We have been working for the past 2 years to convert it into an rv and live in it full time.
In the last Ron Paul campaign I was as active as I could be. I helped organize the Ron Paul DVD Project for a fabulous video made by Neal Fitzgerald. I also organized the Ron Paul DVD Bomb which was responsible for shipping 25,000 Ron Paul Revere DVD's to Iowa and New Hampshire. I was very active in my local Ron Paul meetup group being one of the first 3 to sign up. I went to one of Ron's campaign events in Mt. View California and was able to shake his hand and get a picture (not without a lot of crowd surfing might I add). I am not posting this for bragging rights, just to let you know that I didn't just pop into this effort recently. I was there from the beginning though maybe not well known.
Here is the idea. Since we are working towards making our bus into a RV and traveling in it, we would be happy to donate a year and a half of our time to use our double decker house to help spread the liberty message of Ron Paul. However, there is going to be financial needs to do this. I am presently working at getting this bus done but we can only go as fast as we can afford, and I doubt we would be able to do this before the election season is over. So, for this to happen, we would need financial support. I can understand there may be some concerns and some people who will think it is a waste of money. I want you all to know that my intentions are not to do this for personal gain. I do admit I will have a lot to gain from it, but that is not my intent. If it is something that does not seem worthwhile, I completely understand and I am not going to push this. I respect everybody's opinion and if it turns out to be a bad idea or something that will be too expensive, we will just drop it, no big deal. However, I feel I must at least bring it up and put it on the table as it seems like a very useful tool and would be a shame to let pass without at least addressing it as a possibility. So that being said, here is the latest video of our Double Decker Bus for you to see what you will be helping to support.
I originally brought this up in the chat room and was given some very good advice on what to do before presenting the idea. It was suggested that I give a detailed breakdown of the costs and what to expect. Unfortunately, I can't break down all the expenses quite yet because I do not know them. I was doing all the work myself and by bartering over a long period of time. To make it happen, it would have to go much quicker so I have to reanalyze the costs and how it would be done. So here is a list of basic costs and other things to consider. If the idea based on this estimate seems like something you all want to support, I will update this over the next week with precise figures for everything involved. I am sure this will be evolving so I will keep updating as the conversation continues.
This is the first and probably the most important issue with this bus. Currently, the engine that I have is running but is a very rare 1964 Bristol BVW engine. I would like to change that engine out for a International DT466 Diesel. Mainly, the engine that is currently in may be unreliable because it is so old and if it broke down, there will not be parts for it. When I say there is no parts, I mean I only know one other person in the world who has one and he wants to buy mine from me for parts. I am completely willing to use this engine as long as we have the money committed to switching it out when/if it breaks down so to not leave my family and I stranded. To switch the engine out will not be cheap. A guy I talked to recently gave a quote of about $10,000 for a used DT466 including the install but would not put it on paper until they saw it. I am working on finding a good price and have been in contact with a few different local companies with no solid price as of yet.
Also, this bus is all original which means everything on it is from 1964. So, it goes without saying that there can be mechanical issues as is the case with any vehicle. But hey, it is a double decker bus and they are what they are, historic.
If we get the DT466 Engine, we would like to convert it to run on used Veggie Oil. That is an additional cost but in the long run the savings in gas should make it well worth it. In addition, it shows respect for the environment which will only serve to help Ron's message with those who find this to be a crucial issue. Not a necessary cost but one I think is worth while.
We are sending it in two weeks to have all the walls put in, most of the electrical and plumbing infrastructure will be complete in about 3 weeks. So the costs of making it road ready for us to live in is estimated to be roughly $6,000 which includes water tanks, water heater, shower, composting toilet, etc. I will give a detailed list of everything down to the penny once we are sure this is something you would like to support.
Exterior Ron Paul Graphics- not sure price but will check on it Monday when the graphics companies are open.
Monthly Expenses for living- My family and I need to eat, be able to buy weather appropriate clothing and have a safe place to park the bus to sleep/live while we are not campaigning. Traveling and such, I will not be able to work a job so we will need your support. This may not be appealing to some, but if we can figure out a way that could maintain an income while still being effective at campaigning, I would be very receptive. It has been suggested that we sale merchandise and we are completely open to that. My wife has suggested that she can bake and sell teas/coffees etc at rallies. However, if it did not work out we would have to forfeit our effort.
We will need fuel if we cannot find veggie oil, assuming we decide for the conversion. We will need to be able to dump our tanks and pay to park in some places. What I am proposing is a Monthly living allowance. That way we can keep ourselves on the road, keep our living needs met and not be begging on street corners for money. We must keep a cell phone on, be able to take days off for our family to relax and spend time together and would like to keep a satellite internet connection so we can post pictures, and video of our travels while staying in communication with everybody. I am not sure how much that will be but I leave that up to discussion.
Insurance is rather cheap at $600 per year.
I can commit to TRYING to be at all of the polls, rallies and so on that I can be at. Consider that I am not going to be able to keep up with Ron as he will fly most of the places he needs to be. I will have to drive and possibly at a measly 40 mph. So, some events will probably be missed. But as long as it is in my power to do it without sacrificing our safety, I will. I do need occasional days from campaigning for family time as I am sure you can all understand. I also recently had a radio station setup, I can easy get it back on the air and do mobile broadcasts from all the events.
It was suggested that the bus could be a mobile campaign center. Unfortunately that will not work for our situation because I have a 9 year old boy and a 4 year old girl and this will be our family's home. I can transport materials, do podcasts, broadcast radio shows, supply an internet connection for various functions, take video, pictures, serve as a hub with limitations and so on. All this is also up for discussion as I want to assist in any way I can.
I am hoping that if this is supported, that many supporters with land will allow us to park on their property while we travel around to avoid needing to pay for RV Parks. It will be a joy to meet some of the lovely Ron Paul supporters out there and look forward to participating with the meetups all over.
Things to Consider-
Size of bus for parking and driving- The bus is 13' 5" tall and 30 ft. long. There are no shortage of places we will not be able to go. So, considering that fact, it is essential that we make clear that we can only do what is safe and in our power. Some of the venues may not want us there and I don't doubt we may have the police up our rear from time to time, but we will try.
I think the bulk of our campaign efforts will be in the important primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire. We will work with supporters to determine the best strategic places for us to spend our time to better spread Ron Paul's message.
This is just a beginning, but as a rough estimate for total costs, I expect that it will be in the range of $50,000 although I can't be certain until I get all the info. No small sum of money but like I said before, if it doesn't seem worth it to continue the discussion we can go ahead and dismiss it. I leave that up to you all and would be both humbled and proud to travel as a messenger for Dr. Paul. =)
Last edited by a moderator:
i know iowa?? but yeah
