Date:         Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:26:47 -0800
Reply-To:     Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Letter to VW - Vans are loved by everyone
In-Reply-To:  <2d5213e00802282053j3cd06bd4qb076f582d5d84892@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>
> --snip--

I guess when you get huge you don't want to take chances anymore.
> Too bad.


If you're talking about VW, I think they must've been a good bit 'huge-r'
when they were making practical and affordable people movers, of which the
bus, in whatever iteration, was a substantial part.

If they really want to know what they can build for North America that can
recapture the past glory as it were, they should put together a small team
and have them go around to all of us that are putting so much time, money,
effort and dare I say love into preserving and modifying these things and
find out why. And I mean the small, down to the bone details; talk to the
people, examine the machines. If they did that properly and distilled that
information into something they could incorporate in with necessities of
manufacturing a modern automobile, they'd probably come up with another
unique vehicle with broad appeal and avoid having yet another inexplicable,
inexcusible misfire.

I suppose most of us listees would simply want a 'modern' Vanagon without
the drive-train debacle. If they wanted a retro-bus look to the exterior it
wouldn't bother me, it would probably just be better aerodynamics, as long
as they kept the main points of the Vanagon interior design.

But I suppose that's like saying 'why doesn't the gov't do ____, it's just
common sense'. Seems clear enough to 'us', seems impossible to 'them'. : )

Cya,
Robert