(upbeat music)
- Once I knew the real story behind this van
I was like whoa.
(pictures snapping) (upbeat music)
I need to find everything I can
and now it's just like this is meant to be.
There's no question that I was supposed
to end up with this van.
(upbeat music)
This is actually called a Volkswagen Kombi van
and the Kombi vans were primarily in Europe
used for delivery.
And this is an unusual van
because it's a double barn door van.
Both these two doors open up,
but there's a second set on the other side of the car
and that is extremely rare.
I'm flipping through, looking for cars
and I come across this van.
I was like, "Oh wow, this is cool."
And so, I'm reading the story.
The only story that's being told by this gentlemen
is this van was sued by the U.S. government,
and this is the title of the cake.
Well, this is interesting,
but I still don't get the full story.
The original owner of this bus was Thomas Michael Post.
His grandfather was a brother of C.W. Post.
Thomas decided to come to Washington, D.C.
because of the Kennedy family,
and he was excited.
He wanted to become a part
of what was happening in Washington.
And he drove it across the country,
and he decided that he would stop at the National Parks
that were on his way to Washington, D.C.
He started as a janitor,
and as he emptied the trash
he kind of opened up the pieces of paper
that were either tossed or crumbled and tossed
and he saw signatures,
including signatures by President Kennedy,
signatures by his brother.
Thomas thought these signatures and these documents
these have values, and not monetary values,
but historical value.
He became the self appointed independent library.
This van was the library of congress.
Thomas had his van parked at a store in Washington, D.C.
A woman saw the van and left Thomas a note.
And when Thomas got into the car
he saw the note and he called the woman.
And she said, "Can I hire you to transport my clients
to and from a hotel to an event?"
Thomas went to the hotel and he waited outside.
And there was a group of people out there,
and there was a limo.
And he didn't think anything of it.
And Thomas is just kind of sitting there, you know,
in the driver's seat.
(muffled radio)
And then he saw some other group of people
coming out of the hotel with umbrellas over them.
And the van door opens up.
And the four guys came in,
said, "Hello", asked for drinks.
And it was The Beatles.
Thomas drove them to the very first concert,
which was in Washington, D.C. at some type of ice rink.
That means that The Beatles sat on these seats.
Karmic energy is in this van.
(upbeat music)
And that's how Thomas met The Beatles
and became a friend of George Harrison.
Quite a few years later he received notification
from George Harrison saying,
"Hey, I'm doing a concert for the benefit of Bangladesh.
I've got some ticket for you at (mumbles)."
So, Thomas took his van in
and left it at a mechanic's in D.C.
and decided to take a bus to New York to go to the concert.
It's believed he never made it to the concert
because no one came back to pick up the van.
At the mechanic's the mechanic went to prepare to lean it.
He then had one of his helpers
take out any personal items,
and as the gentlemen went through the bus
he opened up these doors.
Here's one of them.
And what was inside was stacked boxes,
and it had all trash from U.S. congress
of any type of communication with signatures,
like John F. Kennedy, his brother,
and whoever else had documents.
The mechanic contacted the FBI.
They came and took the van,
confiscated all the material.
Nobody looked for Thomas.
It is probably the only van,
or only Volkswagen van that's been sued
by the United States Government.
And it is a natural legal case on record.
You know, there's more than just a piece of metal here
with an engine.
And it's the cultural dynamics
that have occurred with this van.
This van opened up that door.
To do the research it's almost like opening up
a new envelope every time I find something,
or it's a new color of a balloon
that you're just reaching for this other information.
Where else is this gonna take me?