Date:         Wed, 21 Sep 94 13:43:04 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "J. Walker" <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Car Talk

On Wed, 21 Sep 94 12:34:49 CDT Steve Johnson said:
>So why blame VW when the mechanic was at fault?

because it's vw's fault: they designed a vehicle that an idiot CAN'T fix!! :)
it's the current vogue of blame, that wonderful american pre-occupation:
whose fault is it?  <a childhood affliction, aggrevated by too many lawyers>

"The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves ..." :)

>every documentary film I've seen about those continents there is always
>a VW Vanagon or bus in the background.  They VW Type II is the true
>work horse of the backcountry.  They're easy to maintain and parts are

all you have to do is watch CNN for reports from haiti, israel, and just
about everywhere else ... and there's always some buses (even vanagons, and
more recently a eurovan pickup truck!) in the background. why, even just a
few nights ago, there was a show on PBS (Frontiers of Scientific American)
where some german nut was trying to find out some stuff about homing
pigeons ... and how did he take the pigeons to the launching fields? :)
a vw bus.

>available world wide.  So why the Landcruiser?  I have no idea.  I've

from the one i rode around in way back when down in australia, and the info
i got, it's because toyota sells the things in stripped down form very
cheap in third world countries. much cheaper than any other 4wd vehicles.
that's what i heard anyway.  over here, they have to meet EPA/DOT and put
lots of luxuries in ... so the price is $40,000.  rather similar to what vw
does with the buses ... i had heard that a vanagon turbo diesel panel truck
sold new in 1988 in germany for about $5000, compared to my 88 vanagon GL
which was over $18,000.

>And I'm sick and tired of them recommending the stupid Volvo.  Talk about
>"UGLY".  I know it's suppose to be safer than most vehicles but jesus!

all swedish cars are UGLY. period. has something to do with all their women
being good looking. or the long winters. or something. but the cars are
really ugly. functional, maybe. but still ugly. but i still like them better
than the french cars ... now there are some really strange looking cars
(mostly)!

what was that someone once said, that the absolutely best car in the world
would have ...
... a body designed by the italians
... engineering by the germans
... construction by the japanese
and sales/marketing by the americans.
<notice: no electrics by the british! :)  >

joel
too old to care: i just wanna keep my buses.