Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:32:08 -0700
Reply-To: BA <oddstray@ODDSTRAY.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: BA <oddstray@ODDSTRAY.COM>
Subject: Re: Westy top pops at top speed
In-Reply-To: <0D4FCBF5-7241-4E2E-B933-07A84748BDDE@xochi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hi,
This "fix" doesn't help when the latch isn't quite latched. (Luckily,
we had a coupla'mile non-freeway drive with weirdly ominous rattles to
warn us. Your situation may have been less forgiving.)
After the first time we found ourselves at speed with the top still
up, we adopted the "Colorful Soft Ball That Lives Either Smooshed Into
The Poptop Frame [poptop down] Or On The Instrument Cluster" [poptop
up].
It has saved us a few times ...
(And we have a hummingbird soft toy who sits on the instrument cluster
to remind us to fetch back in our hummingbird feeder before we drive
away. And a soft-toy-Santa who sits inside the fridge to remind us to
take the fridge-vent-cover off before we power it up.)
B&S
'87 Westy 'Esemerelda Blanc'
SoCal
On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:16:18 -0700, you wrote:
>A certain driver I know (ahem) driving a certain vanagon once started
>driving and got on the freeway with the top up. Got up to about
>60mph or so before realizing that performance & noise were a little
>sub-par, even by vanagon standards. No damage done, fortunately.
>Said driver was actually rather impressed that nothing bad happened,
>and then understood why so many other drivers were giving friendly
>"good morning neighbor" toots on their horns..
>
>
>On Sep 18, 2007, at 9:25 AM, Jim Felder wrote:
>
>> Ever wondered what would happen if your westy top popped on the
>> Interstate? It happend to me yesterday rolling through Birmingham on
>> I-59. Fortunately, my westy is a diesel 1.6, so top speed wasn't all
>> that high. There was a lot of big rig traffic, though, and I could
>> feel the airflow of those trucks tugging at my van with each close
>> pass.
>>
>> Anyway, I had been in south Alabama for a meeting and left the
>> campground hurriedly, although I did tug at the mechanism to see that
>> it was latched and did my customary walkaround to ensure that no
>> canvas was exposed down the sides.
>>
>> When it happened, I though I had been hit or had lost a tire, the
>> noise was so loud. The good news, that the actual object of this post,
>> is to report that the thing only popped up about a foot. I pulled it
>> back down and made CERTAIN that the pin was seated in the hole.
>>
>> Jim
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