A distinguishing feature of the ’68 was the one-piece windshield. The bus also has a four-speed manual transmission.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Steve Szydlowski

BARRINGTON Dave Smith spent years surfing in California when he lived in Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles, and is always ready to play hooky when the surf is up with a couple of surfing buddies — John Berkery, a financial analyst with BankAmerica, and Dr. Nick Ward, a pulmonologist.

And when he does, he plays surfin’ safari by jumping in his red-and-white 1968 VW bus complete with his surf board on the roof.

The cowabunga bus, which he restored, used to belong to one of his best friends, Dan Carlson. They surfed together in California and kept in touch when both families moved to the East Coast in 1995, Dan and his family to Portland, Maine, and Smith and his family to Barrington. About five years ago, after Dan died following a long illness, his wife, Mitzi, gave the bus to Smith.

Smith, 42, said the bus, which Dan acquired second-hand in California, had 60,000 miles on it when he brought it down from Maine and most of it was in original condition, both inside and out, although “Dan had the engine out.”

“Everyone has a (memory) about (a VW bus),” he said , adding “The oily smell (combined) with the vinyl took me back to my sophomore year in high school.”

“Dan was a positive, happy guy, a good, good friend. I took the van, and with Dan in mind, restored and painted it,” he said, adding that in using it to go surfing, “I feel like I’m carrying on Dan’s tradition.”

Smith gave much of the credit for the work on the bus to Bill Benz, of Engines by Benz on Massasoit Avenue in East Providence. Benz specializes in restoring VWs and remembers Smith’s bus well. “Dave’s bus was a very good piece to start with,” he said. “Mechanically we did some stuff, got the brakes sorted out, but it was a nice bus. It’ll be worth some money if he holds on to it.”

That’s not so important to Smith. “There’s no money in fixing old VWs,” he said. “It’s a passion thing.” He said he’s got $10,000-to-$12,000 in the vehicle and added that it’s worth just about that. “If it gets scratched, it doesn’t matter,” he said.

Smith is president of Factory Five Racing, which produces high-performance kit cars such as the ’65 Roadster kit, based on the 1965 Shelby Cobra, and the Type 65 Coupe, based on the Cobra Daytona Coupe. The Wareham, Mass.-based, company, which he runs with his brother Mark, has developed its first original design, a Corvette-powered GTM-200 Supercar which was recently tested at 3.1 seconds 0-to-60 mph by Car and Driver on the track at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix. “I can’t brag enough,” he said. “This really puts us on the map.”

VW introduced the first version of the air-cooled, rear-engine Kombinationskraftwagen, or combined-use wagon, in 1950. Among its unique features were accommodation for passengers in the rear and placing the driver above the front wheel. In the 1960s it became a symbol of the counter-culture revolution with the front VW logo often replaced with the peace symbol.

The original model had a split windshield, and a distinguishing feature of the second version, which VW introduced in 1968, was the solid windshield that Smith’s bus sports.

Performancewise, Smith said he’s “lucky to crack 60 miles per hour on the highway, not much more than that. They are underpowered and, aerodynamically, it’s like a sheet of plywood flying down the highway.”

Smith said his bus has a four-speed manual transmission and is fitted with what was marketed in 1968 as the Westphalian camper option of refrigerator/sink and a folding dinette table in the rear. He has added seat belts.

In addition, the rear bench seat folds down to form a bed and the top opens up and a canvas cot can be rolled out. Curtains can be closed on all the windows and a tent can be attached outside the sliding door. But Smith said the tent was “a monstrosity” and extremely difficult to set up as it is made of stiff, old canvas. “It takes half an hour to put up,” he said.

He said he’s only put on about 6,000 miles in the last four years. “It’s only 6,000 miles but a lot of smiles,” he said.

“Now it’s nice and clean and it’s a great day-trip truck,” he said, adding that he often takes his children — 12-year-old Nicole;Madison, 10; Jennifer, 8; and Adam, 5 — to the beach in the summer and they spend the day using the bus as home base. “They love it.”

“It’s the kind of car that everyone smiles when they see it, it makes you happy,” Smith said. “And every time someone smiles, I think of Dan. It’s a good karma truck.”

Auto Biography is a feature that tells an interesting story about a car and its driver. If you think you have a newsworthy story to tell about your car, write to Auto Biography, Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St. Providence RI 02902 or e-mail projocars@projo.com. Be sure to put “Auto Biography” in the subject field.

The car doesn’t have to be a classic or expensive, but it should be somehow unique. The driver must be willing to be interviewed by a reporter about what makes this car special and to be photographed with the car.

pelsworth@projo.com