Date:         Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:10:50 -0400
Reply-To:     Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
Subject:      Re: Horsehair in Vanagons
Comments: To: John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <CAH+nQ0G=B2XCZBb=Ck5xq3D78xxHMqUJvDUzxkeDNhYmUQTcCQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII

You havez problemz with dis 'orse 'air ?

;)

On Aug 10, 2011, at 8:46 PM, John Bange wrote:

> Everyone knows that distinctive smell of "old Volkswagen". I remember asking
> about it as a kid, riding in my father's 76 Beetle, and him explaining that
> it's the horsehair padding in the seats. Later he showed me it, visible on
> the back of the rear seat backrest. When I first bought my '90 Vanagon, it
> had the same smell, which I found surprising given the foam padding in the
> seats. Where does the smell come from? Today I had to remove the rear heater
> and cap off the hoses (the usual leaking rear core). The carpet and
> underpadding were soaked with coolant, so I tossed the carpet (it was
> trashed anyway) and pulled up the mulched and formed foam pad to hose it
> off. Upon closer inspection in the sunlight, I saw this:
>
> <http://i.imgur.com/cchmh.jpg>
>
> Is that what it looks like? Is that our old friend Horsehair mixed in with
> the crumbled recycled foam? Is THAT where the classic VW Smell is coming
> from?