Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (January 2009, week 1)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Mon, 5 Jan 2009 07:38:59 -0800
Reply-To:     Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: More early list memories...
In-Reply-To:  <011201c96f44$58c00bd0$0101a8c0@gp207joel>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

And this is why the list is as much community as it is source of technical info!

Thanks, Unca Joel......

Anthony '89 Syncro GL (Hidalgo)

--- On Mon, 1/5/09, joel walker <uncajoel@BELLSOUTH.NET> wrote: From: joel walker <uncajoel@BELLSOUTH.NET> Subject: Re: More early list memories... To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Date: Monday, January 5, 2009, 9:46 AM

it was a dark and stormy night ... the winds of Change howled as they tried incessantly to find a way into the hearts and minds of volkswagen bus owners throughout the land.

and the land itself was dark. there were shadows upon the land and its peoples ... lingering, hovering shadows, creating FEAR (Fright, Ecchymosis, Anxiety, Rage) in all that hove to the Olde Wayes, and even in those that did not.

and those shadows were called Dealers. and, lo, they were vile and unscrupulous creatures, bent upon the destruction of wallets and wills whenever someone foolhardy enough to venture near their snares was entrapped. and like the spiders, spinning their webs and trapping their victims by sticky paperwork covered with legal phrases of no escape, they sucked the vital life forces from anyone foolish enough to leave their vehicles for 'service'.

and the times were sad. and sadder still was the plight of the people ... for no one heard their cries and lamentations, though loud and constant they were.

and a voice cried out in the wilderness ... "can anybody help me fix my 84 vanagon??"

and another voice answered across the internet, saying "ya know, that same thing happened to me on my 80 vanagon ... here's what you do: ...".

and, lo, a list was born!!! and a small ray of sunshine and sparkling light pierced the gloomy clouds, and shone upon a small piece of firmament, and caused thereupon a flower to grow and send out tendrils, seeking more and more voices, offering succor and solace to the downtrodded and oppressed.

and the great volkswagen gods looked down from their celestial junkyard, and smirked, and said amongst themselves, "this ought to be good!". and thus ended the third month.

well ... that's how i remember it anyway. :) i had a job that didn't require any real work of me, just sitting around doing nothng like a lot of other state government workers. so i had time to kill every day, and the fools, the mad stupid fools, had left me with a pc connected to the .net whatever-it-was thingie. and i found rec.autos.vw. and noticed a message asking for help on a problem with an 84 vanagon. first time i'd seen another vanagon mentioned among the golfs, rabbits, beetles, karmann ghias, and so on. so i replied. the asker was gerry skerbitz, and my answer seemed to help him. so we started emailing back and forth. and it was decided that a mailing list would be better, since we wouldn't have to wade through all that mess with the golfs, rabbits, beetles, etc. and since i had no access to any servers (the folks with little to actually do weren't trusted with such things), and he did and he seemed enthusiastic to find more folks ourselves, with vanagons, he asked his boss, and got permission (he was a state worker, too, and apparently didn't have an awful lot to do. but he did have access to the servers!), and set up the mailing list. and here we are:

one guy, standing at the back of his van, hunched over his engine, tools in hand ... with eighthundred-some people with beer bottles, standing around, telling him what to do. (courtesy of G. Jannini) :)

and what a long strange journey it has been ... in Foreman's basement. :)

unca joel


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.