85 SPEAKERS, neon lights, and an incredible 13ft 2” height are just some of the incredible features on a giant replica VW bus. Kirk Strawn is the owner of Walter The Bus, a super-sized version of the Volkswagen classic, custom-built on the chassis of a 1963 fire truck. Once Kirk and friends discovered the truck in a junk yard, they decided to build the world’s biggest VW bus and Walter, named after the Walter Truck Company that made the fire truck, was born. Kirk, of Arizona, told R.Rides: “There’s always a smile whenever anybody sees Walter. You just don’t see something like this driving the road every day. It just brightens your day. It opens your eyes and makes you wonder what else might be possible.” After the truck was found in 2003, it took three years and more than 100 people to collectively bring Kirk and his friends’ vision to life. The bus’ unique features have seen him attend desert festival Burning Man 11 times, as well as appear at events for Google and SpaceX. The truck is a three-speed manual with an air clutch and torque converter, and runs on a 330-horsepower engine with a 40-gallon gas tank. 85 speakers have been installed throughout the bus, powered by four amps on each side of the vehicle, giving it a 360-degree sound system that’s perfect for mobile parties. Meanwhile, more than 20,000 coloured LED lights line the contours of the exterior while an onboard misting system adds atmosphere to any event.
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MotorTranscript
00:00Walter had his military service. Next, he ended up fighting wildfires. He's been to
00:06Burning Man 11 times. He's worked events for Google and SpaceX. You don't see something
00:12like this every day. It makes you wonder, how the heck did that thing get created?
00:20Walter is a two-to-one scale Volkswagen bus.
00:25But Walter certainly wasn't built this way.
00:28Assembled as a fire truck in 1963, Walter saw years of Air Force service before moving
00:35to the New River Fire Department in Arizona.
00:38A couple of us found Walter in an old abandoned junkyard, parked never to move again.
00:45Kirk and a few friends set about an incredible conversion.
00:50In his original form, he kind of looked like a giant Volkswagen bus.
00:55He was boxy and had a split front windshield.
00:59And the driving position was out in front of the front wheels.
01:04Which was very, very helpful in ultimately doing the design and pleating the fabrication.
01:11The team that assembled to turn this old fire truck into a Volkswagen bus
01:17has really become kind of family.
01:24I am Nate Motzenbacher. I am the lead mechanic behind Walter the Bus.
01:28The original chassis of the fire truck is still there.
01:31It's all underneath this shell of what is the bus now.
01:36When you're in the observation deck, the big party deck on top,
01:40you're actually walking on the roof of the original fire truck.
01:43When you're in the cab, when you're sitting in the driver's seat,
01:46you are sitting about five feet above where the original driver's seat was.
01:50And all the controls are just extended up through the floor and you're able to drive like that.
01:57From firefighter to party starter, this vehicle is packing a serious sound system.
02:03Walter actually has 85 speakers on him.
02:05It takes a lot to be able to compact 85 speakers, so we had to hide a few.
02:14I can't say for sure how many people we've ever had up here is the max,
02:18but I can tell you that after one event, we had to take the rear springs off
02:22and had them recurved because they were flattened out from so much weight
02:26and so many people up here.
02:29I have backup cameras and cameras all around,
02:33so I'd be able to see when I'm doing anything in tight spaces or with a crowd.
02:37Essentially, kind of be able to drive a two-story house from the second-story window.
02:42Quite a trip to be able to drive this thing.
02:44And at 30 feet long and 13 feet tall, this vehicle makes a big impression out on the road.
02:55Take the whole lane here. We need the whole road.
03:03There we go.
03:05Walter drives a lot like a Volkswagen bus.
03:08There's just something special about the way you drive a vehicle when you're over the front tires.
03:19Whenever anybody sees Walter, it's a smile, a wave,
03:24and you just don't see something like this driving down the road every day.
03:30I think the coolest part of Walter is just like that.
03:33Whoever that was, they certainly weren't expecting to see something like this today.
03:37It brightens your day. It opens your eyes.
03:40It makes you wonder what else might be possible
03:43and just wonder how the heck did that thing get created.