Vroom? not so much

I went to go see the movie Little Miss Sunshine about a quirky little family from New Mexico who race to get the youngest to a beauty pageant in California. Fun little movie and very well acted.
One of the funniest things about it was the absolute disaster of a VW bus that they use to cart the family from New Mexico to Cali. At the beginning of the trip, the transmission eats itself. However, through some quirk of mechanics, and seeing as though those VWs are the cockroaches of the automotive world - never dying unless they actually get squashed- the little bus can still be started in its 3rd gear. The family has to get out and push to get the car enough speed to kickstart it (hilarity ensues).
Yeah, that sounds about normal for a VW bus; each one has some sort of quirk. I remember some dude in my first year of college had one. It was an automatic(the last car you'd ever want to get an auto in), and the reverse had a habit of not really working, and if it did, it would inch along.
Anyway, I bring this up because my buddy Greg wants to get one. Thankfully, not one of those from the 60s and 70s, but a later, fully decked out Westphalia from the 80s, in which he'll put in a more powerful engine.
I remember when I was in college, I really wanted one of those camper buses, but one from the 60s. It appealed to my hippie liberal sensibilities at the time, I guess. Now, when I can actually afford one of the buggers, I realize I am no longer a hippie (and never really was one) and have no desire to hold up traffic driving around in a sloth slow, smog and pollution producing rolling oddball of a vehicle that doubles in value when you put gas in it.
Does this mean that I've grown up, or that I've grown old? Eh, that's to answer for another time.
Anyway, my friend's ride would be nothing like the four-wheeled disaster I would have found myself in at 19. Considering that he actually knows how to fix cars and make them run better, I'm sure it'll be cool, and I can't wait until I can join him on an adventure or two.
Greg, it looks like you became the hippie, Hippie!
One thing I have to say about the camper bus...they epitomize the thrill and the freedom of the open road.