I certainly did drive it. Sadly, today at 6:00PM, my lucky loved companion was euthanized. Things were going downhill rapidly so we made the call and scheduled the appointment on Monday. My wife and I are heartbroken.
The Bus took her for one last long ride to one of her favorite parks for a "wander" this afternoon (she hasn't really been willing to walk any distance for a couple of months). On the way home, the lifter suddenly got extremely loud. I checked the rocker arm with the cylinder at TDC and I'm able to easily move the pushrod a very large distance - probably the entire travel of the piston in the lifter.
I'm wondering if the cam has worn so far through the lifter that there's no bottom left to hold oil in the check ball cavity?????
In any case, I decided that's it - no more driving it.
It's as if the Bus was happy to make her last afternoon a good one, but wanted no part of transporting her for that final vet appointment (she rode there in the '71 Beetle instead).