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Date:         Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:33:49 +0000
Reply-To:     dlwilhite@COMCAST.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Wilhite <dlwilhite@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Musing About Recent Trip - Too Long
Comments: To: subaruvanagon <subaruvanagon@yahoogroups.com>
In-Reply-To:  <37936277.540300.1310430782526.JavaMail.root@sz0053a.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Some musings after annual middle of summer trip to PCB FL. Maybe not the smartest thing, but nevertheless…

First, I’ll give some stats and please forgive the cross post, as I pay attention to two lists.

84’ Westfalia with 91’ Subaru 2.2 conversion done (by myself) in 2000.

Approximately 201500 miles on the body and a little less on the engine.

Never bothered taking care of the AC.

Does not have power steering.

4 Speed manual transmission.

My wife especially doesn’t like driving it because of these last two…

Paint is rough – I’ve been saying I’mf going to paint ever since I bought it.

Some minor seam rust which pops up now and then and I take care of as needed.

Tow stuff when using it. Took my family of 5, a pop-top camper and 4 bicycles this last trip.

Pulling the camper I got ~19 mpg overall for the trip which was around 1200 miles (~130 miles worth of driving without the camper hooked up).

Bypass heater hose above the thermostat sprung a leak on the way down and replaced it with a similar hose from Autozone.

Bolts fell out of connection from header pipe to cat on the way back and was able to take care of it with nuts and bolts from my spare “collection”.

I don’t know if I’m just getting old or what, but I’m kind of jealous of these luxurious land yachts like Suburbans, Yukons , Expeditions and Crew Cab trucks cruising down the road at speed, tinted windows up, in relative peace and quiet, all the while pulling their trailers with ease. I see all of this while I’m sweltering in my noisy box, windows down, wondering when someone is going turn off the dog-gone blow dryer outside, unable to hear the radio or carry on a conversation with anyone, having to yell back and forth with the kids whenever we need to communicate, wondering what piece of my German/Japanese hybrid is going to come loose next.

The van seems to be getting a little tired. The engine doesn’t burn or leak much oil normally, but if I’m taking distance trips at speed, especially towing some weight, I’ll throw out a quart of oil in 400 miles of driving (I know, I know, not good for the environment). Normally, I just have to add a quart between 5000 mile oil changes. I can’t really complain though. There was a slipped timing belt once and a loose cam position sensor, that took awhile to figure out what in the world was going on, but as of today, I’ve never had anything major with the engine. I once had the 3-4 slider fail on the transaxle, but everything else has just been replacement of “wear” parts. All in all, it’s never left me stranded (although I have had to drive slow). But there is going to have to be some sort of tear down and replacement of at least engine seals soon.

So I’m sort of thinking of possibly switching gears at this point in my Westies existence, but it’s really difficult. I love having my Westy. Great memories and many adventures have been created using it. I’ve been running around in it for 11 years now – the longest I’ve ever had any vehicle. My children have pretty much no memory of not having the Westy. We’ve gone lots of places, but never west of Missouri . I’m pretty sure the Westy has been as far west as Redwood Forest , because it was the lone sticker on the cabinet that was there the day I purchased it. I purposely left it there, with the intent of getting the Westy back that way again. I saw it once as a very young child…

I’ve been considering a 2 week race across the states in 2012 or 2013 to see the sights out west – kind of like one last hurrah before the girls leave home. Don’t know that it would happen as the Westy sits now.

Camping in the Westy as a family doesn’t happen much anymore, due to the number of us in the family. That’s one of the reasons for the pop up camper. My kids are somewhat spread out, two girls at 12 & 14 and a boy at 4. The fact that there is the age difference bears to hanging on to the Westy. If nothing else, I have expectations that there will be more camping in the future with me and my son. Going places to ride road bikes or mountain bikes and maybe even take up some kayaking. Who knows what adventures await???

So since there is a reality to deal with and I don’t have disposable income; we do have to budget to make ends meet after all. I don’t fit in the “why not tax me more I’m rich”, or the “I don’t pay taxes crowd”. I’m kind of looking at the payoff for my investment. I might could buy one of the before mentioned gas-guzzling land yachts that would be 5-10 years old and tow my pop up wherever we needed to go, spending anywhere from $5000-$12000. Gas mileage during traveling wouldn’t be much different, but would be pretty bad around town. I commute to work by sharing a ride with a co-worker each day and I have an 88’ Cabriolet (maybe I’m stuck in the eighties) that I drive around most of the time, so I wouldn’t have to drive it much necessarily, but does that negate the need for it? If I did this, maybe I really could be like everyone else. And maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to worry about what I need to replace next.

The other route is to upgrade my Westy again. Replace the engine with a newer one. Maybe even throw in a 230 hp SVX engine to take care of all the towing I do. I could go ahead and spend the dough to take care of the AC. Spend a little more to retrofit power steering. I could go big and get the thing painted. I might even do this for less than the low end cost of a land yacht. I did the conversion myself initially, so surely I could do another one. But now my time is taken up by so many things, I just don’t know if I could get it done soon enough, especially with other unfinished projects around. I don’t really have an answer at this point, just kind of wondering around in my mind about what to do next.

There is nothing like having a vehicle that I can drive everyday and then just stop wherever I’m at, pop the top and suddenly, it’s like I’m home. Whether it’s a rest stop, a parking lot, a soccer tournament or a relative’s drive way. Two beds, a fridge, a sink and stove. I know I couldn’t get that same thing with one of the land yachts.

Why is this so hard? Why is this such a big deal? Other people don’t seem to have problems like this. Am I putting too much thought into this? It’s just another car isn’t it? Should I really be throwing more money into a vehicle as old as this? Is it really just a vehicle? After all, I do identify with the Westy. My last name is Wilhite (German). I’m an Engineer (like a jack of all trades). It is more than what you see on the surface, just like me. It may be utilitarian and it’s definitely not sexy, but it gets the job done and does it well. Where am I going with all this? Enough already! Has the Westy become me, or have I become the Westy?


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