Date:         Thu, 3 Sep 2009 17:20:21 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Westy reliability - smoking van
Comments: To: Susmay <susmay@yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To:  <6bc66ccf0909031719w41dee0cfoe8db5ea7bc79a900@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

  or maybe brave gal?...I guess a guy could be "Old Trout" just as well..

On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 5:19 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:

> "The Old Trout"?  Jeeze.  You be a brave guy..
>   I've used my Van as a Sag a few times.  Once, we were bored and figured
> out that we had well over $35k worth of bikes (3) on the back of a $3k
> vehicle...Guess our priorities were OK.  We couldn't fit everyone in the
> Ferrari...
>   Don Hanson
>
>   On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 4:04 PM, Susmay <susmay@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Just had a great trip bicycling across PA on rt 6 while the Old Trout
>> drove the Westy Sag wagon. We had a very astute British friend along to keep
>> the Old Trout company. Halfway to Preque Isle our friend commented that
>> smoke was coming out of the defroster vents. I casually informed the Ladies
>> that smoke was a normal condition for these old vans, as many members of the
>> list comment about the frequency with which they catch fire, and it was
>> nothing to worry about. After some minor panicking looking for fire
>> extinguishers I decided that the 21 year old heater fan seized up. And
>> turned it off.
>>
>> On a previous bike trip with 3 cycling buddies the 20 year old AC clutch
>> seized and smoke just billowed out of the engine compartment. Of course we
>> had no idea which greasy bit of engine was trying to ignite, so that was
>> another tow job and a crappy soccer mom van rental to continue our journey.
>> Expensive.
>>
>> The bottom line - I love the Westy and will put up with these annoyances
>> as part of the fun of traveling with such a unique old van. But gotta have
>> that AAA.
>>
>> Thomas Hawkins
>> 88 Westy Fireball
>>
>
>