Date:         Tue, 7 Oct 2008 06:31:30 -0500
Reply-To:     Chuck Mathis <cvmathis@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chuck Mathis <cvmathis@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Hurricane Ike vs. Vanagon (a long, last post perhaps...)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Tony,

Where are you in the Houston-Galveston area?  Do you need a hand with
anything?  I'm in Cypress so give me a shout.

Sorry about your van and your house.  We came through the whole thing
much better just losing a few tree branches, some fence and power for
12 days along with the contents of two fridges.

Chuck
'85 Wolfsburg Westy - 'Roland the Road Buffalo'

On Oct 6, 2008, at 11:00 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> Date:    Mon, 6 Oct 2008 22:27:23 -0500
> From:    Anthony Kimmons <akimmons@GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Hurricane Ike vs. Vanagon (a long, last post perhaps...)
>
> To all my good friends and Vanagon folks-
> It is with much regret that I write this email telling a sad sad
> story...
>
> Here are some pictures showing what I am about to tell-
> http://www.anthonykimmons.com/ike/ike.html
>
> When Hurricane Ike came through, peered out through the garage
> window, late
> at night to check on the cars.
> With no electricity and only a flashlight, I noticed that my van was
> 'tilted' slightly but did not take alarm. Then I noticed that the
> tree that
> was next to my 87 Vanagon seemed to "not be there anymore". I was a
> bit
> concerned, but waited until morning to find out the news.
>
> Later, when I went back into the house. I heard a huge crash above my
> bedroom and a great pile of branches and leaves fell. The next
> morning I
> discovered that an 80 foot pine had fallen over, crushed my beloved
> Vanagon
> and was perched above my bedroom. The van however had prevented the
> pine
> from falling completely into the house and possible saved me as I
> had been
> right beneath it. I may owe my life to this old Van.
>
> So, now I find myself without a Vanagon or at least a drivable one.
> I have
> had this car since 1988 and have treasured it through the years.
> We had some good times over the years and all the times it left me
> stuck in
> the road seem now to have faded away. I think of only the good it
> brought to
> my life. Funny, I always thought it would die from rust or an engine
> fire,
> but never thought about it being crushed by a tree in the driveway. Oh
> well... such is life, full of surprises. Regretfully, this may be
> one of my
> last posts to the Vanagon list. All of you have been such a help as
> I worked
> to restore this van for years now. Whenever I had trouble finding
> parts or
> fixing some problem, there have always been those helpful list folks
> who
> have gotten me through and kept this van running. It was in good
> shape, had
> lots of new parts. I figure I put in far more than it's worth over
> the past
> few years with a engine rebuild and lots of new parts inside. I was
> hoping
> to have this van for many years to come...
>
> What now? Looking once more from list advice. Part it out? Ebay?
> Wondering
> if any of you have suggestions? Wondering if there is any reason to
> believe
> that I could recover the van even from this? The engine was not
> damaged at
> all... as I said there are tons of practically new parts, including
> heads,
> hoses, etc. As you can see from the pictures, the drivers side of
> the van
> was pushed in and the top crushed down to the level of the seats. The
> interior is basically fine as well, it's mostly body damage and
> window glass
> that the van suffered. What should I do with this old girl? I don't
> see
> where the Bentley covers this! Suggestions welcome!
>
> Signing off-
> Tony