Date:         Sun, 13 Aug 2000 22:55:36 -0700
Reply-To:     Daniel Schmitz <djs@gene.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Daniel Schmitz <djs@gene.com>
Organization: Genentech, Inc.
Subject:      Re: WBX Nightmares
Comments: To: Mark Dorm <mark_hb@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

My "not boring" story:

I was driving down the road in my '87 Westfalia (on my way to Disneyland), when
all of a sudden, I smelled smoke. Apparently, some terrorists had stowed away
under my rear bench seat and had gained access to my engine compartment (no
doubt by cutting through the sheet metal panel) and deliberately shorted the
battery positive wire to ground. This of course caused a fire and, in my
panicked state, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I hit a tree
(knocking it down), which turned me into a crash test dummy (with blood). The
collision into the tree caused the fire-in-progress to ignite the gas tank,
which caused the van to blow up.

Mark Dorm wrote:

> That kind of talk is boring - theres no drama in it - I want to hear about
> all the Vanagons that blew up, caught on fire, knocked down a tree, was
> hijacked by terrorists... This is not disneyland.com, 1950s.com or
> FatherKnowsBest.com, this is Vanagon.com.
>
> Show me the blood.

***
My real story:

I like the engine that is in my van, and I like my van even more. Only owned it
for 3 months now, with no problems thus far. Power is adequate for 95% of my
driving needs, and can actually be more then adequate around town. Mileage
could be better, but these are heavy vehicles for that little engine to move.

Have owned an '82 Adventurewagen for almost 13 years, and the engine was the
only weak spot, but what do you expect from 67hp pushing a 3500lbs barn on
wheels with a permanently raised roof? New engine is MUCH better, BTW.