Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:44:17 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
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hi,
sure.
remember all that stuff.
but don't need any of those lug nuts !~
I was intro D Citroens too.
and they have a two stage horn - small beep for city, and bigger honk for
country.
also the hi bean/low beam stalk could flip from regular low to hi beam,
or if in the city, from parking lights to low beam.
no no no I have too much stuff !!
I like the sound of the engine block reapair !
such a chintsy car is only worthy of such 'farm' repairs anyway.
I had two cars.
the first one was awesome. Named it Zippy.
the second series are much better than the first ones.
the round headlight ones are indeed shitty, and have points ignition.
the later square headlight ones have electronic ignistion and are just
better.
I got a 19080 from a junk yard............and an 81 engine..........but had
to put the 80 cam in it for some reason,
and that car ran like stink.
I drove it with the speedo buried at 87 mph all the time ( 85 max speedo of
course ) .
ultra plan model too..........rubber floor mats, seat back angles didn't
move, no vent widows. no redio.
Awesome litle car, dead reliable.
Oddly I don't know what happened to it, if I sold it or what. Drove it all
the way to Bella Coola BC, and that's pretty remote.
after that I got an 83 for 300 bucks, and it was never worth a shit.
had about 40 % less power, didn't run well at all. And nothing helped
either.
I can't say I've gotten a car for 79 cents.
iv'e gotten them for free,
and a great Fiat 600D for 30 bucks, that I drove to La Paz Ba ja california
and back.
oh .......
what a mistake.
bought a running pinto once for 20 dollars.
took 2 and half years to sell it for 49 dollars ! never drove it of
course.
all my cars, excpet for two where under 500 bucks and usually not running,
or running but needing a lot.
My best one - 88 740 turbo volvo sedan .........
got it for about 300 bucks.
I might never get rid of that car.
it's that awesome. It isnt' even happy until 80,
and flies up any hill or grade in top gear at not over 70 % throttle at 70
mph.
just loaded with safety, performance, and luxury features.
if only a vanagon could be more like that car !
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com>
To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>
Cc: <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
> They were 38hp if I remember correctly. And if you ever revive your
> desire for french motoring and want to hear the city-horn-country-horn
> sound again, let me know and I'll send you some of those rare renault
> lug nuts (if you had one you'll remember what I'm talking about,
> two-piece gadgets) and some bolt-in hubcaps in nice shape. Probably
> have some wheels under my dad's shop, too.
>
> When mine cracked a block, my dad welded up the crack with some steel
> strap and I put in a bunch of Barr's stop leak and drove on. I don't
> think we even pulled the engine to do it. Once the whole drive train
> fell out in the road an a friend of mine and I walked to a house and
> bummed a bunch of coat hangers from a woman and used them to strap the
> engine and transmission in to make it back to my house.
>
> I don't think my dauphine ever reached 70. I have owned a total of
> four of them, my first (first car) purchased for what I had in my
> pocket at the time: seventy-nine cents. I bought a pair for $500 once.
>
> But YOU... YOU had a Le Car! Hahahahahah!
>
> Jim
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 1:34 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans
> <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>> oh you had a Duafine - I'm sorry !
>> lol.
>> Caravelle- I even have a real Renault factory parts book for a
>> Carravelle,
>> the sproty coupe version that generation of Renaults.
>> ( I owned about 8 Renualt 16's .........a 'real car' that. And some Le
>> Cars
>> too. )
>>
>> I don't think washer fluid would hurt the coolant even slightly. Be good
>> for it almost. A tiny bit of detergent/cleaner is fine I think.
>> Daufine's can't actually sustain running at 70 mph on a hot day with any
>> kind of load without overheating.
>> Very underbuilt for Western US conditions.
>> Had a freind in Colorado with one - it really couldn't do the freeway for
>> long periods on a hot day.
>> what are those, like 45 hp ?
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com>
>> To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>
>> Cc: <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:19 AM
>> Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
>>
>>
>>> Back when almost all gas stations were full serve, I had an attendant
>>> attempt to fill up the radiator of my Renault Dauphine with gas. I had
>>> another guy at an oil change place put washer fluid in the coolant
>>> overflow behind the license plate door on my vanagon. Good thing I was
>>> watching. Can you imagine the head corrosion?
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 1:05 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans
>>> <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> you might also appreciate that when vanagons first came out,
>>>> a few gas station attendants flipped open the license plate door at the
>>>> back.........
>>>> ( since many cars of the era had their gas cap back there )
>>>> And when they saw a cap and filler neck, they put gasoline into engine
>>>> .
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
>>>> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>>>> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:07 AM
>>>> Subject: Re: Are Today's Young People Mechanical Nitwits?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Congrats on your daughter's derring-do in the mechanical world!
>>>>>
>>>>> I can't tell you how many times the guys at the various auto
>>>>> quick-service places have asked me where the engine was in my van.
>>>>>
>>>>> I never ceased to be amazed.
>>>>>
>>>>> John Rodgers
>>>>> 88 GL Driver
>>>>>
>>>>> Jim Arnott wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Warning!!! Proud papa alert.... and NVC
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My eldest dau, 27, came home from visiting friends the other night.
>>>>>> Walks
>>>>>> into the house and asks me, "Do you ALWAYS get hurt when you're
>>>>>> working on
>>>>>> cars?" I respond that mechanical things frequently demand blood
>>>>>> sacrifice.
>>>>>> She goes on to comment that when she was putting the front suspension
>>>>>> back
>>>>>> together on her friend's Mitsu, she pinched her hand. Did papa proud!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Want to give your kids a clue? Make their first car a Beetle. Give
>>>>>> them a
>>>>>> Muir Bible. Help them maintain it but don't do it FOR them. Worked
>>>>>> for
>>>>>> me.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So no, they're not all clueless. But the vast majority are. Of the
>>>>>> 20-30
>>>>>> kids that float through my home, there are about three that could
>>>>>> show
>>>>>> me
>>>>>> where to check the oil on their rig. Those three could also change
>>>>>> said
>>>>>> oil. The rest? I'd have to show them not just how, but THAT the hood
>>>>>> opened.
>>>>>> Id10ts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Jim
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
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