Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 13:22:53 -0800
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: I'm baaaack! Lots of T3 stuff coming from Germany!
In-Reply-To: <204.57525.765726@mx.troller.45.90.it>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I'm a little jet-lagged, but doing quite fine after travelling for over 24
hours! Yesterday morning I awoke in Wolfsburg Germany at 06:00 (German
time) and went to bed in Quesnel British Columbia at 23:00 (Pacific Time).
ICE from WOB to HH, KLM from HH to Amsterdam, KLM from Amsterdam to
Vancouver, WestJet from Vancouver to Price George and Audi Quattro from P.G.
to Quesnel!
Anyhow on to the details of my trip to Germany.
I arrived in Germany on the 16th and stayed at a friends house in Hamburg
for the weekend. Did the tourist thing and went through Hamburg, saw the
harbour, bought a "handy" (cell phone) - a nice Nokia - so I could contact
home. That weekend I also went to my friends parents where we got to take
the six speed Audi A6 Avant 2.5L TDI (150ps) on the Autobahn - 207km/h in a
Diesel! Wow! Nice car!
From Hamburg I went to Berlin where I worked for a week getting two T3
Transporters (Single Cab and Double Cab) and dismantled two T3 transporters
(one a Turbo Diesel Syncro) to take back to Canada. I have all sorts of
Turbo Diesel motor mounts and hoses coming back along with a few boxes of
round T3 H4 lights - some with the cab adjustable aiming! I also have a box
of T3 tail lights with the fog lights coming back. Side gates for Single
and Double Cabs, Seats, a complete multi-van interior, tires, some wheels,
belt guards, CV boot guards, Syncro 16 wheel arches - I was pretty busy! :)
While I was in Berlin I got to drive a really nice Syncro 16 Multivan -
really nice! Diesel is 1.60 DM per liter and low octane gasoline is 2.00
DM per liter (ouch!) I also bought some tools for my self - a nice Hazet
ratchet among other things. All parts will be coming to Canada in about
three weeks when my 12m container shows up. If anyone is interested in any
of the parts coming back please pmail me - sales@fastforward.ca. I went
with my friend to the TuV station and watched them inspect a T3 DoKa -
pictures are coming soon. Went to the motor vehicle registration place to
get a vehicle transferred - talk about red tape! Lots of beer, lots of good
food and I met a lot of really nice people!
The following weekend was Dresden visiting some friends. Nice photos of
some castles and landscape. I stayed in my friends built in 1984 East
German apartment building for the weekend... wow - did communism suck!
Monday was spent in Wolfsburg (home of VW) and visited Autostadt - if you go
to WOB make sure you take the day to visit Autostadt and then go to the WOB
Auto museum. For those who don't know what Autostadt is about is it a "VW
theme park" that features all of VW possessions: VW, VW Commercial, Audi,
Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Audi and Bentley. They also have a building
showing some of their historical vehicles (no T3s) a place where customers
take delivery of their vehicles and two glass "salt and pepper" shakers that
hold a few thousand VWs that are wait for their customers to pick up. From
Autostat you can take one of four factory tours. One tour is in English at
it is at 13:30 there was a total of 7 English speaking people on the tour -
the English tour that I went on was the finishing process of the Golf / Bora
models, where they assemble the drive train to the painted body, install the
bumpers and seats. It is really neat! The same assembly line there is Golf
/ Golf Variant (station wagon) / Bora (Jetta) / Bora Variant being produced
all at the same. At the engine of the line I saw both Bora and Jetta models
sitting there from 1.0L to VR6 engines parked in the engine bay! The German
tour was the body assembly process with lots of robots doing welding etc
etc. I didn't make it to the Wolfsburg Auto Museum which is located off
site, I was there less than a year ago so hopefully not too much changed.
While I was in Wolfsburg I stayed at the "Global Inn" which is owned by VW -
cost per night was 124 DM including breakfast. Nice rooms with a TV,
furniture and a desk. Breakfast in the morning was interesting! Everyone
sitting down eating is wearing nice suits or a least a nice shirt and tie -
then the Canadian steps in wearing blue jeans with a little CV, t-shirt and
a half buttoned up work shirt. Yup, I stuck out like a sore thumb!
Next trip to Germany is in May where I will be going to a 4x4 party between
Berlin and Dresden in my soon-to-be Iltis!
David Marshall
Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning
4356 Quesnel Hixon Road
Quesnel BC Canada V2J 6Z3
mailto:info@fastforward.ca http://www.fastforward.ca
Phone: (250) 992 7775 FAX: (250) 992 1160
. Vanagon Accessories and Engine Conversions
. Transporter, Unimog and Iltis Sales
. European Lighting for most Audi and Volkswagen models
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