Date:         Sat, 21 Apr 2001 22:37:11 -0500
Reply-To:     Joel Walker <jwalker17@earthlink.net>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <jwalker17@earthlink.net>
Organization: not likely
Subject:      Re: Why do you like your Vanagon?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> Why do you like your Vanagon?  What made you consider one?  What was
you
> first experience of one?

i dunno exactly. it just fits me. quite well, thank you. :)  i first
encountered the vanagon way back in 1979, when Road & Track had an
article about the "new generation Transporter". looked kinda neat in
the pictures. then in December of that year, i saw one at the dealer
... love at first sight. after having a 71 bus and a 73 bus, i was
overjoyed at the changes in the vanagon ... huge engine hatch, fuel
injection!!, more room up front, smaller steering wheel, much better
seats, bigger windows and better visibility, better handling and
cornering (scared the salesman ... who apparently had never even
driven the thing!), bigger rear hatch and lower cargo deck. just loved
it. probably showed on my face, too ... they didn't come down on the
price much. :(

so i drove that one for six years. probably the best bus i ever had.
Der Bus was its name. made up some stencils and painted it on the
rocker panels and the rear hatch, in old german font. some of my
neighbors ridiculed him by calling him Derbus :) it was light blue top
and darker blue below.

but i was weak, and when the watercools came out, i looked. peeked,
actually. but didn't buy. then the 1986 models came out with power
mirrors and fold-down rear seat and different air conditioning. and i
let myself be suckered into a test drive while buying parts ... i was
doomed.
:( until then, i never noticed all the sweat rolling off my body while
driving around Alabama and the southeast. just kinda accepted it as
"normal" ... i'd never had ANY car with air conditioning before. well,
let me tell you ... one test drive in an air conditioned 1986 white
bus, and i was hooked!!! :) yeah, i bought it.

so i've been driving vw buses for 30 years, and vanagons for 21 of
those years. just seems kinda natural. :)

what do i like about them? i like the way they FEEL. to me, it's a
good feeling ... sitting up high with great visibility; sitting inside
with all that room behind me; being able to walk from the front seats
to the back seats (assuming the bus is stopped!) ... i don't get that
feeling in any other car. and yes, i've had other cars during the 30
years ... porsche, mercedes, honda. tried out some toyotas, chrysler,
chevrolet (never again!), and ford. nothing is quite the same. so i
stick with what i like ... Vanagons. :)

it may not be cool, in this part of the country, and there may not be
many (any!) others around here (i own 3/5ths of all the vanagons in
this town ... there are only five of us), but it's what i like. and
i'd rather spend my time and money on what i like, than to spend it on
something someone else likes ...

like the poem says ...

Believe It ... or Don't Department
Willy "Bill the Bard" Shakesbeer drove a vw bus!

               Sonnets  xxix

  When, in this race of Fortune and men's lies,
  I often sit alone and contemplate ...
  Where might I be, had I been much more wise
  In choice of cars with which to link my fate?
  What might I drive to work, to play, to cope
  In rageous traffic, more than some can bear,
  Were I to let someone decree my scope
  In what to buy, to say, or clothes to wear?
  How more in profit might my time be spent
  Than nursemaid to some broken old auto?
  A smile replaces brow with troubles bent
  As to the wheel I climb and off I go ...
     And though my drives through rolling country end,
     I love this bus, this one that makes me grin.

:)
unca joel
1987 Vanagon Camper GL, 180,000miles
1988 Vanagon GL, 145,000 miles
1991 Vanagon Carat, 123,000 miles
1984 John Deere SX-95 lawn mower (currently not working). :(