Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 20:06:39 -0800
Reply-To: Steve Arbaugh <sneakers@OZ.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Steve Arbaugh <sneakers@OZ.NET>
Subject: Re: Stud vs bolt / Merits of Macho Bumpers
In-Reply-To: <18.a59a237.27e6d383@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Well... I think most of us have seen the Volvo vs. Vanagon
(http://www.251.org/), and perhaps some of us have seen some other pictures
of the vanagon that was cut up in a local parts yard
(http://www.oz.net/~sneakers/crash.htm). But that only shows the physical
side of the coin. The feeling, or attitude, one has driving their vw bus is
just as important as what is physically in front of you. Some people are
perfectly comfortable driving their bus, other people absolutely refuse to
even sit in one. Personally, I have no problems with how my bus would handle
a minor mishap (a major mishap would have me nervous in my Mercedes or Audi
as well as my bus). Speaking for myself, when I'm driving the vw I'm always
conscious of what's in front of me, how high the bumper of the car in front
of me is, who's next to me, etc. As a result, I have a feeling I'm more
defensive, and will hopefully have less of a chance of finding out how my vw
does in a crash. If the driver is driving the bus in a manner that it's not
capable, eventually it's gonna get bent. Most folks don't drive their busses
that way mostly because they aren't capable of being a sports car (though
similar, my stock '85 westy isn't a 911). {That brings on a whole different
chapter: put in a bigger engine but not upgrading the brakes or suspension?
That's just asking for trouble...}
I'm not sure where that paragraph was going now (now that I've had dinner
and all), so I guess I'll sum up: yeah, I think my vw would protect me
pretty well in the event of a crash, but I'm gonna do my darndest to prevent
that from ever happening. I've got good brakes, great visibility, I make
myself visible (lights on), and keep a close eye on who's around me, which
is the attitude part I was talking about. I won't change the bumpers (thin
as they are) because I haven't seen anything that really improves the ends
of the bus yet, and if I ever swap out the motor, the brakes and suspension
won't be left alone.
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf Of
Rico Sapolich
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2001 7:14 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Stud vs bolt / Merits of Macho Bumpers
In a message dated 3/17/01 10:17:43 PM, radish150@earthlink.net writes:
<< I saw one of these vanagons that
had been in a terrible head on collision. Let's just say I want as much
between
me and them as possible. >>
Mark,
I have seen several Vanagons which were hit in the front and I was always
surprised to see how little intrusion into the cockpit there was. Of course
this is no crash test, but they seemed to fair quite well. If you look at
the front stucture of a Vanagon, it appears to be formed from a bunch of box
sections. I guess a Vanagon is like a motorcycle in that if you dwell on
the
possibilities too much, you will talk yourself out of operating one.
Rich
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