Recovery from the Palisades and Altadena fires in January is ongoing, but one small bright spot has emerged from the ruin and darkness.
A blue-and-white 1977 Volkswagen T2 bus — a viral sensation after miraculously surviving the mass destruction of homes, schools and businesses — will be available for public viewing following a major restoration.
The revamped “Azul, the magic bus,” as 30-year-old owner Megan Weinraub calls it, will be featured at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show, which runs from Friday through Nov. 30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown L.A. From there, the VW will be on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard from Dec. 4 to Jan. 11 before being returned to Weinraub.
For those unfamiliar with Weinraub’s bus, there’s a back story. As people worldwide watched wildfires ravage neighborhoods around Los Angeles County in January, some found comfort in the story of Weinraub’s little engine that could.
Her 1977 Volkswagen was left standing after the Palisades fire devastated the Malibu neighborhood where Weinraub had parked it after a day of surfing. She found out the vehicle had survived when she spotted it in a powerful image taken by the Associated Press’ Mark J. Terrill. In the photo, amid the destruction and burned rubble, Weinraub’s bright blue-and-white VW stood seemingly intact.
During a Wednesday evening event at the Petersen, Weinraub said she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“It was crazy to see, but I knew it was mine because I’d parked it there,” she said. “At first, I felt guilty because everyone did lose a lot, and then my things made it. So I was like, ‘Everyone is suffering.’ But everyone was like, ‘This bus is coming out in a positive way, as a beacon of hope.’ I would love for it to be a symbol of that. I am grateful that I will be the light in the times of darkness, and my bus is for that. I love that. I want to be of service.”
The image was so striking that some people online questioned if the photograph was somehow manufactured by AI. “People were like, ‘She Photoshopped that,’” Weinraub said. “I’m like, ‘Why would I do that?’ ”
However, once Weinraub saw her VW in person, she discovered something. “It did burn,” she said. “It just survived somehow.”
For Volkswagen, the situation provided an opportunity. The German auto company contacted Weinraub and offered to inspect the vehicle. VW brought the bus to its location in Oxnard, a facility that houses a number of the auto brand’s historical vehicles. Volkswagen determined Weinraub’s vehicles needed significant mechanical repairs and bodywork to be ready for the road.
“It turned out that that photo that we all saw, that beautiful photo that Mark took, only showed Azul’s good side,” said Rachael Zaluzec, senior vice president of brand marketing and customer experience for Volkswagen of America. “What we didn’t see was the other side of the vehicle that was really badly scarred from the fires. The bus required some pretty extensive work. Now, not just on the exterior, but also the mechanicals. We had to replace things like burnt-out wiring and hoses. There was a lot of bodywork, a lot of paint work that needed to be done.”
Although a full vehicle restoration like this one might take years to complete, employees of Volkswagen of America’s Oxnard Engineering Campus spent the last few months restoring Weinraub’s VW. The Oxnard team repaired and replaced necessary interior and exterior pieces while keeping the bus’ ’70s spirit in tact. GE Kundensport provided additional bodywork, and other contractors provided engine refurbishment and powder coating of various parts.
Volkswagen unveiled the restored bus during an opening night event at the Petersen in celebration of the 2025 L.A. Auto Show. To commemorate the project, Volkswagen partnered with Candylab Toys to create a limited-edition wooden version of the bus, which is available for purchase during the auto show.
“She’s glowing,” Weinraub said as her Microbus was revealed. “She looks beautiful.”
Fittingly, the photographer behind the viral photo, Terrill, was present, but on assignment like other photographers at the event.
“It’s all because of you,” Weinraub told him between shots.
“I would love to say that I saw it for what it was when I shot it,” Terrill said. “That isn’t really the case. I saw it for what it was afterwards. While I was in the helicopter, I started looking through the pictures. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a nice splash of color.’ What I saw was, ‘Oh, that’s so California.’
“You never know when a picture’s going to go viral,” Terrill said. “Pictures take out on a life of their own sometimes. And that’s what happened with this. People saw it and they saw something more in it than I did. They saw what someone else coined as a ‘beacon of hope.’ It’s gratifying that it means that to so many people.”
Volkswagen said it made contributions in the amount of $250,000 to the nonprofit California Fire Foundation, which supports first responders and their families throughout the state.
Although VW declined to share the cost of the renovation, the auto company said 50% of the vehicle was repaired with more than 900 parts, and 2,080 hours were put into the restoration, from research to labor.
For Weinraub, a custom surfboard artist, Volkswagen’s efforts have been life-changing. “Two years ago, I made a vision board and put a Volkswagen bus on it,” said Weinraub, who lives in Laguna Beach. “I still have it. Then, I wrote magic, magic, magic, magic, magic all over it. And then, literally, this happens. I’m like, ‘Shut up. Like, I low-key manifested it.’
“I want to use this as a clean slate to start over and re-create my life,” said Weinraub, adding that she plans to take her restored VW on a few camping trips, including one to Big Sur. “This was a perspective change.”
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