Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 00:17:44 -0400
Reply-To: Veronica Fraga <veronicafraga@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Veronica Fraga <veronicafraga@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Group discount - Vanagon high tops
Hi all! I see that BenT shared some of our Syncro List "Friday banter"
with you all (Hi Ben!). But the real meat of the original message (oh
Ben... behave!) wasn't included. So for those of you *not* on the Syncro
List, here's the schpiel:
I'm hoping to find at least six other Vanagon owners who would be
interested in going in on a group purchase with me. I want to convert my
Westy pop-top camper to a permanent high top (the kind originally made by
Adventurewagen).
As some of you know, Adventurewagen's founder, Ed Anderson, stopped doing
Vanagon conversions in 1991 and now recently retired. One of our
listmembers bought the Vanagon high top molds a few months ago, and I've
been pestering him ever since to get them back into production (pronto!)
because I really want to put one on my van.
Well, I've finally succeeded in getting him to come up with a
feasible production plan, based on a minimum group
purchase of 7 tops at the same time. At that volume level, we
could get these brand-new AW tops for the very reasonable price of
just $2000 apiece (a 30+% discount off the price of a single top).
Here's why I love these high tops:
* over 6 feet of headroom in the middle of the van (kitchen area) all
the time (it feels open and airy, and it's way easier on your back)
* the upper bunk is always accessible (for gear stowage or
for "stealth sleeping")
* there's a big storage area over the front cab
* it's very "inclement weather friendly" which would make your Syncro
the perfect year-round camper (somehow "Syncro" + "Westy" just never
= "Snow" to me...)
* it feels more secure as a home-away-from-home
To see a variety of photos of high top Vanagons, go to the Adventurewagen
Yahoo Group site: http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Adventurewagen/lst
You may need to join the group to access the photos. (And no --
Adventurewagen high tops are nowhere near as big as that Reimo top someone
posted a photo of...)
BTW, my plan is to mount the high top so that it can be removed and
my Westy pop top replaced if I ever want to. I found a great Syncro
mechanic (Southern California) who's sure he can install it that
way. I'll be happy to share installation tips and photos once mine
is on.
If anyone else here is interested in participating in this group purchase,
let me know and I'll send you more details. You can either p-mail me
(veronicafraga@y...) or post a message on the Adventurewagen List
(http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/adventurewagen).
Thanks much!
~Vee