Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 21:45:37 -0400
Reply-To: Greg Potts <greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Greg Potts <greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Subject: Re: Vanagons being called "Hippie Wagons"..
In-Reply-To: <d1ea9acf0805120621q1c2fc15fveccd49f2b48b9c0c@mail.gmail.com>
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Hi Craig,
Imagine my surprise last night at Mother's Day dinner when my family
told me I was a hippie. My wife, my kids and my parents all presented a
united front; there was no escaping it.
Sure, I've sympathised with the counter culture for a couple decades
now. I realize that it's become clear that I don't generally run with
the lemmings, and I certainly won't drive a new car just because my
neighbours do. But there's miles of space between me and the average
hippie. I don't own birkenstocks, and I usually only wear tie-die on
weekends. I work in the tech sector, and hold down a regular job
supporting a family of five in the suburbs.
Somehow I thought that buying a 1987 Vanagon would endorse me as one of
the many... Going legit, so to speak. Not that I would ever sell my
baywindow westfakia... I just thought that driving a watercooled
silver-blue wedge would modernize my image somewhat.
Apparently it's harder to shed a label than I thought.
Happy Trails,
Greg Potts
1973/74/79 Westfakia "Bob the Tomato"
1987 Wolfsburg Weekender Hardtop
www.busesofthecorn.com
www.pottsfamily.ca
PS: My vanagon still needs curtains....
craig cowan wrote:
> A few days ago i was driving around to add some test miles to my van, with
> my older brother riding shotgun. It was a beautiful day, so the windows were
> down and the music was playing. Well as we entered the local park, a large
> group of say 20 middle school aged childred started giving peace signs and
> running after the bus yelling things like "Sweet Hippy Bus" and "Wow, look
> at that", and some even broke out into singing the Scooby Dooo Themesong.
> Well we made our lap around the park, and as we were coming back that way i
> was amazed to see all these kids standing alongside the road with their
> cameraphones out, waiting.
>
> So I turned up The Grateful Dead music, flashed them a peace sign, and went
> on my way. It was clear that "that hippy wagon" made their day! I've also
> gotten this response from more than a handful of older people, who see any
> rear engined VW van (they may not know where the engine is, but EVERYONE can
> associate the differences between the T3 and T4....), as a "Volkswagen Bus".
>
>
> The curtains help : )
>
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