Volkswagen’s Rachael Zaluzec stands as she unveiled Azul, left, a 1977 Volkswagen T2 bus that was damaged in the Palisades Fire and later restored by Volkswagen, at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Los Angeles.

When Mark Terrill saw the blue Volkswagen microbus parked amid the charred ruins of the fires that tore through parts of the Los Angeles area earlier this year, he was thinking it was a nice splash of color.

But the Associated Press photographer had captured an image as he rode in a helicopter to survey the damage -- the worst he’s seen in 40 years covering fires -- that offered a captivating message of hope, one that led to a remarkable moment at this year’s LA Auto Show.

The 1977 blue-over-white T2 microbus had miraculously survived the fires, but it hadn’t done so unscathed.

“You saw the one beautiful, glowing side, but then on the other side you see melted, like burns, like glass shattered, ash everywhere,” said Megan Weinraub, 30, who now lives in Laguna Beach, California, but formerly lived in Malibu.

'Azul' is born

On Thursday, Nov. 20, Volkswagen unveiled the results of a major restoration of the vehicle that Weinraub named “Azul,” using the Spanish word for blue.

Weinraub, who works as an artist (the reason she said she got the bus in the first place), described Azul now as “gorgeous. She’s glowing. She beautiful. She’s so cute.”

Weinraub and her friend, Preston Martin, 25, were among those who came to see the unveiling. Martin had sold the bus to Weinraub, but people still recognized the bus as the one he’d lived in for a year and a half while he was going to college. He fielded calls from as far away as Brazil after the photo’s publication.

That photo and all the attention it drew later led Volkswagen to reach out to Weinraub and to seek out a special OK to enter the damaged area in Malibu. The company then arranged to move the vehicle to its Oxnard Facility, where it stores a collection of heritage vehicles, for the restoration work.

How the restoration came together

Gunnar Wynarski, a vehicle specialist at Volkswagen, said the damage to the vehicle, including dirt, embers and ash that had blown into the broken rear window, was extensive. But the vehicle wasn’t beyond repair, especially since rust wasn’t an issue.

“For a 48-year-old, it was in surprisingly good condition. … But you could see the fire took its toll on this car,” he said.

The restoration work included taking out the windows, the engine and transmission and working with the paint and body shop to bring it back. The passenger side and roof were stripped down to bare metal.

Little by little, it was put back together, he said.

And it’s running again.

“(We) put about 40 miles so far on the Pacific Coast Highway,” he said.

The microbus is to be on display during the LA Auto Show in the Volkswagen area.

Later, it’s scheduled to move to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles from Dec. 4 through Jan. 11 before it’s returned to Weinraub.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'She's glowing': '77 VW bus 'melted' in LA fires gets second life

Reporting by Eric D. Lawrence, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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