Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:52:39 -0800
Reply-To: David Kao <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Kao <dtkao0205@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: They're GIVING Vanagons away in San Diego!
In-Reply-To: <019901c9947b$57511670$6401a8c0@PROSPERITY>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
These days most cars in California are muscle monsters and speedy
sporty imports. In the South Bay Area unofficial freeway commuting
speed is 80 MPH. When I commute in my 2001 V6 30V Passat I definitely
need to yield and move to 2nd lane from the first if I coast at 80 MPH.
If I drive my Vanagon I won't consider moving from the 3rd lane into
the 2nd even if I can cruise at 75 MPH. The 4th lane belongs to big
rigs and old people (probably including unca joel if he comes to
California). There is a 5th lane in sections of freeway where there is
major ramp out to or from another major freeway. It is frequently used
for speedy passing when people get frustrated by the cars ahead of them.
I believe this is a factor why Vanagons have mostly disappeared from
California. Maybe they have moved out to the country or near state
or national parks. Some of them do end up in the junk yard even they
look like the one on the ad in San Diego. It is not unusual that there
is rarely any rust on them. Most of them have damaged bumpers and
perhaps some repairable dents on the chassis. Whenever the engine
or the tranny quits the owner tends to unload it for $500 in exahnge
of a free tow to the junk yard. Price rarely goes below $500 or above
that (I may be flamed by this).
For a few years I have seen a lot of 85 and pre-85s with 1.9 engines
junked. I think 86 and later will become popular in the junk yard too.
If I had a farm something like that I would probably collect all of
them and retore a lot of them. What a waste to see them become scrap
metal.
If you have a rusty Vanagon you can come to California to get a face
lift. You can go home with a new chassis with no rust on it. Just
kidding. Both my Vanagons have no rust, no dent (err.. some small tiny
ones only). They won't need any face lift yet.
David
--- On Sat, 2/21/09, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> wrote:
> From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
> Subject: Re: They're GIVING Vanagons away in San Diego!
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 3:22 PM
> 'why shops can't figure it out'...............
> two factors pop into my mind.
> 'Many shops' are too busy.....even harassed
> feeling.........with cars to
> fix.
> They get used to OBD and computers telling them where to
> focus their
> attention when something doesn't work right.
> A vanagon doesn't have that capability of course.
> So they would have to *actually think* and dig and trace
> wires and use
> wiring diagrams ..........or do tests on components.
> There's more and easier money to be made on other cars.
>
> 2nd factor..........For many shops............if they fear
> it's going to be
> a 10+ hour weird project to figure out.........
> they get nervous because they could be into it way, way too
> many
> hours...........
> more than they could charge for almost.........
> so for really weird things they are leery to even get
> involved.
> And besides.................there are many cars needing
> plain jobs like
> timing belts, water pumps, brake jobs etc that are readily
> profitable.
> so why should they go digging in a 20+ year old vanagon
> given that ? .......
> I wish they would......
> and I wish they actually cared about delivering good value
> to the customer.
>
> it's not that the vans are hard to fix............we
> know that. They can be
> tricky at times......
> but for 'the average consumer' having to deal with
> either VW dealerships (
> and even they don't know squat about vanagons sometimes
> ) .............
> or regular car repair shops........
> people do not have access to quality, caring, repair at a
> reasonable cost.
> ..............thus beatiful vanagons show up in junkyards.
> Durn shame.
>
> I notice that too............not crashed.
> Just saw a Eurovan myself in a junkyard..........not rolled
> or crashed or
> smashed or rusted.......
> interior clean even .........but there it sits forlornly in
> the
> boneyard...........likely because the owner took it to
> some shop for a
> problem......
> and qot a quote for an entire engine reubild........or auto
> trans
> replacement ............that was more than the van's
> owner could
> handle........
> so they just gave up on it.
>
> well, I'm saving as many as I can afford to.
> And, given the incredible versitality of vanagons
> ...........
> the good ones will just go up in value.
>
> about an 84 passenger vanagon .............even running
> those can hardly be
> given away. There must have been gajillions of 84's
> sold.
> I have one just like that one in the ad........
> belongs to a buddy of mine...........but it should go to a
> new home.
> it's all there except the trans. Don't want much
> for it either.....located
> in southern oregon.
> Will also sell major components and parts off it. 84
> with manual trans,
> no PS. named Bruinhilda, if that matters !
> scott
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "mark drillock" <mdrillock@COX.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:31 PM
> Subject: Re: They're GIVING Vanagons away in San Diego!
>
>
> > It is just a passenger van, with no engine. Too much
> work and cost to
> > make it run again and pass smog. Better deals here all
> the time.
> >
> > I have seen nice vans at the San Diego junkyards many,
> many times. Full
> > Westys, Wolfsburgs, Carats, name it.
> >
> > I'm sure Vanagon people from rust areas would cry
> when they saw perfect
> > rust free bodies jacked up for vultures to pick at.
> >
> > When I see a fresh Vanagon set out I like to look it
> over real closely
> > to see if I can figure out why it is there. Most times
> I see plenty of
> > evidence of recent repairs and new parts that suggest
> an owner who cared
> > enough to try and keep it going. Often times I find a
> simple wiring
> > issue that caused the owner grief that shops could not
> solve. The same
> > degraded wiring problems come up over and over. I have
> written about
> > them here many times over the years. Why shops
> can't figure them out is
> > beyond me.
> >
> >
> > Mark
> > "vulture"
> >
> >
> > B Feddish wrote:
> >> On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 1:52 PM, RICHARD KOERNER
> <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/zip/1043001384.html
> >>>
> >>> Wish I had a place to store....
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hhmmm. Something's not right. Look at that
> van, that thing is way too
> >> nice
> >> to be scrap metal. On top of that, the poster says
> if the ad is still up
> >> then the van is still available. How could a free
> van last more than 10
> >> minutes or Craigslist.
> >>
> >> Or are just Californians crazy....
> >>
> >> Bryan
> >>
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