Dang, I just can't help but chime in... The first "freeway" (actually is was a toll-road) was built in Italy in 1924. Technically, it was a limited-access expressway. It was 80 miles long and ran between Milan and Varese. In 1932, a year before Hitler came to power, the Germans completed a limited-access expressway (a freeway, not a toll-road) between Bonn and Koln (a whole 12 miles long). Between 1933 and 1938, about 1,850 miles of "Autobahn" is built. Very little is added after '38 due to the war. America's first "autobahn" was built in 1940 in Pasadena. The Pennsylvania Turnpike was completed a few months before the Pasadena freeway, but it was a toll-road, not a freeway.
As for driving a diesel Vanagon (VC), or bug for that matter, on the Autobahn, it wouldn't phase me one bit. Unlike Americans, the German drivers understand the rules of the road and tend to have far less problems (and anger) at slower vehicles on the autobahn... pass only on the left, and always, I repeat... always move over to the slow lane when faster traffic approaches from the rear.
Cheers, Jeff www.vanagonparts.com |
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