Date:         Mon, 03 Apr 1995 19:25:35 +0100
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         gremlin@iol.ie (P.J. Kenny)
Subject:      My life (and other things

The Bushrat is currently browsing through 1191 e-mails, of which a HUGE
number are from vanagon@lenti.  I have been stockpiling them and now I
realise that that is not a good idea...

During the week, I decided that I want to dispose of the blue thing.  It's a
'91 and, with 106,000 miles on it, soon it will need a lot of money to
maintain it.  Over the last fortnight I put on a CV boot, a new gear linkage
and found that it will need another CV boot.  The engine is running like a
charm - however, the gears (manual transmission: we don't go for automatics
over here) are grating terribly when engaging first or fifth.  The clutch is
OK according to my mechanic.

The van finds it tough to get to 80mph these days.  On my recent long
journeys to Dublin (hey - it's a *small* island) I found that maintaining 70
mph was a chore.  And yes, our speed limit is 60 mph.  I know.  :P

Anyway, I decided that I fancy a '93.  I rang the local dealer and asked
them to value my baby.  I bought the blue thing in '93, just before its
second birthday, with 60,000 miles on the clock.  It cost me 7000 pounds.
You can then imagine my surprise (and great pleasure) when Brendan said it
would be worth 6000 pounds now!

That is 500 pounds depriciation per year!!!  I find that incredible and even
better than BMW's depriciation levels!  According to Brendan, the van is
*so* popular that residual values are the highest in the market.

BUT - the downside is that a '93 is going to cost me nearly 10,000 pounds...

There is one available without power steering at a nice price but I don't
know if that's a good idea.  Although I *hate* power steering, I found blue
thing's to be quite responsive and wonderfully heavy.

Oh, guys, it feels great to be writing rubbish to the list again!  And if
y'all could see the amounts of mail certain people have generated...  :)
--- Sphonfirkle!
      from P.J.

- gremlin@iol.ie - the bushrat - ennis, co. clare, ireland -
- '91 vw transporter t4 - blue thing - now yer suckin' diesel -

"Reach fer the stars, that's whut Daddy said.  Never said nuthin' else.
 That's when we had to keep him in that lil' room under the stairs."
                      - Ray, the custodian.