When a man named Harold passed away back in 2009, his niece and nephew embarked on a mission to clear his garage. There were rumors around town that Harold was the owner of a very special, and pretty rare, Bugatti. Little did they know that those rumors were completely true and that their uncle’s car was worth a fortune.
The Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, which is considered the crown jewel of Bugattis was covered in dust.
Source: Wikipedia
“It was a bit of local folklore that he had a Bugatti, but no one knew for sure, and certainly no one knew how much it was worth,” Harold’s nephew told The Mirror.
Source: Wikipedia
The car was one of only 43 ever produced and its history was well documented. As it turned out, it was first purchased by a member of the British aristocracy, parliamentarian Francis Curzon who nurtured passion for racing. He was known as a collector of exclusive and unique vehicles. This particular Bugatti, however, had a pretty low mileage which meant it wasn’t probably used for racing. What’s most, it was in a perfect condition for a car made during the 30’s.
Source: Wikipedia
Apparently, the Atalante was owned by a number of different people before Harold bought it in 1955. He, however, didn’t use it and not many people knew it existed.
Once they discovered it, Harold’s niece and nephew learned something that left them speechless. The car was valued at $8.5 million. However, once it was put up for sale, it was sold for $4.4 million. Never in their wildest dreams did Harold’s relatives imagine they would become millionaires.
Source: Wikipedia
Along with the famous Bugatti, Harold’s family found a classic Aston Martin too. Inside the car there were a number of letters from potential buyers who offered Harold enormous sums of money for his cars, but he never sold them.
If you are a lover of the minimalism and the unusual, you are bound to fall in love with this bus turned into a living space.
Jessie Lipskin of Asbury Park, New Jersey solved her housing issue in the most remarkable way. This isn’t however for those people whose soul strives for spacious homes, but for those looking for a place where only their ‘most valuable belongings’ would fit.
“I’ve always been very organized and love the idea of holding onto only what you really need,” she said in a piece for Apartment Therapy. “For me, that mainly includes things that hold sentimental value, particularly items that were handed down to me from my family.”
This lady considered many options before she opted for turning an old bus into what she could call a home.
Finding the right one was relatively easy as she only had to choose from the various that were offered for sale on eBay.
After the purchase was finalized, all she had to do was insure it and register it as an RV and start the jaw-dropping transformation.
The total amount of money she spent on the actual 1966 GMC Commuter Greyhound and the renovation was around $132,000, with the bus itself costing $7,000.
She left everything to her vivid imagination and her artistic soul and the final result has to be seen to be believed.
“When I walk in, it feels huge. It feels even bigger than my New York City apartment,” she said.
As she enjoys doing things on her own, Jessie did most of the work by herself.
“I love DIY, however, I don’t have experience with plumbing, electrical, carpentry needed for this project,” she said.
However, she also got help in turning the bus of around 400-square-feet into the coziest home.
“The big challenge was that it was very different from working on a home that’s fixed in one location. I constantly had to account for movement, on top of that the angles of the bus and slanted style windows made it challenging to design the best possible layout and curved woodworking. Levels were useless as the bus incline changes depending on location, it was all about calculating angles. This added a lot of time onto the project.”
Jessie first got rid of the bus’ seats by selling them to a restaurant. And now that she could see the empty space she could easily envision where each of the rooms would be placed.
The outside of the old bus also got some new, more modern look. Well, it had to fit the beauty of the inside, right?
The kitchen is pretty spacious and she can easily move around when preparing her favorite dish. The sink and the stove are just the perfect (normal) size and there are a bunch of cabinets for storing all the food and pots.
“Went with the IGLOO (33 in. W 5.5 cu. ft.) Side by Side Refrigerator in Silver, Counter Depth from Home Depot. It’s a fridge/freezer,” she said.
The closet is also the size that perfectly fits her needs and the bedroom which is placed at the back of the bus is tiny but lovely. It even has a hidden storage space and a cool bookshelf.
“The bathroom has mahogany wood slotted flooring that drains for drying off post-shower. The shower drain connects to the floor drain and they both lead to the gray water tank which is mounted under the bus,” she says.
However, as Jessie only got her driving licence before she purchased the bus, she says how she has difficulties navigating such a huge and heavy vehicle.
“I can’t drive it myself! I grew up in New York City and I finally learned how to drive in my mid-twenties. Unfortunately, I have yet to learn how to drive a stick shift!” she said. “I have made lots of friends with the ability to drive a manual 40-foot bus without power steering!”
It’s just sad, but that’s the reason why she’s now selling her dream home.
You can take a look at it in the video below and if you have an adventurous soul you may even consider getting it for yourself.
And the price? According to ABC News, this beauty will only cost you $149,000.
Derek Schwendeman, a young man from Pennsylvania, shared a photo of his grandpa on Reddit. The photo was taken back in 1952, just before his grandpa, Thomas, who is now 86, was about to be deployed to Korea.
Little did Derek know that his grandpa’s photo would go viral. So far, it has been seen by over three million users. If you wonder why, most of the comments are that he looks extremely handsome. People can’t help but comment his looks and white teeth. Many even dubbed him the “Hot Grandpa.”
Thomas can’t believe the black and white photo from his old days attracted that much attention. But he loves it, that’s for sure.
Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition
One other person who finds all the stir about the photo flattering is Derek’s grandmother, Fleecie. She and Thomas have spent a lifetime together. The two got engaged even before he started his training. A year later, after his training was over, they tied the knot.
She says he didn’t have much of a chance to ‘sow his wild oats’ considering the fact they married when they both very young. According to Derek, she also says that he has “‘women fussing over him all of the time, but she got him first.’”
Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition
After deployment, Thomas started working for the Bell Telephone Company. He was with the company for 30 years, until he retired. However, after that, he continued working as a bus driver for some more years.
“My grandfather is, and always was, a very hard-working man, and he passed that work ethic onto both my father and me,” Derek told People. He is described as a very devoted man who always puts his family first.
Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition
Asked if there is something he wanted to change about the way he lived his life, Thomas answered with a resounding “no.”
“He was always loyal and has taken very good care of me,” Fleecie told her grandson.
Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition
For more on this sweet story go to the video below.
If you’re worried that your faith in humanity is dwindling down to nothing, fear not, because the FOX5 Surprise Squad is here with another heartwarming story that comes just in time for Christmas.
This time, the squad got a call from Alicestine Miller, known as Ms. Alice who was worried sick about her best friend, 72-year-old Ms. Ella, and the tough conditions she was living in. The most concerning was the fact that this elderly lady didn’t live alone at the old house, but with her six great-grandchildren. No matter how unbelievable this may sound, this brave great-grandmother is taking care of these kids all on her own.
When the Squad heard Ms. Ella’s story they were happy to lend a helping hand and give this woman the recognition she deserves.
When the Surprise Squad paid Ms. Ella a visit, she couldn’t believe her eyes and was so overwhelmed that tears started rolling down her face. She couldn’t find words to express how much the kids mea to her.
“Oh Lord, they mean so much to me,” she said. “They’re my heart.”
Not willing to go into details, probably because it was too painful to speak of her life she only added:
“I had to rescue them”
This woman’s place was about to be turned into a real home as a group of handymen and plumbers were about to complete the plumbing updates and maintenance.
However, they had another surprise in their sleeve. For this very special occasion, the team flew Ms. Alice from California and the two friends could spend some time having fun and catch up for all that time they haven’t seen each other.
After the place was complete, it was as well furnished with furniture, beds for the kids, new carpets, and other appliances. They even got a bunch of Christmas decorations.
When the time came for Ms. Ella to enter her fully transformed house she was left speechless by the sight. It was a completely new house that resembled a home. With the Christmas tree and all those decorations, the spirit of the holiday and the warmth of the season were now there for the family to feel and enjoy.
Under the Christmas tree there was another present. A $500 gift card for each of the kids.
It was the most unbelievable experience. Who would have though that this family’s life could take such turn for the better?
“They are going to have a fit,” Ms. Ella cried. Christmas this year was going to be vastly different than years before — “so different and so happy,” she said.
The Surprise Squad even arranged for the rent to be fully paid for one year. These people seemed to be sent from God to give hope that things are not always as bad as they seem.
“Trust in the Lord,” Ms. Ella said, “and he’ll make a way for you.”
The kids were as surprised as their great-grandmother. Their faces were all smiles.
“It’s a big Christmas miracle,” Ms. Ella’s great-granddaughter said.
“It’s not about the presents,” said one great-grandson. “It’s about loving your family.”
And to be honest, we can’t agree more.
Please share this wonderful story with your family and friends.
If there’s one thing that is essentially challenging yet equally rewarding job in the world, then that would be no other than parenting.
Aside from assuring that the basic necessities for all children are met, the social, emotional and psychological upbringing should also be compatible with the struggles that life has to offer. As for this Russian father, being a good provider is not just enough. For him, fatherhood is defined on how brave you have risen to the challenges of becoming the epitome of a good role model to those who are next-in-line or at least for the bold ones who are willing to sacrifice singlehood in pursuit of family life.
A Russian father shared this on Reddit:
(English is not my native language, please be kind)
One morning I came down the stairs, seeing this exact scene – my 17 year old daughter with a young man, asleep after what must have been a night of ‘hard labor’. I very quietly made breakfast, went back upstairs and told my wife, son and other (youngest) daughter to be very quiet because people were still asleep.
Our dinner table is on the other side of the room, about 20 feet from the couch but right in front of it. we all sat down and I yelled “YOUNG MAN” – never ever have I seen someone wake up and move from horizontal to vertical that fast. “Breakfast is ready!” I said with a tone as if I gladly would suck his soul out of his body. I pulled out the chair beside me. “Sit!” my family was silent, staring at their plates, not even twitching.
It must have been the hardest 20 feet for a butt naked youngster to cross. Trying to hide his, I must say, rather impressive morning wood. My youngest daughter looking in awe at said piece of wood, as did my wife. After he put on his clothes, which lay beside the dinner table, he sat down. My son (6’4″) patted him on the shoulder, looked him in the eyes, sighed and shook his head. By now he was really, really nervous. You could almost smell it. In my best Russian accent: “My friend, I’m going to ask you a question. The answer you give is very important…. for you.” At this point he was sweating.
“Do you like cats?”
He was a very likeable and friendly guy. Clearly uneducated but not dumb. There was something odd about him. My daughter assured me he was a very nice and attentive guy. She knew him for about a month by then. He came by every day since that morning, never stayed overnight though.
Every morning he came to pick her up for school on his bicycle, brought her home after, and made sure she did her homework. He looked after her when she was sick and we were at work. He invested time end effort. He had the patience of an angel when she had one of her terrible moods.
He said he had no family, no education, no steady job. She adores him. He adores her. Who am I to prevent her from learning from her own mistakes?
After this had been going on for about 8 months my son came to me. He had been asking around about him. It turns out the guy was homeless. His abusive father killed himself. His mother, a crackhead, took off three weeks after that. They lived in a rented trailer. He was 15 then and survived for three years on the streets – sleeping in parks, at the Salvation Army, with “friends”, cheap hotels. He worked construction jobs.
Now, there I was. I knew a young man, 18 or 19 years old, who was polite and comes in smiling; who leaves smiling; who cares; who helps, no need to ask; who makes my child happy. This is a kid who never had a chance to be a kid.
Sometimes when he does not come over because he has a job, we miss him. They are not buddies, but my son gets along with him very well. My youngest daughter trusts him unconditionally and my wife’s motherly instinct seems to have expanded. And me? I sometimes worry for him. I want him to be happy.
I told my wife and youngest daughter what I learned about him. They cried. I had a hard time telling them. I was disappointed in my oldest daughter. She knew. She should have told us. She loves him and lets him leave every night to go….where????
The next day I gave him a key of our house. I told him I expected him home every night. Home. In the next few weeks we fixed our spare room and took him shopping for furniture. He was quite good at making things. He wanted to be his own boss, he liked building things. We saw to it that he got an education which enabled him to do just that.
That was in 2000. Now, 15 years later, my found son and my daughter have a thriving business. They gave us our three beautiful grandchildren. Last year, twins. 1 girl, 1 boy!
Oftentimes people would complain about the life that was given to them. For some, a burdened life is nothing but a barren land. However, while some are close to giving up, there are also a handful who are willing to stand up regardless of the times they stumble and fall. Thanks to the good Samaritans who are always willing to extend an extra hand and hope. Somehow, what used to be a hopeless case is now as brand as new. For their case, both the young man and the father are living testaments of hope and change.
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Peace and Love
Bored Daddy
Dennis Vinar and Karen Lehmann were still teenagers when they fell for one other. Despite being very young, they both knew they were meant for each other. He was a very popular football player at the school, and she was a member of the school band.
Most days, Dennis would walk her home after classes while carrying her clarinet.
“I walked her home from school every night and I missed football practice, but I couldn’t care less about football, I just wanted to be with Karen,” Dennis told Steve Harvey during an appearance on his show.
Shortly after they started dating, she fell pregnant, but since she was still just a teen her parents didn’t allow her to keep the baby after she gave birth. They even forbade Dennis from seeing his daughter, but Karen made sure he met her and held her before they gave her for adoption.
Karen’s parents wanted her to attend college, not taking care for a baby at 15, and so it was. While she attended college, Dennis enlisted for the army and the two lost touch.
As time passed by, they married different people, although they never forgot each other.
Years later, while he was working for a senator, Dennis learned that Karen lived near the place where he worked. He was determined to find her, so he went knocking from one house to another in hopes Karen would answer the door at one of them. But, to no avail.
Source: YouTube
It wasn’t until Dennis got divorced that fate reunited him with his high-school sweetheart. Namely, his friends introduced him to LinkedIn, and his first thought was to type Karen’s name on the site. To his surprise, what resembled a familiar face appeared in the search results. “I typed in ‘Karen Lehmann’ and there she was—the third person down. And I smacked my hands together and said, ‘That’s my lady!’” he shared with WUSA9.
He got in touch and learned that Karen was a widower. He paid her a visit on Monday, and three days later, they were married. It took them more than 50 years to be together again. However, although they were over the moon they reunited after so much time, they knew something was missing. Together, they contacted the adoption agency which handled their long-lost daughter’s case and got information which led them to her.
Source: YouTube
Jean Voxland was overwhelmed when she learned her biological parents’ life story. “Imagine being 55 years old and learning that your parents are together and that they’re looking for you, they walked through the door and my heart was pounding,” she said.
For the touching interview of this beautiful family go to the video below. God truly works in mysterious ways, don’t you agree?
What started as a fun day in Texas could easily turn into a tragic even had it not been for one 17-year-old girl who saved the day by saving one boy’s life.
Teen Tyra was part of the Rockwell High School’s homecoming parade. She and the rest of the cheerleaders were dancing on a float when Tyra noticed a young boy in the crowd struggling to gasp for air.
Source: YouTube/ KETK NBC
Without any hesitation, she jumped off the float and started running towards the little guy. His mother was screaming for help, hoping someone would help her son who was chocking on a piece of candy. “He was just physically just choking, just gagging and just gasping for air,” the boy’s mother, Nicole Hornback, later shared with KETK NBC.
Tyra knew she could save the boy if she got to him in time. She then performed the Heimlich maneuver on him. “I picked the kiddo up. I tilted him downward, and I hit like two or three good back thrusts, and he started spitting up,” the quick-thinking teen said.
Luckily, the candy dislodged from the boy’s throat and he felt the air rushing into his lungs.
Source: YouTube/ KETK NBC
After saving his life, Tyra jumped on the float and continued with her routine.
Nicole was extremely grateful to Tyra, but she didn’t have the time to thank her for everything she did that day. In an attempt to learn who the teen was, Nicole shared the story of how her boy, Clark, was saved. Soon after, someone who realized the girl in question was Tyra helped Nicole get in touch with her.
The two met in person, and Tyra gave Clark a high-five.
“She saved my baby. I commend her for being a teenager and being trained,” Nicole told CBSDFW.
Source: YouTube/ KETK NBC
Tyra explained that she learned how to perform the Heimlich maneuver from early age from her mother who runs a group home for foster children.
The brave teen explained how she is planning on becoming a pediatric surgeon in the future. Considering her bravery and quick-thinking, we are sure she would be very successful in her future job.
Source: YouTube/ KETK NBC
For more on this beautiful story go to the video below.
Ohio-based photographer Erika Brooke has taken thousands of professional photos over the course of her career, but none could compare to the ones she took for the annual calendar for the Down Syndrome Association.
When she was invited to work on the project, Brooke was not aware of the impact that photoshoot would have on her life and her career.
7-year-old Joey, a boy with Down Syndrome, was mister December. When it was his turn to pose, he didn’t want to do it without his best friend Ellie, who has the same condition as him.
Brooke believed the photographs of the two best friends were so cute that she felt the urge to share them with her followers.
“In my 28 years of life, I am unsure I have ever seen a love this pure,” she wrote. “Chivalry isn’t dead and little Joey is walking proof,” she added.
When sweet Ellie was too afraid to walk near the water, Joey held her hand like a little gentleman. When he was supposed to smile for the photos but didn’t feel like smiling, Ellie tickled him.
“As I watched them interact I just thought to myself, ‘Wow. They already have it all figured out,’” Erika said.
“They are everything as children that I could ever hope to be as an adult. In that short hour, they encouraged me to be a better version of myself, to choose to see the good and to love a little more selflessly. If only we all saw the world as purely as Ellie and Joey do, what a beautiful world it would be.”
According to what the kids’ parents told Love What Matters, the two were born six months apart and live in the same town.
Joey’s mom, Holly, said: “From our first get together to today, Joey and Ellie have a bond, as well as their families. We get each other’s struggles and triumphs. We consider each other family.”
Both Joey and Ellie have older sisters. He has thee, and she has two. Their sisters make sure they teach everyone at their school that those who have Down Syndrome are not any different than the rest of the students or any other child out there.
“I am not sure when it happened, but Joey began calling Ellie his girlfriend. He will tell us on a weekly basis that he is going to marry Ellie. We think this could work out nicely for all of us!” Holly said. “When they see each other outside of school, they immediately hold hands, hug and just look into each other’s eyes. It is as if they know something we do not.”
Whenever he’s supposed to meet his best friend, Joey brings a snack for her.
“Love is a beautiful thing, and watching them love and see the best in each other is simply easy for them. They are specially-abled, as we would say. They have no apprehension to show their feelings for each other,” Holly added.
“When Joey asks me why he cannot marry his sisters, I tell him, ‘Because you have to marry your best friend.’ He always responds, ‘Oh I am going to marry Ellie then!’ She is his number one gal.”
