Hey all,

I just heard on the news that the U.S. Border Patrol is buying up
hundreds of old Volkswagen busses in southern California and southern
Arizona to be used as stealth vehicles for patroling various backcountry
areas along the U.S.-Mexico border looking for drug smugglers.

They quoted some guy named Vince Claypool, a USBP spokesperson as saying
that they were planning to put some sort of big 6-cylinder engine in 'em
and modify the suspension to handle better in high speed chases but that
the outside would be left as is.  Aparently, they are looking for busses
from the years 1968 to 1979 because of their resemblance to Mexican busses.
He said the high ground clearance of the busses is also a plus for this
operation (code named 'hipster').

Hmm, I wonder how much they're paying for busses, I've been trying to
sell my '73 Westphalia.  And will they sell the busses back to the public
when the operation is done?

Anybody else heard anything about this?

 -Dyer