Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 11:16:58 -0400
Reply-To: stan.wohlfarth@BENTLEYPUBLISHERS.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Stan Wohlfarth (aka." <stan.wohlfarth@BENTLEYPUBLISHERS.COM>
Subject: Re: comments on Bentley manual
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Matthew,
I believe the manual you are referring to covers the 1974 and later bus. It
had a yellow-orange cover and I think they were produced by VW themselves.
The first edition covers '74-'76 and the second edition covers '74-'78.
Anyway it is unlikely that we will reproduce these manuals as we already
have a Type 2 paper service manual: 1968-1979 (V279, green cover).
However, we do have more air-cooled information available on our Volkswagen
Types 1,2,3,4: 1969-1979 Official Factory Microfiche Archived on CD-ROM
including Type 181 (Thing) (whew that's a mouthful:). This is a two-disk set
and the second disk is dedicated to the '75-'79 Type 2. The information is
taken from factory microfiche and is basically just a bunch of pdf files.
The quality is mediocre (remember it's made from fiche) but there is lots of
information there that hasn't been available in paper since the above
mentioned books. Printing out a page is easy and the software itself works
pretty smoothly (the CD includes Acrobat software). Of particular interest
is the later model camper interior information that was never cover in our
V279 paper manual. You can check it out at
http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=VFAC. Personally I feel
this 2 CD set is a good buy at $99.95 retail. This CD does have all the
wiring diagrams that were on the factory microfiche for Types 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The diagrams are in black and white. If you want them in color try
www.vintagebus.com.
We also have microfiche CD-ROM for the Vanagon but I would not recommend it.
Our Vanagon paper manual contains all the same information plus it has been
maintained and updated over the years and has wiring diagrams. The
microfiche CD-ROM is circa. 1991 and does not have wiring diagrams. You can
check it out at http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=VFT3.
Hope this helps clarify some of the products that we have available for the
"bubbles (T2)" and the "wedge (T25)".
Stan Wohlfarth
Product Coordinator/Editor
VW/Audi Service Manuals
[B] Bentley Publishers
1734 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
www.bentleypublishers.com
mailto:stan.wohlfarth@bentleypublishers.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Pollard [mailto:poll7356@uidaho.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 6:15 PM
To: Stan Wohlfarth (aka.
Subject: Re: comments on Bentley manual
any chance of ever republishing the old type2 manual that are (what i
think at least) gone.
i could be totally wrong btw.
matthew
Matthew Pollard "Racing with the wind and flirting with death
Dept. Of Chemistry So have a cup of coffee and catch your breath"
University of Idaho
www.uidaho.edu/~poll7356
On Tue, 1 Oct 2002, Stan Wohlfarth (aka. wrote:
> Ron,
>
> Very nice and well thought out reply. I especially like your comments
> regarding Bentley Publishers. I'm glad to hear that your manuals are
> shipping on time and with minimal back orders.
>
> We are doing fine here at Bentley and are still very much in the paper
> repair manual business. In fact the VP02 (VW Passat: 1998-2002) and VG02
(VW
> Jetta, Golf, GTI: 1999-2002) paper manuals that we recently
produced/updated
> have been selling at phenomenal levels in August and September.
>
> However, being a dual-Vanagon ('81 Westy and '87 Syncro) owner myself, I
> have noticed a gradual decrease in the quality level of some of the
graphics
> in the VV91 (Volkswagen Vanagon: 1980-1991) manual over the past few
years.
> In looking at the last printing (9th edition) I would say most of the
images
> are still acceptable. Unfortunately this book pre-dates the electronic age
> here and was initially made from microfiche derived camera copy pages. As
a
> result, any changes and updates (there have been many that Boston Bob and
I
> have incorporated over the past 7 years) have been made directly to the
> press film. In short, we are pretty much stuck with using our existing
film
> as the book comes back up each time for a reprint. This may have something
> to do with image quality deterioration. We do keep after our various
> printers and look at the reproduction quality of every print job. However,
> we have made no effort to "cheapen" the quality of the Vanagon manual. It
> sells quite well and is typically one of our top-20 books and I am always
> receptive to validating and correcting any errors, in any of our
Volkswagen
> paper service manuals.
>
> By the way, if you would like to determine the particular edition of any
of
> our manuals you can look on the copyright page at the beginning of the
book
> and down towards the bottom there is a series of numbers:
> for example:
> Bentley Stock No. VV91
> 03 02 01 11 10 9
>
> This would indicate the manual (VV91) is the 9th printing, printed in
2001.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Stan Wohlfarth
> Product Coordinator/Editor
> VW/Audi Service Manuals
> [B] Bentley Publishers
> 1734 Massachusetts Avenue
> Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
> www.bentleypublishers.com
>
> mailto:stan.wohlfarth@bentleypublishers.com
>
> aka. Stanagon
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Bus Depot [mailto:vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 4:52 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: More Info on Copper Core German Radiators
>
>
> In a message dated 10/1/02 11:25:10 AM, George Goff writes of Ken Wilfy:
>
> > Or, in this case, is the definition of "imagine":
> > to form a notion of without sufficient basis?
>
> after writing such comments as ...
>
> > Judging from the print quality of the last manual
> > I bought from them, (Bentley Publishers) might
> > be on the ropes.
>
> and ...
>
> > (Regarding Ken Wilfy's German radiators), removing
> > the manufacturer's trademark name is usually done to
> > second quality merchandise.
>
> and, previously, advising people to ...
>
> > tell the vendor that you want a replacement part
> > which was made in Germany and labeled consistent
> > with the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. Saying
> > that makes it a condition of the sales agreement between
> > a willing seller and a willing buyer. It works for me every time.
>
>
>
> Although the criticisms in these particular threads seem to be directed at
> VanAgain and Bentley this time and not at me (for a change :-), I feel
that
> I have to jump in here because of the absurdity of some of these claims.
>
> George, I have no doubt that your intentions are good, but your advice is
> bad. In fact, ironically it is you who seems to "form notions without
> sufficient basis," to borrow a phrase with which you have just accused Ken
> Wilfy. This can be hamful if these "notions" are presented with such an
air
> of authority or pseudo-expertise that they get mistaken for fact.
>
> When you posted the message which I quoted last (suggesting that
listmembers
> demand "only German parts"), I took the trouble to explain in great detail
> why this would be a very bad idea. Rather than to copy that post below, if
> anyone would like to read it, the direct link from the archives is:
> http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0209D&L=vanagon&P=R9905
>
> Now, just a few short days later, Ken WIlfy is in fact offering just that
-
> a German made radiator. But you now want proof such as "btu/hr ratings"
> that it's better than the South African one, and vaguely imply that Ken is
> misleading us if he cannot provide it. This has me very perplexed. After
> all, aren't you the very same person who just said that you buy nothing
but
> German parts for your Vanagon, as a strict and unwavering condition of
sale,
> and advised everyone else to do the same? Based on your own assertion
just
> days earlier, had you in fact ordered a radiator from Ken, you'd have
> accepted nothing _but_ the German one as a matter of course, and in fact
> would have refused the radiator if the one he sent was _not_ German! Or
> perhaps you have now recanted that position in view of the arguments
> presented against it - in which case I must certainly give you credit for
> doing so.
>
> You then go on to state that Ken's radiators may be factory seconds,
simply
> because the VW logo is removed. And when he refutes it, you continue to
> argue the point, based solely on your experience that in outlet stores
some
> brand name tags are removed on factory seconds. Your experience with
> imperfect trousers in outlet malls notwithstanding, I can confirm Ken's
> claim that it is relatively common among OE suppliers of VW parts for them
> to grind off the VW logo. As I understand it, this is because the
> manufacturer may only be licensed to use the VW logo on inventory that he
is
> private-labeling for VW, but not on inventory that he is selling directly
> under his own brand. It does not necessarily imply that the product is a
> second.
>
> You then proceed to imply, in a separate email, that Bentley Publishers
> might be having financial problems, based solely on the fact that you
don't
> like the print quality in their book. While I am not privy to Bentley's
> financial statements, I can report that they have been shipping promptly,
> releasing new titles on schedule, and have had over a 90% fill rate on
> recent orders that I have placed. By comparison, suppliers who are
> experiencing financial difficulty tend to delay new product introductions,
> ship late, and have a high stockout rate on customer orders.
>
> Of course this is mostly a group of enthusiasts, and none of us is an
expert
> on everything. We all learn from eachother, which is how it should be.
> However, this also entails a bit of self restraint, so that the "signal to
> noise ratio" is maximized. I have always found that if you do not know of
> what you speak, it is often best not to speak it, but rather to reserve
> judgement and defer to someone who does. This particularly applies when
the
> statement that you are thinking of making involves criticism of some sort.
> For example, rather than insinuating that Ken's radiators are factory
> seconds, you might have _asked_ him whether the same experience you had
with
> removed labels at outlet stores applies to auto parts.
>
> Incidentally, with regard to the original subject at hand, while "Btu/hr
> ratings" are not commonly quoted on auto radiators, I can provide the
> following emperical feedback. I carried the AKG German radiators myself a
> couple of years ago. I sold many of them, as well as many of the aluminum
> VW/South African ones. Out of all those sold, I had exactly one factory
> defect of each brand (in each case, a leak at the seam), and no reports of
> problems a year or two down the road either. When I replaced my own
German
> copper radiator with a South African aluminum one two years ago, I saw no
> noticable "real world" change in performance (i.e. my '89 Westy ran at the
> same temperature as before, etc.). Therefore my own experience gave me no
> reason to recommend either over the other (except on basis of price).
> Presently, I have the South African ones on sale for $149.95.
>
> - Ron Salmon
> The Bus Depot, Inc.
> (215) 234-VWVW
> www.busdepot.com
>
> _____________________________________________
> Toll-Free for Orders by Part # 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
>
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