Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (July 2002, week 5)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Wed, 31 Jul 2002 14:35:01 -0700
Reply-To:     Bill N <freeholder@STARBAND.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bill N <freeholder@STARBAND.NET>
Subject:      Re: Why I LOVE  My Westy AND my other vehicles
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Yes, an open van is easier to haul in than a Westy, and a Westy is better to camp in. Different vehicles have strong points, and none is perfect. As a result, I have become a collector.

I will incur the wrath of many on the list by freely admitting that both my wife and I use an SUV as our daily driver. (Mine is a Rodeo, hers is a Rodeo Sport). We live in the boonies, 8 miles from a very small town. My wife drives 25 miles one way to work, most of which is dirt roads which get very muddy when it rains. A 4x4 is a necessity for her. I visit many ranches in the course of my work, and many of these are far up what wouldn't pass for a path in most places. There's a reason I carry a GPS loaded with topos of the area in my truck. These vehicles both get much better MPG than our Vanagon.

We also have the '81 Westy, which we love for its ability to camp easily, quickly, and comfortably and be self contained. We put a porta-potti in in, and also added the grey water tank, so we are really self contained. We drive it only for camping. It pulls our small boat easily, and we have taken several long trips in it, including to Key West and back from Arizona, with little trouble. Of course, I maintain it to excess.

If I want to haul a LOT of stuff, I have a Ford full size van. It was a conversion van, but we removed the rear seat/bed and the two rear captain's chairs. It has the raised fiberglass top. It is a cavern in there, and comes in handy for my business as well as just regular hauling. It's an '85, but has only about 40,000 miles on it. We drive it maybe 1500 miles a year.

Finally, if we want to "camp" in a bit more style, we are currently restoring an older 26' motorhome. We are members of the Tin Can Tourists ( http://www.tincantourists.com/ ), which is an organization for people with an interest in motorhomes over 20 years old or camp trailers over 25 years old. Many older Westys would qualify. Our '81 Westy does, and our motorhome is a '73. (Ute Liner on an International chassis)

Since I live in the country, parking is not a problem. I mention this because I know many of you were concerned.

The point it, no vehicle is perfect, and most have some good points or nobody would have bought one to begin with. The most versatile vehicle we have is clearly the Ford van. If I put the seats back in it, it carries 7 large adults in luxury, along with lots of luggage. With them out, it will easily haul 30 sheets of plywood, 100 studs, and a few bags of reddi-mix. Or, we can put a full sized futon mattress in it and still have plenty of room for the dogs, gear, porti-potti, etc. I expect the non-westy Vanagons are pretty much the same deal. In fact, I am still amazed about the ping-pong table. Lots of room in my Ford van, bud I'm not sure a 5'x5' item would fit through either door.

So, if you like (love) your vehicle, great! If you don't like it, or worse, don't trust it, sell it and replace it with something you do enjoy. My criteria is simple. Every time I get into one of my vehicles, I want to feel good about it. I certainly feel that way about the Westy. One of our dogs is a Daschund, and whenever we let him out, he runs over to the Westy. If we open the door, he jumps right in. He doesn't do that with any other vehicle, because he hasn't been camping in any other vehicle. We know what he thinks cars are for.

Bill


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.