Los Angeles – A vintage blue VW bus that became an unlikely symbol of resilience after surviving a California wildfire made it’s public debut this week, shiny and like-new after Volkswagen spent months restoring the damaged vehicle.
The bus went viral in January when an Associated Press photographer captured it looking surprisingly unharmed by the deadly Palisades Fire, a spot of blue and white dwarfed by the charred remains of a Malibu neighborhood. Volkswagen saw the accompanying AP story and reached out to the owner, Megan Weinraub. Upon closer inspection,VW technicians discovered that while the bus had survived,it had smoke damage and blistered paint,rust,and a window busted by the heat.
In its restoration, the 1977 Type 2 Microbus named Azul – Spanish for the color blue – again brought people together as technicians consulted the broader community of VW enthusiasts in a shared mission to revive what was a quirky middle-aged vehicle.
Mark J. Terrill/AP
“It melted and Volkswagen saved it,” Weinraub said Thursday at the LA Auto Show, standing with the bus’s previous owner, Preston Martin. “It was a giant relief because it wasn’t my first priority with everything going on.”
While Weinraub calls the microbus “Azul,” it became known as the “Magic bus” on social media, CBS News Los Angeles points out.
“I was lucky and grateful to have the opportunity for them to restore it as I wouldn’t have been able to restore it myself,” she told the station.