A vintage blue VW bus that became an unlikely symbol of resilience after it survived a California wildfire made its public debut this week, shiny and like-new after Volkswagen spent months restoring the damaged vehicle.

The bus went viral in January when Associated Press photographer captured it looking surprisingly unharmed by the deadly Palisades Fire, a spot of blue and white dwarfed by the charred remains of a Malibu neighborhood.

Volkswagen reached out to owner Megan Weinraub and discovered that while the bus had survived, it had smoke damage and blistered paint, rust and a rear window busted by the heat.

In its restoration, the 1977 Type 2 Microbus named Azul — Spanish for the color blue — again brought people together as technicians consulted the broader community of VW enthusiasts in a shared mission to revive what was a quirky middle-aged vehicle.

The friends still can’t believe the bus they wrote off as a goner is now ready to take them on another surfing adventure. The last time they saw a pre-burned Azul was two days before the Palisades Fire broke out, when they parked the bus on a flat spot after surfing.

Mark J. Terrill, the AP photographer who captured the original image, was on hand when Weinraub and Martin saw the bus for the first time after its restoration in late October.

Volkswagen hauled the microbus to its Oxnard facility west of Los Angeles, which houses historic VW vehicles. Vehicle technicians Farlan Robertson and Gunnar Wynarski sourced hard-to-find parts, got creative and reached out to a lot of people.