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Our First Wedding

Shane Tretheway • September 3, 2018

A Learning Experience

Yay! It's our first wedding with Miss Daisy! Just like the Pink Bride Show, we were nervous and excited. We had everything loaded in the bus and ready to go. I drove the bus and Kaley followed behind in our truck since were also photographing and filming the wedding. We were chugging along in the right lane on I-75 getting passed by nearly every car because we are slow.

Remember when we mentioned that we had little knowledge of VW buses? Well we didn't realize how easily they can overheat and it was about 95 degrees this sunny August day. I get a call from Kaley saying "Pull Over! You are smoking!". I quickly took the next exit and pulled into the nearest gas station. Now what? How are we going to get to this wedding? We also have to photograph and film it. 
We called our most wonderful friend Julia and she came to the rescue. Julia immediately came to the gas station and we called a tow truck. They would be there in about 20 mins and Julia waited to give them the keys while Kaley and I took the truck and went to the wedding venue with our camera gear. We were stressed but had to keep going. We made it to the wedding in plenty of time to begin photographing/filming. 

The Tow truck arrived and dropped off poor Miss Daisy hours before the ceremony and guests arrived. We were very thankful not to cause a disruption to the bride and groom's wedding day. I got Miss Daisy in place where she would be in operation during the reception.

Stress started to subside and we focused on documenting the couple's gorgeous wedding. Later our booth attendant arrived and made sure the kiosk and props were ready to go. Everything was working just fine and Miss Daisy fulfilled her duty as a super fun photo booth. 
Guests hopped in and out of the bus all night for their photos and had the best time. 
It wasn't the experience I had hoped for as our first wedding but we made it. 

The wedding was over and the couple had their sparkler send-off. All that was left to do was pack up and head home. Once all the guests left, the tow truck arrived and Miss Daisy made it back home safely.

The following day we called our mechanic at Automotive Artifex and had him take a look. It turns out that rebuilt motor we thought Miss Daisy had, was not the case. So here's a brief overview of a VW bus engine. It is air-cooled which means it does not have a radiator like most cars these days. She was supposed to have two pieces of tin that evenly distribute air over the engine pistons to cool them as it drives. Sadly, these crucial pieces of tin were nowhere to be found. In addition to not having the airflow distribution tin in place, the pistons were not aimed in the proper directions, which also caused the motor to get hot more quickly. VW Buses like to cruise at about 45 mph with 55mph being her top speed (for 1971 models), so when I was driving down I-75 pedal to the metal, she overheated. 

But our mechanic fixed her right up and now we know. This is why we avoid interstates because Miss Daisy just can't keep up with the other cars. We take the road less travelled with backroads. This was a big learning experience for us as first-time VW bus owners and that wouldn't be the only thing we would learn along the way. 

Our Story

By Shane Tretheway • September 22, 2018
The Owners of Miss Daisy: See how our love of VWs came to be in Australia
Debut of the SunKissed Photo Bus at The Chattanooga Pink Bride Show 2018

Our Debut |The Pink Bride 2018

By Shane Tretheway • August 24, 2018
This was such a nerve wrecking day! This was the day we showed the world what we had worked so hard the last 6 months to create. Would it be a bust or success? We were so stressed but we had to keep going. Luckily Miss Daisy ran well and made it inside the Chattanooga Convention Center for the show.
Miss Daisy at Howe Farms

Restoration | The Making of Miss Daisy

By Shane Tretheway • August 10, 2018
Miss Daisy is bright yellow and beautiful now but she wasn't always this way. We were young (still are), had a dream, and were willing to take a risk. We wanted to start a photo bus business and that means we needed a cute VW Bus. Ones that were fully restored were expensive and often didn't have the look we were going for. We spent months looking at VW buses on all sorts of used car platforms across the U.S and we found Miss Daisy on Craigslist. Yes, on sketchy Craigslist. She was listed for sale for a couple months and we had our eye on her since the owner stated it had a rebuilt motor (Later we found out that wasn't the case...) We decided we liked the idea of restoring a bus ourselves so we could customize it and slowly pay for the projects. We drove to Dandridge, TN where Miss Daisy was located and she was in bad shape. She barely had paint on her, just a poor gray primer. She had some visible body damage with dings here and there. She was not taken care of very well but to be fair she was 48 years old. Her headliner was moldy, and yes there was a distinct smell. Parts of the floor board was rusted through to the point where we could stick our fingers through. But none of those concerns mattered. We fell in love with her and her potential. We didn't see all the dirt and grime. We saw her cute smile and the happiness she would bring to newlywed couples. We wrote the man a check and trailered her back home to Chattanooga.
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