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Date:         Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:57:03 -0800
Reply-To:     Zoltan Kuthy <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Zoltan Kuthy <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
Subject:      Re: Manufacturing Vanagons in private? - musings on the
              practicality thereof
Comments: To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
In-Reply-To:  000001c862bd$3fc27a30$6501a8c0@TOSHIBALAP
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

We can not tell a nation how they should feel when they only know life this way. Most have no idea of the rest of the world's living standard, because they are not interested, being too busy keeping or improving the one they have. As we all know by now; the more you earn the more you spend - and the same time you feel as poor as when you had nothing. Just as we are not interested if some has no medical insurance and dies by the roadside as we may pass with our fancy cars, so we are not interested as 90% of the world is scratching around daily for something to eat. We rather work on making our millions and then billions later and more after that. It is hard for anyone who was wealthy before to go and beg for food or jobs or shelter. "It can never happen to me". Yet it happens to 90% of the world daily. They never heard of Vanagons of course. Those advertisings about the little girls and boys by that Christian fund group is real. Not Hollywood. Very real. And that 27,000 dies every day is real too. Would you dare to calculate it for a year? NO! Not interested. Now, let's put a nice big Subaru engine in there this year. Ever thought of why the impoverished arabs feel left out and think that we are too selfish and won't share our wealth or at least give them some business to be able to make a better life? We keep China busy and thus keeping them quiet, but others are unhappy too. They all would like to live like we do. Why don't we get the Vanagons made in China where the labor is so cheap still? Only joking. Imagine if it was made in China and a lot of them would be used in China. They would also have a Vanagon web site with their discussion group. Already more people are speaking English in China than here. This self defence Vanagon group is great though. Thanks for letting me rant. Zoltan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Daniel - Shazam" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 1:23 PM Subject: Re: Manufacturing Vanagons in private? - musings on the practicality thereof

( psst..........its' not a rant. It's 'musings.' I'm not furious or yelling or anything like that here) Well, I was going to mention the cost of such adventures in manufacturing, Then thought not to say anything, But then............in the article they mention that Tesla had *losses* of 43 *m i l l i o n* dollars 2003 to 2006. Ahem. Chances are, overall, fairly good I'm sorry to say... ............maybe barely maybe will that company actually ever be truly profitable. I hope I am very wrong about that, and the economic and fuel availability climate can always shift and make a pure electric car the 'only way'...........but boy ...... starting out with a 'fun expensive car' instead of a practical one, we shall see. Reminds me of Delorean. Or Bricklin. And many others. Vector in the USA.....a US designed and conceived 'lamborghini' ............where is Vector now ? I don't think they exist anymore, and the founder even got shoved out of his own company by investors I think. But I hope Tesla does well, but they are selling a Toy Fun Car with their first model and Pizzaz sells 'sometimes." Their driving range is maybe 40 miles I think also. Who besides Hollywood actors and rich executives will buy one anyway ? There's danger of a world economic crisis even developing lately, what with the oil/iraq/democracy in the middle east/ economic mishaps here and their globally, Pakistan all that ..........never mind china., and now banks and stock markets getting shaky. .I'd say it's time to get serious about good solid simple basic life needs for a while. The global consumerism bubble is unsustainable. There is no way around that, not until there's a huge global shake out, and start all over not polluting so much this time.

Not to ramble too much - there's a company here in Ashland making tube frame street sportster type cars, essentially a semi-open 4 wheel two person motorcycle ........they cost 80 grand, and they can't get them legal for the street here either. That's a Pure Luxury Toy, and people can't even sell their houses now .............that does not look like a very practical economic project or business I would have to say, in these times. I am not a pessimist. A bit cynical, which I try not to be, but yes perhaps. And not to get all political, but it is getting more clear and more clear by the day, that the current consumerism global thing, combined with lots of war going on , and .........here's the real thing that 'kills us'...............it's the insane need for the oil we need every minute, to keep this huge consumerism-based thing rolling, and 'other people' have the oil we need. It's a dead end street under the current system. Those things combined - a consumerism-based economic system, the need for oil, instability in the world and the attending war going on, and top it off with global warming and overpopulation.......... You couldn't write a better doomsday novel or Hollywood plot. It so exactly matches the worst strange set of characters and factors that any writer could ever make up ..............it's just uncanny. All I'll say is it would be pretty smart now to focus on basic needs and modesty and something sustainable, cause what's happening now, it is inevitable that it can't keep going this way just forever. It's incredibly simple too, if you told a smart 12 year old girl what is really happening ( as near as we can tell from our media that is ) ...........she's say, 'oh, that can't work forever.'

Meanwhile, how lucky we are to get anything to run our vanagons on, and that we live in a beautiful and safe place. I am thankful for that every second. Every hundredth second. Americans have no idea how good they have it compared to the rest of the world, and.........so stupidly, they don't' even recognize we use 1/4 of the world's resources, and that just can't go on forever. And we use them so unnecessarily too. Toll booths alone, TOTALLY unnecessary, I wildly gueesstimate waste 1 million gallons of fuel per workday. It's a joke really, the whole thing. And humans KNOW better, but they do it anyway. That's a sad part too.

Lest anyone think this is a 'rant' ...........if I ranted, it would be 100 times more 'awful' than these shared thoughts and opinions. Thnx. But cheers ! Scott

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jim Akiba Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 9:48 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: Manufacturing Vanagons in private?

And another barrier falls away, or at least a precedent now exists.. and this is since the thread started a couple days ago. It's all happening right now.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hUyCqfp_Q6vJTJJrxxzcwlZHcZBgD8UF5RBO0

Jim Akiba

On 1/28/08, John Meeks <vanagon@gmail.com> wrote: > On Jan 28, 2008 4:27 PM, Jim Akiba <syncrolist@bostig.com> wrote: > <snip> > > After we finish nailing down and streamlining the > > powerplant to exploit, it's on to the suspension and braking, then the > > interior and wiring, leaving the chassis as the last section to be > > re-engineered and replaced. A tubular space frame, with paint film > > molded composite body panels is the direction I'd like to see... > > > > Jim Akiba > > > > Thanks for sharing your plans for future development of the Vanagon > platform, Jim. It is certainly a vision worth supporting. > > If my 200K mi WBX gives me the least bit of trouble, I'm on board > for a Bostig conversion! > -- > John Meeks > > '91 Multivan, '85 GL bits > Northern Michigan > KC8ZFN > > Vanagon Rescue Squad > http://www.vanagonauts.com/Vanagon_Rescue_Squad74.htm >

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