Date:         Wed, 6 Dec 1995 11:47:57 -0700 (MST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tony Schiebel <Tony.Schiebel@esys.ca>
Subject:      Syncro Story (long)

Hi List Members,

Having never contributed any stories or advise to this list,
I thought that it might be time.  As a little background, I
am a brand new owner of a 1987 Syncro Westie.  Thanks go out
to Harry Yates for all his advice.  It was, and continues to
be, greatly appreciated!!

There have been several stories about the toughness and
reliability of the Syncro drive as well as some questions
about the handling of Vanagons in snow.  Well, I thought I
would kill two birds and tell you a story about my Syncro
in the snow.  This is a stock Syncro, with Michelin MX
All Season tires.

I had just picked up my Syncro from the PO and decided to see
what it was capable of.  I would much rather get stuck in the
city than in the middle of nowhere.  Call me crazy!! ;-)
Now, living in Edmonton, Alberta Canada, we have a tendancy to
receive a bit of snow.  A bit of snow really depends on where
you are from.  2 feet is a bit to me!  We had just recieved that
amount over a 4 day period.

The city zoo is closed in the winter, for obvious reasons, so they
do not clear the parking lot.  I took the Syncro (affectionately
called "Balou", in honor of "The Jungle Book") down one evening.
I pulled into the parking lot and immediately sunk into the snow.
The parking lot is gravel with about 1 1/2 - 2 feet of snow on
top.  This was fairly wind packed snow, not fresh fluffy stuff.
The Snow was above the wheels.  I immediately thought to myself
"I am screwed now!!", but I wasn't.  I put it in low gear and it
powered right through.  I did not need the Diff. Lock at all.
I did anyway, just to test and see how it pulls.  It ran staight
and true.  I am truly impressed.  My Toyota 4runner had beefy
tires, but they used to swim on top.  The thinner syncro tires
cut right in a churned.  It was great.  I was doing figure 8's and
stopping and starting.  The testosterone was flowing.  I had to
ask my wife to get out of the van so that she wouldn't sprout a
moustache, there was so much in the air!!!  ;-)

Now I thought that was fun.  This past weekend, my wife and I
went Christmas Tree hunting in Hinton Alberta, which is about 
2 1/2 hours West of Edmonton, in the Foothills to the Rocky
Mountains.  There was lots of snow!!  The roads had been plowed
:-( but there was one that I found that wasn't.  We had just come
up a plowed road and we saw the road that we wanted to be on.
Another case of not asking for directions!!  It was running 
parallel to us and there was a crossroad that connected the two
roads together.  It was about 100 yards long and covered in 
2 1/2 - 3 feet of fluffy snow.  I immediately thought of Derek
Drew!!

I wasn't sure if I should try and use this road, but I did have
a chainsaw and a hand winch on board and it was still early in 
the day.  I convinced my wife that there may be really nice tree 
along this road and that we should go for it.  She relunctantly
agreed, but said that I would be pushing and she would be driving
if I got us stuck.  Our dog wouldn't be much help pushing, but I
decided to go anyway.  I lined up with the nose pointing down the
road.  I locked the Differential (just in case!) and headed across 
20 feet of plowed road towards the deep stuff.  I hit the snow
and it sprayed over the windshield.  The engine RPM's started
to drop and then stabalized and some number (I wasn't watching).
Balou just kept chugging along.  Do to the fact that the spare tire
underneath makes the front like the bow of a boat, you could
actually feel the front wheels lift off of the ground, and then 
settle back down.  It went up/down maybe 15 times over the stretch
of the road.  When the tires were off of the ground, they acted
just like the skiis of a snowmobile.  It is a *VERY* funny feeling.
We mad it across without a problem.  I don't think I blinked for the
entire time!!!  Talk about your adrenaline rush!!  Where is 
"Wide World of Sports" when you need them.

We went up the road that we were heading for, and were able to select
a very nice tree.  It is now decorated.  All I need to do now, is 
finish my Christmas Shopping.

I hope you enjoyed the story.  I will post more as they happen.

Cheers
Tony

Tony Schiebel - Senior Support Analyst  
>>>>> Tony.Schiebel@esys.ca <<<<<  
The ESYS Corporation  
Suite 835, 10040 - 104 St.  
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J 0Z2
Voice (403) 424-4922   Fax (403) 424-4925
http://www.esys.ca