McCandless surgeon gets state lawmaker's help to put antique VW bus from Brazil on the road

When Dr. Sheri Mancini decided to indulge her mid-life crisis, she did it in a way that will bring smiles to others.

She bought a restored 1967 Volkswagen Kombi, commonly known as a VW bus, from Brazil.

“I probably can accurately say most people do love these buses. There’s something iconic and joyful about them. They just bring smiles,” said the 55-year-old surgeon, Navy veteran and mother of two from McCandless. “Nothing brings waves, smiles and thumbs-up like these buses do.”

She had never owned, driven or even touched one before.

“I always instinctively loved them,” she said.

Mancini looked at refurbished ones in the U.S. that were going for $80,000 to $100,000. Then she noticed they were being sold from Brazil, at a price she could afford.

The two-tone, teal-and-white one she bought cost $32,000, plus $5,000 for the shipping via cargo ship from Brazil to Texas and flatbed from Texas to her driveway, plus taxes.

“The colors were beautiful. The lines were beautiful,” she said. “I loved how they had redone the interior.”

Through her research, Mancini learned the vehicles were made in Brazil for decades beyond when production ended in Germany.

“They’re so plentiful in Brazil that they have now taken to refurbishing these and customizing them to order and shipping them all over the world,” she said. “I was immediately intrigued. I felt connected to the world.”

While the idea of sending money to Brazil was at first a bit scary, she connected and talked with others who had done it.

“I decided to go for it,” she said. “It’s a leap of faith, certainly.”

But while her bus’ journey from Brazil to Texas took just 19 days, and then four days on the flatbed from Texas to McCandless, getting it registered and street legal in Pennsylvania ended up taking nearly three months.

Her dreams of taking her VW, nicknamed “JoJo” in memory of her late mother-in-law, Joyce Williams, to parades and car shows, going camping and watching sunsets, were delayed.

“It was so easy, all of it. Everything was easy until PennDOT, which is what made it a little frustrating,” she said.

Despite working with a tag and title agent, Mancini’s efforts to get JoJo registered were failing. Her applications were being rejected, and they could not figure out why.

“The requirements vary from state to state with Pennsylvania being more famous for the difficult red tape and opaque processes,” Mancini said. “The rejections were very vague, and this is a common problem.”

Unable to talk with anyone at PennDOT, Mancini felt helpless.

“The main barrier with PennDOT is the inability to communicate with them directly,” she said. “There was never an opportunity to get guidance.”

When she searched online for what to do when someone has a problem with PennDOT, the answer she found was to reach out to a state representative. So she did — to her friend, neighbor and fellow physician, Dr. Arvind Venkat, a Democrat whose 30th District includes McCandless, Franklin Park and part of Hampton.

“They have channels we don’t have to communicate with PennDOT,” Mancini said.

Venkat said his office often hears from people who are frustrated that they can’t get a person on the phone as they try to navigate state government.

“As a state legislator, I’m generally able to cut through some of those barriers,” he said. “I wish that it was more typical that my constituents could directly navigate what they need to do with state government. We’re always here to help if they are not able to do so.”

With the help of Venkat and his office, Mancini was able to talk with a person at PennDOT and find out there was one document that was necessary that she had not previously sent — the original, untranslated Brazilian registration, which includes a QR code.

Mancini said neither she or her tag and title agent knew PennDOT needed that document. The translated and notarized Brazilian registration they had included before didn’t have the QR code.

“With the ability to communicate directly, we were able to solve this. I sent him the document via email. The next day, my registration and plate were mailed out,” Mancini said. “It’s a much more demanding process than in other states so the ability to communicate is everything.”

A PennDOT spokesperson did not respond when asked why residents should need to turn to legislators to be able to talk with someone at the agency to resolve a problem.

Venkat said he was happy to help.

“We were able to connect the dots on what was missing and therefore that human-to-human contact made a difference in terms of resolving this circumstance. That’s something my office and I do every day,” he said.

“People don’t think about state government until they have a particular challenge,” Venkat said. “We want to make sure people know that one of my most fundamental responsibilities is to make sure people in this community can get a response from state government on services when they need it, and we’re happy to do so.”

Mancini got her plate on Sept. 22, bringing to an end a process that started in April when she wired money to Brazil and nearly three months after JoJo arrived on June 25.

Despite the effort it took to get the plate she has, Mancini is replacing it with a personalized one.

On Oct. 4, Mancini took JoJo to North Park and to a Cars ‘N’ Coffee gathering at Generoasta Coffee & Cafe in Marshall, where JoJo got the attention Mancini had expected.

“So many smiles. People loved her color, the nostalgia factor, all of it,” she said. “So fun!”