Handwritten note lands man Volkswagen bus of his dreams

LINDENHURST, N.Y. - A man has the car of his dreams eight years after he slipped a note inside the window of a blue 1971 Volkswagen bus that the then-16-year-old called his "future car."

Kyle Cropsey of Lindenhurst, New York, received a call earlier this month from Cris Mead, who lives on the other coast in Oakland. Mead's father, Cornelius, had purchased the van new and named it Matilda, taking his family on cross-country trips.

The son was cleaning it out after his father's death when he came across Cropsey's note tucked in the VW's log book.

Cris Mead tells Newsday the family decided to give Cropsey the van, on the condition he update them on its restoration and "go on plenty of adventures."

Cropsey, who is 23 and teaches English, says "it was fate."