Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 11:00:14 -0600
Reply-To: Mike Blotz <Mike.Blotz@PEARLIZUMI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mike Blotz <Mike.Blotz@PEARLIZUMI.COM>
Subject: Re: Comments on Splittie
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
hey--I drive a splitty almost everyday--haha--call me crazy. And it happens
to be a 66. ya gotta remember that these things were designed in "47 and
changed little to "67. yes--they are underpowered--but not as grossly
underpowered as the vanagon in my opinion. the engines were designed by
porche to be reliable and cheap to maintain (something the wasserboxer only
dreams of). they were designed as a utility vehicle first and formost--kind
of like all the ford F350 deisel dually's you see at the malls these
days--haha. They were never really intended to do long freeway travels as
people of the more modern eras require there cars to do. That--and
interstates didnt really exist. I agree--they are dangerous on the
interstate cause of speed limitations. but when I drive my splitty--whats
the hurry. i drive it for the experience and stick to the backroads. And i
have no desire to travel the country in my split (enter my vanagon syncro)
ok--the brakes--properly adjusted brakes are very adequet--gotta remember
they are vintage 66. ever try to stop a 66 muscle car--not an easy task
either. I live nine miles up with 3200 ft elevation gain on a twisty
mountain road. i've never had a brake issue--just gotta hang back from the
car in front of you. If I want to drive a sports car--I drive the sports car
(enter my 68 karmann ghia--absolute dream to drive in the mountains). Gotta
remeber that these are not self adjusting brakes--gotta manually do it every
so often.
if VW hadnt revolutionized the automotive world with the microbus release in
"49--there would be no vanagon today. And what a shame that would be--I love
my aircooleds--and have had a couple wasserboxers as well--both have there
merits. I know i'm kind of a strange one and love to drive my vintage
stuff--as a hobbiest--not a cheap skate. over the years I've had 74 super
beetle (first car) 71 fastback, 81 jetta, 70 karmann ghia, 89 vanagon syncro
GL, 67 baja bug, 70 bug, 71 bug, 87 syncro for a couple months (was selling
it for a out of state friend), 66 split, 68 karmann ghia, and my newly
aquired 87 syncro GL. Thats just my $.02. I didnt mean to offend--and
hopefully I didnt. just gotta look at the history of things and the general
timeline of how things came to be within the cultures of the time.
But--yes--i find the minds at VW very funny sometimes.
wow--that turned out long--sorry
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