Date:         Tue, 22 Nov 1994 11:35:22 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Evan Estern <evestern@pipeline.com>
Subject:      need  advice about a  bus...

A while ago I placed some postings on this list regarding a VW I bought out
in Washington State even tho I live on the east coast (NYC) The opportunity
to buy it ('76 Westphalia:  camper/running gear/body all excellent, no
rust, engine questionable) for $1,200 came up and I thought it would be
great to keep the vehicle out there for when I'm visting family and
friends.   Thing is, it's at my mother in law's place in a remote corner of
the state and now I have to deal with getting it running, registered, etc.
all from far away.  I found a place about 80 miles away ( thanks to Eric
Oster) that will pick the bus up and figure out what it needs, but since I
havn't actually seen the it yet, I'm sort of at their mercy as far repairs
go.   They say they'll charge me  around $150 for the tow.     
    I wanted to ask you guys if you think I was totally crazy to get
involved in this thing at all.   And also:  should I trust someone who
seems to be really experienced withVWs to tow the thing all that way, etc. 
(and should I spend all that money on just the tow?) Originally I thought I
would get out there and try and get it going myself and that's still a
possibility, but the hassle of getting the tools together out there
combined with my very rusty skills as a mechanic make this seem pretty
daunting at the moment.   I'm going there in December for about ten days. 
I could either get pretty far into the repairs myself at that time or I
could be driving it around if I get that place (Folkswagon, in Olympia) to
pick it up and do the work for me.   Anyway I guess I wanted to know if
anyone had some advice or words of wisdom that might help me figure out the
next step.