Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 17:51:13 -0700
Reply-To: Doug in Calif <vanagon@ASTOUND.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Doug in Calif <vanagon@ASTOUND.NET>
Subject: Re: vanagon syndrome week - Friday
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I wanted to reply to this thread earlier but every draft I put together made
me sound like a grumpy old guy, perhaps this one will too (grin)
Since I have never owned a vehicle yet that I didn't work on a lot, I can
honestly
say, All vehicles have their own PIA syndromes. Tight (and I mean hellish)
engine
compartments. (your telling me I have to take ALL THAT apart to just to get
to THIS!)
The difference with the vanagon is IT PAYS YOU BACK big time in utility and
ease of use, when you want to take a bunch of kids someplace
or your dogs. or haul 4x8 sheets of something, move, sleep comfortably,
parallel park, tear down the engine or diagnose a problem
YOURSELF, (seen the new proprietary software BMW uses to negate independents
from working on them?) Try working on your new SUV or finding a group to
help you. What other rig can you go camping in like a vanagon?
Like the porsche slogan "there is no substitute" what compares to the
standard 7 passenger, multi-van, westy or westy syncro in terms of what it
CAN do and what YOU can do to it?
Tent camping? BTDT, how do you get a rear wheel drive front engine vehicle
to drive up a steep hill that is gravel, or snow?
You pull it with a vanagon (grin)
vanagons are cheap at twice the price, look at your options, save every one
you can! I looked at new SUVs and extended cap pickups recently, cant tell
you how happy I was to walk off the lot and put the key in my 89 wolfy and
drive away. BAH! to those pimpmobiles and their spinnin 20s they are a joke
IMHO. I would not trade my syncro for the baddest pimpinist SUV that could
be made if I had to keep it.
On the other hand if you gave me a westy syncro in almost ANY condition I
would put it in my ICU and breathe life back into its bones.
Doug
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Fisher" <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 4:57 PM
Subject: Re: vanagon syndrome week - Friday
> ...and you're only a third or maybe half way to what a run-of-the-mill SUV
> would cost you- it wouldn't last as long, it wouldn't be as fun or
> interesting, and it wouldn't come with a community of like-minded souls. I
> still think you could rehab a Vanagon from stem to stern and gold-plate
the
> friggin' thing and not spend as much money as you would on one of those
> cookie-cutter clonemobiles that are cluttering up the roads.
> We've been through all this crap before. It isn't all about practicality
and
> it isn't about instant gratification.
> It's only money, spend it on what makes you happy and what works for you.
> Otherwise, what're you spending it on? Something that don't make you
happy.
> It's a guilty pleasure, it's a hobby, it's an anti-status symbol, it's
your
> horse- whatever, you don't have to justify it.
>
> Happy Fryeday (or is it Frydaye? I can never remember...)
> Cya,
> Robert
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Bange" <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 2:12 PM
> Subject: Re: vanagon syndrome week - Friday
>
>
> Hi, my name is John, and I have Vanagon Syndrome. It all started last
> summer when I decided I was too old and grumpy to camp in a tent. So I
> did a little research into camper vans and decided that the best
> size-to-utility ratio to be had was with the Vanagon. That, plus the
> legendary user-maintainability of rear-engine VW's sold me on the
> idea. Little did I know how that decision would haunt me. Three weeks
> and $2300 later I had a nice little '90 base model. I figured it'd
> take a thousand or so dollars to get it ship-shape. Had the shocks and
> fluids changed at a local garage for about $900, who then informed me
> that it had an overheating problem that they couldn't figure out. He
> recommended the local VW dealer. $1200 later, the stealership had
> changed my radiator. OK, so it was a couple thousand initially. Then
> came the first long trip. High winds on wobbly tires convinced me I
> needed 16" wheels-- another $1100. A trip to Yosemite at night
> convinced me I needed to rewire the headlights with a relay, and while
> I'm at it, change the headlights to round E-code ones and get a South
> African grill. Then on Christmas Day I snapped a head stud, and TRULY
> developed full blown Vanagon Syndrome. Pulled the entire drive train
> out and sent away for a Boston Bob engine and ordered a full set of
> hoses ($4000+). While it's up, I may as well drop the fuel tank and
> replace the grommets. Then I broke the auto tranny while "fixing" it,
> so I sent for a rebuilt ($560). Can't put crap ATF in a rebuilt tranny
> right? $80 worth of Redline coming up! Now I'm cleaning all the dirty
> old parts that go on the new engine and spending about $100 a week
> buying replacement parts for ones I consider to be of even slightly
> suspicious reliability (which is an unsound decision sometimes, as
> many parts come from the factory unreliable). The Vanagon still sits
> in the garage, engine out, waiting to be reassembled. I promised my
> wife that as soon as these last part come from Bus Depot
> (under-the-pulley water pipe and the little elbow piece it connects to
> on the right) I'll put it together for real. Fortunately, they appear
> to be back-ordered (or at least slow in coming) which gives me more
> time to clean the throttle body with a toothbrush and run that 8ga
> copper wire ground bus I "need" from the engine compartment to the
> battery, headlights, and dash area. Last week my wife said "if
> something goes wrong and the new engine blows up, we're selling the
> Vanagon for whatever we can get and cutting our losses". I was
> surprised when no lightning bolt came from the sky to punish such a
> heretical utterance. I assured her nothing would go wrong, but inside
> my mind was gibbering. I think she knows, but still doesn't quite
> understand, what it means to have Vanagon syndrome. I used to play the
> lottery and think of what kind of fancy new car I'd buy if I won. Now
> I imagine what sort of Syncro I'd get, and whether TWO Vanagons would
> really be enough. I am reminded of a couple lines from the Black Flag
> song "Six Pack":
> My girl friend asks me which one I like better
> I hope the answer won't upset her!
>
> John "No, I never seen a toilet explode" Bange
> '90 Vanagon "Geldsauger" -- over $11000 "invested"
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