Date:         Sun, 26 Mar 2006 01:26:01 -0800
Reply-To:     BenT Syncro <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BenT Syncro <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: What Makes a Carat a Carat ??
Comments: To: Sam P <samhp@yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To:  <20060325230957.38458.qmail@web53805.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

On 3/25/06, Sam P <samhp@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I have been reading with interest the discussion of the  " Carat/GL " offered for sale on Ebay. I got so interested that I took a look at the vehicles being offered for sale on ebay with the description of Vanagon Carat. The one with a wheelchair lift seems to have the official Carat designation on the rear hatch. Interesting because my van is identical to that one but it has the GL designation on the hatch. My van also had a wheelchair lift installed when I bought it , which has since been removed, and the two jump seats re-installed. It also has the identical three switches for controlling the wheel chair lift next to the license plate in the rear panel. Mine is also automatic and now has a whopping 28,000 miles on the odometer. When I bought it I assumed, with no input from anyone else, that it was a Carat because of the fiberglass bumper and side trim and the side table with the two jump seats. So what do I have, and ...does it really matter ??  SAM

Sam,

Never put a Carat at the end of the stick then dangle it in front of
the Vanagon listmembers. They'll be chasing it all day long.

Contrary to what has been mentioned here, the are some Carats running
around w/o all the power options. It starts to sound to me like the
Wolfsburg and Champagne Edition ploy where VW labeled certain models
and added a few extra goodies to differentiate it from the regular GL
sometime in the middle of the production year. I have certainly seen a
number of Carats side by side with a GL of the same vintage where the
GL was better equipped than the Carat.

A Vanagon called any other name is would ride as sweet.

BenT