Crocodile Rockford Jobs--or "the Croc," as its affectionately known--is a 1972 Volkswagen Transporter Deluxe. After spending its entire life suffering through one harsh midwest winter after another--resulting in significant rust damage around its bottom edges--the bus was put up for sale on eBay by its second owner in November 2006.
This is where the Croc was discovered by Dave Torstenson. He found the listing for the bus, and--impressed with the owner's thorough notes and 100% user rating--placed a bid for $787 in the closing seconds of the auction. As fate would have it, he won.
He named his "dream car" Crocodile Rockford Jobs, after the song that was playing the moment he won the eBay auction (Elton John's "Crocodile Rock"), and in honor of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer, who purportedly sold his VW Bus in 1976 to finance the first Apple computer. Dave was working for Apple at the time, and, conversely, sold Apple computers to buy his first VW Bus.
Dave has since made two unsuccessful attempts to drive the Croc to Los Angeles. He never got further than Tucumcari, NM where it currently sits along Route 66 in front of the historic Blue Swallow Motel.
But the dream is not yet over, and the hope is that the Croc will one day cross over into the Promised Land of Volkswagens: sunny Southern California.
