Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:55:45 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Vanagon envy?
In-Reply-To: <CAFnDXk0ya5JB+C_r_5THpvpsJYv=kNNP2ZRX33WMz7YCVyOKUQ@mail.gmail.com>
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All that steel helps.
At one time, back in the 60's early 70's Alaska was the dream, the
promised land, and many a young guy (and gal) made the trek north in a
splittie. Well, they became casualties of failed dreams - the Splitties
- not necessarily the people. Reality in Alaska was very different from
the dream, and many a Splittie wound up abandoned in the bush. To this
day, in the fall of the year ( August in Alaska) when the leaves fall
but before the snow flys, a dead splittie can be found sitting a a bunch
of grown up alder bushes or willows, slooooowly rusting away. Slowly
because the rusting season is short in Alaska - especially if off the
roads and away from the salt. It was always surprising to me how solid
these old hulks still were, after being abandoned in the woods for so long.
A couple of kids I knew up there found a '53 flatbed truck long
abandoned in the woods. So long abandoned that a spruce tree had grown
up through the cab floor and a fair size birch through the flat bed of
the truck. The old beast was rusted, but solid as a rock. It was amazing
to me, but in a couple of hours the two had the trees cut out, tires
changed to not new but something that would roll, and the engine
running. They drove it from the brush into the light day once more. They
got a title for an abandoned vehicle and then sold it for like $1750.
Not bad for a couple of scrub kids tring to scrounge a buck
legitimately. Turned out the vehicle was last registered in 1956. Their
little episode happened about 1990.
John
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
On 10/19/2011 1:45 PM, Jim Felder wrote:
> I think all german cars went through a period around the Vanagon time frame
> where they got better protection from rust. Old Porsches were horrible. My
> 77 911 came hot dip galvanized.
>
> Jim
>
> On Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 1:20 PM, John Jensen<bluesbug@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> It seemed to suddenly happen, first with the splitties then with the bay
>> window vans, that they just dropped off the streets. We still have a
>> few Vanagons driving around here in Annapolis, but they are becoming
>> rare. I do get a fair amount of young people admiring my van in one way
>> or another. I get the feeling that to a lot of people all VW camper
>> vans are more or less the same. One advantage the Vanagons have over
>> all previous styles of VW Vans is that the Vanagons have a lot more
>> steel in them...It takes a bit longer for them to rust away. Or so it
>> seems to me.
>>
>> John Jensen
>> johnjensen@johnjensenartist.**com<johnjensen@johnjensenartist.com>
>> http://www.johnjensenartist.**com<http://www.johnjensenartist.com>
>> bluesbug@verizon.net
>>
>
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