50 years after the legendary Woodstock festival, the "Light Bus" has been resurrected. Thanks to a press photo, the original became famous and quickly became a symbol of the movement. This was easy to do, as the bus was covered with drawings in the hippie colors of yellow, green, orange and red.
The original - "magic bus"
The artist Robert Hieronimus, better known as "Dr. Bob", was only 26 years old when he was commissioned by musician Bob Grimm to paint a "magic bus". Grimm was a member of the Baltimore-based band "Light". The bus was a VW Type 2, which Hieronimus painted in a psychedelic style. The group planned to take the bus on tour, including to the Woodstock Festival in 1969.
It took Hieronimus six months to complete the project. He painted the bus with cosmic symbols, archetypal motifs and words in ancient languages. He was paid a thousand dollars for his work, a large sum at the time. Like so many others, he bought a ticket to the festival, but when he heard that over 50,000 people were expected, he decided not to take part.
Little did he know that almost half a million people would actually come together and that "his bus" would become a Woodstock mascot. A photo of the bus made the rounds in the newspapers and magazines up and down the country helped to immortalize it. Hieronimus later said that the van symbolized the summer of love like no other car.
With its 40 hp and air-cooled engine, the VW bus wasn't really designed for speed, but it was cheap to maintain, easy to repair and could transport a lot of people. "It really was a Volkswagen", said Hieronimus, "it represented freedom".
The replica - "Light bus"
In 2017, when the 50th anniversary of Woodstock was already within reach, Hieronimus and Canadian documentary filmmaker John Wesley Chisolm set out to find and restore the original bus. Together with numerous helpers and the support of VW, they combed the USA, from New Jersey to Arkansas. However, the track was too old and the original probably continues to eke out its existence in some scrapyard, if it still exists at all.
In early 2018, the decision was made to make an exact replica instead. Fortunately, the team found a Type 2 version that resembled the original like a twin. They hired a team of restoration experts and got to work.
"We had three weeks to do three months of work," said Robert Skinner, owner of Auto Body Center in California. "We wanted to create a solid foundation so that the Light Bus would still be going strong in 50 years' time."
After the basic restoration, the bus came to Hieronimus and his team. In a short six weeks, he and five artists painted the bus exactly like the original.
"There is a story behind every drawing, many stories, and they all have the same core, of unification, collaboration and higher consciousness, which is what really makes the "light"," said Hieronimus.
In early March 2019, after the restoration was complete, the incarnation took part in the "VW Bus onwers gathering" in California.
Chisolm documented the entire process, from the search to the finished Light Bus, and his documentary will be published this summer under the title "A Bus Called Light".
Meanwhile, the bus will travel across the country to appear at the Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival in August. Chrisholm notes: "The bus puts a smile on people's faces and makes them happy. Everyone wants to ride and be a part of it. Whatever a dream is, wherever you want to go, the bus will take you there."
You can read the official press release from VW here.
