Vanagon EuroVan
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Date:         Sun, 29 Oct 2000 01:07:38 -0700
Reply-To:     Susan Bernavich <susanb@WIZZARDS.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Susan Bernavich <susanb@WIZZARDS.NET>
Subject:      Re: Why She Loves Her Vanagon by Maureen McGuire!
Comments: To: PSavage <psavage@SABER.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
              x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"

Stunning!!!!!

PSavage wrote:

> Volks, I found this months ago in the archives & saved it to disc for an > occassion such as this. I dug this passionate stream of consciousness > piece. It's LOOOOOONG, but worth it! > > o.k; so i love my Vanogon. sure, i wish i could get up a hill without > downshifting to second gear, and i would like to use the passing lane just > once without holding my breath and putting a death grip on steering wheel > while we shutter by a semi going 40 on the hwy.,and i mind waiting for the > kids to yell "all clear!" before we pull ON the hwy. But sitting up there > over the wheels while the kids and dogs wrestle or sleep or whatever it is > they DO back there, i am utterly confident, content and happy. it never > breaksdown. it seems to consciously signal me if something is about to go. > it does break, but seems to so slowly and with warning.I feel self > sufficient and the road seems full of possibility.Like maybe we'll just keep > driving and never go back, or aliens will land on earth and choose us to > transport them(we have the room,if they aren't TOO large and don't mind the > hound dogs).Or we will return home and discover my former husband is > abjectly and pathetically contrite for all the mean things he's done and > wants to come back. To which I would answer sympethetically that i > understand, but of course, no. > > I could never again drive in his boring cars, including his dodge caravan or > his brand new mercury sable, and he never let me drive anyway. i've moved > far beyond him, went out and got myself a good deal on a Vanogon > ($4000)(with 103,000 mi's - one owner,an old guy that wears suspenders,works > at Volkswagon, and traded it in on a Eurovan(ugh.!). Possibilities....Maybe > we'll miss our exit and end up in Texas where we discover Tommy Lee Jonens > broken down on a dirt road near his ranch and we rescue him and he is so > grateful and impressed with my ability to change a tire that he falls madly > in love with me, but agrees to be just friends when i explain i think he's > wonderful, but i don't want to live in Texas. Or we get home and discover > gold has been dicovered in the back yard, so i will never have to fix the > leaky basement or tell the insurance co. i spent the $ they sent to fix the > wrought iron fence a kid drove into, on new tires for the vanogon. > > ANything could happen when i sit up there over the wheels,surveying the > distant horizen and all the possibilities. I sometimes think about,but do > not dwell on the fact that only one thin sheet of metal seperates me from > something big going fast, or all the glass that would pierce my skin if that > would happen...We still have a drive-in movies here in Dillsburg PA. and if > i thought it was great in a pick-up, it is heaven on earth in a VANOGON. > Lying in the back with the hatch up, we are the envy of every poor slob > stuffed into a carovan with THE WHOLE FAMILY. > > I took several people at work out in the parking lot to demonstrate the > turning ratio. One had a new Honda van, the other woman had wanted a > vanogon, but her husband made her get a dodge ram. They could not even do a > U-turn in the parking lot.And i can parrellel(sp!)park in any space that is > as long as the vanogon.The wheels practically go perpendicular to the frame. > i particularly enjoy doing this feat downtown during lunch hour when the > lawyers are apt to be sitting in their bmw'w and mercedes about to go to > their club or their lunch or their affairs just as i am backing into the > space in front of them and can watch their faces in the rearveiw mirror the > whole time.sometimes i do this just for fun when i am not eating lunch or > anything. > > The only BIG repair i had was when the power steering rack went bad. it had > been making a grinding noise when i turned, stopped when i added power > steering fluid,then started grinding again the next day. Phil at V.W. said > it was not a leak,it was a crevice and i needed to replace the power > sreering rack."Sit down.",he said over the phone. I said i was(I was'nt), he > said "$800", so I did. I said "No". "I'll use it for a chicken coup or give > it to the kids for a fort." He said hmm, he could check into an > aftermarket - $500 -. I said I could use a dog kennel. Phil was silent. "How > about a used one?",I asked. "Hell", he whined,"as old as that is...."Look",I > said, "I have something to drive,(an '88 Fox with 150,000 mi's)that's why i > kept the fox.(anyway Spencer will be driving in 3 yrs. and no one would give > me any $ for it and it runs great.)"you check around. I'll wait until a used > one turns up." > > An hour later he called back. "Skip's has one",it sounded like a > confession."they're pretty reliable,we deal with them a lot". "What year is > it from?", I wanted to know. "Did'nt ask him,does"nt matter. It's not a part > that breaks regularly, you're lucky I found one. How's $250 sound?" "Parts > and labor?" "Yeh,o.k.,'parts and labor'". So that was'nt too bad,was it? I > almost called to tell you that a few months back when you guys told that man > he'd be better off buying power steering fluid by the case than replacing > the power steering rack. That's all that's gone wrong except for the tail > pipe which I could see was going to happen sometime soon when I bought it > and Meinicke muffler got me an aftermarket. That was about $200 altogether; > and a fuel filter that I got at WalMart on Easter Sunday and replaced > myself. I love cars. > > I"ve always had one, since I was 16.(I lied about my age on the survey, I'm > 45. But "45-49" is metaphorically so much older than "40-44",it did'nt seem > like a fair question.}My dad,Milt, bought my sister and I a '63 Corvair in > '67, and ever since I have had what i think of as vehicles of character. > There was a'54 Nash Metropolitan, various Fiat hatchbacks and a Lancia > Estate wagon from the same dealer who cried when I showed up with dogs in > the front and back seats, a '69 Valient station wagon,'74 Ford pick-up > (new,with my first real pay check), a '66 Malabu supersport convertible (the > only automatic, which was why the little country car lot could'nt sell it-No > self-respecting yahoo country boy would get himself an AUTOMATIC malibu...I > just wanted a CONVERTIBLE),an '81 dodge ram 4 wheel-drive, shortbed, red & > cream, 4 clyndr, pick-up with a sunvisor and a little row of cape canaviral > lights over cab, and a ram hood ornament, named "Loretta". > > Bought her in '84 for $3000, and sold her for $2000 six years later to pay > tuition when I went back to college. I miss her terribly. Then there was the > '84 GTI, which i aquired in '90 for $3000, and would have yet, except I was > hit in the rear, sitting still at a red light, by a 40 ton oil tanker on my > way to take my finel exam in physiology one rainy May evening,( i took the > exam and got an 'A';I always said it knocked my brain loose; no one was more > surprised than me)but still got $800 for it when I sold it(NO one who saw > the accident stopped, and the driver said i pulled in front of him(!)and it > took 3 months just to get insurance $ for "used" repairs, when they wanted > to total it) all of which led to the Fox. > > But the whole time all I ever really wanted the most was a Vanogon and at > last i have one and it is so cool. True, i hope someday to have a '91, 5 > cylnr with that fold down table in between the seats that face each other. > In the mean time, i am a happy american girl who loves her "german > engieered" car. I have several buddies who are mechanics who tried almost > desperately to talk me out of buying it. The obvious lack of safety features > was pointed out. I heard all about the head gasket problem derived from the > American demand for emissions control thereby taking a perfectly good > air-cooled engine and turning it into an "engineering fiasco" of a water > cooled engine (this one had both head gaskets replaced at 90,000 mi's-I > asked. > > The old guy that owned it before me told me to use Volkswagon phosphate free > coolent/antifreeze like he did "and you won't have no pitting and you vill > get you anudder 100,000 goot miles from her".-He is Pennsylvania Dutch.) I > heard how it would be "an oven " in the summer. I said when I test drove it > on a hot day in May, I opened up all those engineered vents and glorious > wing windows and felt cool as a opossum come across a dead rabbit in the > road. Anyway, if it gets hot, I'll just drive the rest of the way on shady > roads with trees. I heard about it being a death trap everytime you get on > the highway, you're taking your life in your hands. > > Well, I'm not ever in much of a hurry, I don't mind waiting my turn, i > replyed. I heard about it having 100,000 miles and how they did'nt even make > them anymore! Then this one mechanic buddy sized up my indifference to his > argument and said in disgust,"You Volkswagon people are pitiful! The dam > things are always broken, but they never stop running; that's what sucks you > in. I've got no use for Volkswagons, they are miseable to work on and the > rubber on 'em sucks and the parts are expensive,and they are the noisiest > thing on the road, a body can't hear himself think.(or bickering children, I > calculated mentally) But you're gonna get that mechanical atrocity no matter > what I say, I can see it in your eyes and your stiff neck. Well, just don't > come cry'in to me, it's people like you bought Corvairs and root for Notre > Dame!!" .....This particular part of his tirade struk paydirt. "Oh magod!", > I was astounded. "I had a Corvair and I loved it. And if I had all the $ I > lost betting on Notre Dame, I could go to Stuutgart and buy a Wolfsburg > Edition!" "AHHAH' YOU SEE!!!" > > But for all that, when we jump in the VDUB to go to the grocery, never > knowing what might happen, perhaps an adventure, and some jovial greyhaired > dad leans out the window of HIS Vanogon to flash me the peace sign as he > plods by, I have a deep sense of satisfaction and the rightness of life, not > to mention my instincts, that no other vehicle has ever given me. > > Maureen McGuire 819 hill St. York , PA 17403


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