Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 20:25:49 EDT
Reply-To: Jahsurf@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Chris Dixon <Jahsurf@AOL.COM>
Subject: Jimmy Buffett, Syncro Owner. KUDOS to those who helped.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Well, I just dropped off a 1990 Syncro Adventurewagen to Jimmy Buffett in
Laguna Beach today.
Without getting too into the story, I used to work for him writing a sort of
web travelogue in 99-2000, and when he came out to CA a few months ago, we
went surfing at San Onofre. He saw the Adventurewagen-topped Syncro Westy that I
bought from Veronica Fraga. "Damn dude," he said, "this is niiiiice." I saw
him later in the summer when I drove out to eastern Long Island with my wife. He
drove mine and said he'd like to have one out there for the beach, Maine and
Florida. So, I put out a list post out in mid-summer asking if anyone was
considering selling. Mike Blackburn from Michigan had been thinking of selling his
bitchin, solar topped, white '90 Adventurewagen. So I sent JB some pics and
he said to go for it. In fact, he said, build it out as though you were
building the ultimate syncro for yourself. Are you kidding?
Since arriving in CA, the very nice baseline van has undergone a pretty
dramatic makeover in a month.
As of now:
-A heavy duty rebuilt locking diff 5.4.3 (or something close to that) tranny
and matching locking front differential from Eric Abercrombie. Damn dude,
thanks for the timely sale!!
-Steve's Springs and OME shocks. It rides awesome -- especially with 235
series tires. My van has 215 TA's with the same shock/spring setup. If you're
going with this suspension setup, I highly recommend 235's -- a whole other level
of plush. Driving it up PCH today, he said, "I can't believe how well this
thing handles".
-Tranny, shocks, springs, new bushings all around, South African Big Brakes, 1
5"Rhein Wheels, 235 Series TAKO tires all expertly installed by Seth Hatfield
in Santa Barbara. Seth does BADASS work and in a time pinch, he went out of
his fricking way to help me get this done. I highly recommend him.
-Gary Lee Rear side ladder, rear ladder and and rear tire carrier. Gary's
stuff is awesome anyway, but the tire carrier, with its little shock absorber, is
in a whole other league of trickness. THANKS GARY for more time crunched, but
excellent work.
-Volkscafe Front and rear bull bumpers with Hella Lights and a heavy duty
rear mount for a class C trailer. Thanks Peter and crew for EXPERTLY turning this
around in a time pinch.
-Gowesty for rubber mats, a bra, a bunch of misc. parts and a Fiamma awning.
Taylor and the boys went above the call to turn his stuff around and out to us
in time.
-Southern California Marine. Per Abercrombie's rec's, we're putting this
awesome Isotherm 65ASU fridge in Jimmy's van. They got it to us pronto. The fridge
is so efficient that it will run all the time on just solar/deepcycles.
-South Coast Shipyard. That's right. Who better refinish the wood in the van
of a sonofasonofasailor than a bunch of boat guys? The refinished wood and
fixtures in this thing look siiiiiiick.
-Unique Imports in Mission Viejo. Chip and crew busted ass to install the
bumpers, power windows, gary lee racks, tuneup the van's current Eurospec I4
motor and do a myriad of other small things to get this rig road ready. Unique
built my Hi Performance 2.3 Waterboxer last summer and it's still running very
strong.
-One Thirty Three Canyon Car Wash in Laguna Beach. Jeff and Eddie busted ass
and it shows. Van looks damn near new after they spent hours waxing it and
getting all of Blackburns' camp dust out of the nooks and crannies. If you're on
Laguna Cyn. He's affordable and won't rest til yer van's trick.
Still to come:
A removeable 120V AirCond for the roof hatch. (for camping in the Everglades)
A honda Generator with mounting plate welded on the bumper.
A Brian@Smallcar Subaru conversion. Will this be the first Vanagon to receive
the impeccable Outback H6 3.0? In all likelihood, yes, a 2002 model. If we
find it just won't work, then it's getting an SVX.
I want to seriously thank everyone who helped me put this sumbitch on the
road. It's well on the way to becoming the most ultimate, pimped out, expedition
Syncro ever. And if you're wondering, yes, Jimmy's as nice and cool as you
hoped he would be. A very down to earth cat -- hence his Syncro ownership. I'll
get some pics of his new mochine online as soon as I can.
Chris Dixon
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