Date:         Sun, 31 Jul 2005 21:51:10 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: another NLA item....
In-Reply-To:  <d5.2d310cb7.301c76bf@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> folks here's another item you can add to the list of vanagon 
> parts that are no longer available new..
> 
> the OEM left front westy mudflap...  its gone.  cant get it 
> from vw, cant get it from go westy, nor busdepot, or 
> any other vendor....gone..


Alas, that is true, at least for now. VW was supposedly sending me the last
40 from Germany but somehow they turned up missing in their warehouse.
However, at some point they may be resurrected, as I already have a line on
the company that actually owns the tooling in Germany, and it hasn't been
destroyed (nor is it actually owned by Volkswagen). So assuming all goes
well, I'll have them again someday, but not anytime soon.

Meanwhile (or even anyway), I recommend the genuine Volkswagen/South Africa
ones. While they don't use the original holes for the German ones, they are
actually more robust. They are a heavy plastic and at first glance don't
"look" like they'd be as heavy-duty as the German rubber ones. But they
don't have the German ones' fatal flaw -a tendancy to shear at the point
where the rubber meets the bracket. I've had the South African ones on my
Vanagon for at least five years now and they still look like new.  (And they
look pretty sharp, with a VW logo on the rears.) They're also cheaper than
the German ones, and are available now.

Link:

<http://busdepot.com/view.jsp?model=58&category=46&prodgroup=1040>

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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