When I was in high school one of my friends was able to borrow the family's splittie for our occasional ill-considered ventures. That thing had a dank and resentful* smell, which we attributed to my friend's older brother. ========== * The way I like my women. -- Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) Bend, OR KG6RCR
On 10/23/2009 1:52 PM Jim Felder wrote: > Recently I went camping and paddling, and, not being near a trash > receptacle, didn't get a waterlogged bag of overnight group garbage > out of my westy until the end of the day. Following this were two > straight weeks of rain and three nights of camping during that time. > The vanagon didn't have a chance to dry out. My supernice rubber rear > mat held most of that, but in a matter of days it became obvious that > water had gone everywhere--the smell of mildew got pretty strong. I > put in a heater and a fan for three days and then the sun came out and > things got better. As a test, I had my wife come out and give it the > test as my nose is unpredictable. She said she couldn't smell anything > but a "vanagon smell." > > "What?" > > We've had three vanagons, one new since 90 (gone as of last summer) > and a 91 (both gas) and the 83 westy (diesel) > > "Do you mean a cooking smell, in the westy?" > > "No, they all have a certain smell." > > My daughter got in on the conversation and said that all VWs have that > smell, going back to the first VWs she remembers, my wife's 65 bug and > my 69 bus we drove through the 70s. She thought it might be that > rear-engined VW were substantially different from front-engined ones, > but I assured her that that was probably not the case. > > I asked her if my Jetta, which is fairly new to me (and a diesel), > smelled that way. Leading to the possibility that it is me, not the > cars, with the volkswagen/vanagon smell. But it was agreed that I have > had other cars that did not have "that smell." > > What to make of this? > > The malevolent odor of the wet westy is almost gone. Anything to do to > ensure the smell doesn't come back in wet weather? > > Jim > |
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