Once, I helped (and by “helped”, I mostly mean watched) my nephew swap out the engine of a flatbed tow truck in my driveway (long story). Which he then drove 300 miles home.
So there’s a special place in my heart for the madness of this project:
[RESURRECTION – Rescue of a VW 1955 panelvan – Forest find!] (Viewer #718,395)
Yeah, it kind of sucks to be skeptical, but I’ve learned it at the feet of the mainstream media.
My suspicions were aroused by:
1. The quality. The dudes had a GoPro quadcopter at the beginning and end, but not in the middle.
2. The quality. It occurred to a non-professional crew to slowly zoom in on a tire-changing. That is dramatic, emotional footage.
3. The quality. Everything is shot on a tripod, except for the momentary mention of trekking into the woods (handheld-simulated with SteadyCam) and the aerial footage mentioned before.
4. Logic. He had friends in the area who could help him scrounge parts — but he never knew or contacted the owner of the land until after he discovered the VW? Something doesn’t add up. Either he’s a local or he isn’t.
5. He and his buddies replaced “a gas tank, wiring harness, brake system, and engine” in the woods, in a day?
6. Production values. His French-to-English translation is usually perfect, but there are still a few English grammatical mistakes in the subtitles. Why? Perhaps to lend authenticity, as if a mere French citizen cannot afford a proper English translator? Either you can translate or you can’t. Why the grammatical errors?
7. Logic. The van drives off into the woods. The path it takes is along a path marked by tire tracks. Someone has driven this route. Often.
8. Logic. The van drives off into the woods, away from the camera and the burning wood fire.
Not something you’d leave to a cameraman and his gopher to take care of.
9. Product Placement: The Johnny-Cash-like song moans “Gonna last a long time . . .” shortly before the prominent VW logo rounds the corner through the forest primeval. How gullible do they think we are?
More background on the video in this article:
http://www.airmapp.com/articles/resurrection-story-of-a-1955-vw-bus-panelvan-forest-find-rescue
Apparently this guy is a HUGE Volkswagen fanatic. Also, he references a “plane that was crashed in Alaska and that a team repaired on site” as his inspiration.
He might be talking about the “duct tape plane” episode of Mythbusters (which was confirmed, a guy actually repaired extensive damage to his plane’s exterior with duct tape and flew it home – it hadn’t crashed, though, it was attacked by a bear)
I also put forth the theory that they may have been considering having VW buy their video for promotional purposes, which may have influenced their editing and production. I have no evidence for this. Just conjecture.
We have no idea what this guy does for a living. He, or one of his friends, may be a professional videographer.
if they fully restore this gem please post the video
First thing that occurred to me is the idea that those things had a 1.2 liter 4 cylinder, smaller a Geo metro engine. This in a vehicle used as a work truck. The modern van that shows up around 3:40 has an engine about 3 times as big.