Date: Sun, 9 May 2004 13:59:09 -0500
Reply-To: Jeff Palmer <icecoldvw@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeff Palmer <icecoldvw@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: State Your Ages!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Let me begin by saying how nice it is to put a little history behind the
names that I've been reading for so long.
I'm 32 and have had my 85 Westfalia GL for 11 years. I bought it in 1993
with 77k km on it, which means that it had only 10k km (5000 miles) per
year. White with the brown (corduroy/velour) interior. Today it has 270k
km. It's taken me from Winnipeg to Alaska (1993), to Halifax twice for
school (1995 and 1996) and San Francisco for a holiday (2002). Not sure
what's next.
It was my second Westfalia, or should I say VW camper. My first one was a
1973 VW Safari model (I think), with the permanent fiberglass raised roof,
sink/stove/fridge etc. I had bought it about July 1 2002, to take on a trip
to New Orleans and Memphis for my 21st birthday (I swear I had no idea about
Mardi Gras and beads. It's true). I was young and naive and had $3000
worth of twenty dollar bills in my pocket from the ATM and thought I was
Living Large. After getting the van back to the city (50km away) I noticed
something was horribly wrong. Turned out that both carbs needed rebuilding.
So instead of telling my parents about this impulse purchase I stored it at
a friends for about 6 months and got it fixed at a later date. If you ever
meet my parents please don't let them in on our little secret. I ended up
taking my 66 Plymout Valiant convertible down south instead, which turned
out far better than it should have.
I've always liked VW's. I like the notion of 'the people's car' and I've
always been attracted to the print advertising. Don't know why, I'm taking
a few graphic design courses to figure it out. And of course I like the
community that seems to revolve around VW's, for whatever reason. My dad
got me hooked when we bought a Type III squareback (he thinks) during the
oil crisis in the 70s, until mom made him sell it very quickly afterwards.
Then we bought a 1979 Westfalia in about 1983, orange with the orange/green
interior, and since then my dream vehicle has always been a Westfalia. My
great loss in life came when dad sold it one month before my 16th birthday.
He swears it was just coincidence.
The close second is when we decided not to purchase the Karmann Ghia because
Grandma couldn't fit in the back seat. I believe we got a Dodge Aspen
station wagon instead. My therapist has only recently allowed me to recover
these memories.
3 years ago while on a camping trip to northwest Ontario I stopped for gas
(at the most expensive gas station in northwest Ontario) and saw a neat
looking car out in the bushes. It turned out to be a 69 Type III notchback,
although I didn't know it at the time. It had been abandoned 2 months
earlier by some optimistic young man who had attempted to drive it from
Victoria BC to Toronto. It put up a good fight but died just outside
Thunder Bay. My girlfriend (now fiancee) thought i was nuts and convinced
me to put it out of my mind. I couldn't even find the trunk release to find
the motor! Good thing she did, because when I called back two weeks later I
got it for $150 instead of $300. Now I was still in school, having moved
home for two years to do my Master's. So I imposed on every friend i had to
store it until i got it running two years ago. And now it runs, more or
less. Lately less but I'm working on it.
Anyways thanks for letting me indulge myself in happy memories and I look
forward to reading stories from everyone else out there.
Jeff
1985 Westfalia GL
1969 Type III notchback
1973 Safari ("Bread") now with a caring neighbour
