Date:         Fri, 5 Jul 2013 09:41:29 -0500
Reply-To:     raceingcajun <raceingcajun@COMMUNICOMM.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         raceingcajun <raceingcajun@COMMUNICOMM.COM>
Subject:      Re: Oddball CL find - pre-Vanagon
Comments: To: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
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              reply-type=original

Very interesting. I got my start with Volkswagens of America, Mid America
Cars, in 1967, at the Port of Lake Charles (Louisiana) installing air
conditioning in Type 1's and Type 3's. After they were unloaded from that
ship or one like it. For the return trip they would load it with rice or
other agricultural  products, even scrap metal. The cars were stacked on
tiers 4 high. The crew sure had there ducks in a row. They put a ramp up to
the stack and rolled them off and into a huge parking lot. A real sad thing
happened once, the cargo hole "lid" had leaked and swamped one of the holes.
It flooded the first layer of cars. They set those cars aside, and a crew of
Germans came and pulled the engines and transmissions, and took a sledge
hammer to them, loaded the body's on another ship to be mashed I guess. Man
what a waste. 40 or 50 new 1968 Type 1's gone! I was told that the salt
water just kills the magnesium cases, like holes in just a few weeks.
    By law you can't sell a swamped car as "new"! But I sure would have
given them scrap price for one or two. I think Chevrolet had a similar thing
happen when a Hurricane flooded a lot full of New Chevy trucks in Florida
once.

 So if you had a 68 thru 70 Type 1 - 3 with air, I may have installed it. By
the way I could install almost three units a day in Type 1's just two in
Type 3's. Oh one thing,  I was about 75 pounds less of a man then. LOL

Howard

>1960 VW Transport Ship's Bell - $450 (Norfolk)

> One of the ships that constantly ran hauling VWs to North America and
> would return to Germany with a load of coal or other supplies.