A Dieing Bus

About a year ago, we went to look at a little vw camper that we were thinking about purchasing, when we pulled into the location to have a look at the camper my gaze fell upon an incredibly eccentric (and run down) looking vehicle.

At that moment I lost all interest in even looking at the Westy we had come to see; I was in love, and I wanted that odd looking vehicle. My attention was immediately focused on finding out all that I could about it.
The owner of the beast said it was some kind of Unimog Camper conversion and he was (of course) not inclined to sell it as he was going to turn it into a flatbed car hauler and use it for his business.
This, my friends, was the bus that started the search for an old weird looking bus culminating in the finding and purchasing of Harry Farris.

Fast Forward a year later and it is for sale.
We immediately called the owner and he sent us over some photos of the diamond in the rough; as it is now and, to our surprise, as it was in its former glory. This time he was much more forthcoming about the bus than he was previously.
It has had a pretty adventurous past by all accounts. Turns out it is a Mercedes L something or other and it had its coach body and camper interior built out over in Singapore. It was owned by two male partners who then basically traveled around the world in it with it somehow ending up here in the states.

The end and worst part of this tale is that when we went to look at Wally (even though he is not owned by us he looks like a Wally and so we have taken to calling him that whenever we talk about him) he was WAY worse in person than in the photos and than he was a year ago. He is a sad and sorry shell of his former glamorous world traveling self. In vehicle ICU if you will; on the cusp of the point of no return as he continues to sit and rust away due to abuse and neglect.

As much as we want to add him to our fleet we find ourselves struggling with just how much work and money needs to be put into him (especially knowing of his former glory.) Right now the jurry is out but we will let you know when/if we can negotiate a deal and plan of action for him.