Date:         Mon, 15 Apr 1996 01:51:41 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Charlie Callahan <charliec42@ilinkgn.net>
Subject:      $50 Bug and How NOT to tow one (long, scary)

It all started with a question..a friend had a couple of 
bugs, a 67 and a 71 super he had got to switch chassis. 
Some time ago I informed him of the differences, he was 
sad to find out. Well, time passes.. turns out when 
inquired, the 67 is gone and I can have the 71 for $50. 
	Well, I went to look at the thing. Basically 
dissassembled would be the definition, hoods, seats all 
in a pile in a box. Somehow the actual attaching bolts 
and screws are not currently found as of now.. :(

Anyhows, other than rotted out heat channels, some 
related qtr panel rot, this thing has only what I'd call 
'measles ' surface rust. :) no cavities.
	Component wise, I can only say, pouring brake fluid in 
created a equal volume on the ground just about as fast. 
the parking brake worked, though.. 
	In the middle of this measles-infested area of the 
engine (there's a bee's nest in the muffler- a plus; an 
extra muffler was included :) I popped a valve cover.
It was like a time warp. That thing is factory-spec 
clean, just looked utterly out of place in the rest of 
the dirty, was VERY careful refitting.. dead engine? or 
just in need of tweaking? only time will tell..

	Whatever, that head looked perfect, as opposed to the 
sludge basin I have been cleaning out by the chunkful 
out of my klackety  85 vanagon engine, with a bad case 
of  quacker state sludge..

Suggestions for melting said parrafin crap, let me know, 
it's all over that thing! @@!

	I'm past my limit for now on vw's, with rebuilds 
waiting on two cars before they'll even run right. :(
50% isn't bad, I guess :) So, I really couldn't buy it..

	But I knew I friend who wanted a bug. And he used to 
drive a bus years ago, and didn't blow it up.. :)
He needs something like this to divert fooling around 
with his 81 scirocco, which he'd be happy to sell.:) 
especially now that he's bought this one!

Now, here we come to the stunt portion of our broadcast
..
Towing: Don't tow it without someone steering. Yes, we 
tried it, but our towing contraption fell apart at a 
safe (?) juncture suitable for rethinking this tow.

		And Just How Insane The Previous Approach Was:

Had the chain length been a tire width longer, we would 
have lost the thing over a ditch. Suffice to say you can 
visualize the part in 'the love bug' where herbie is 
split in two, swinging from side to side? That's the
effect.This thing was not going to work...
	Then the whole contraption fell apart just as a major 
rainstorm blew (and I mean blew!) in. Just as. Major.
	Thunder, heavy winds, and me and my friend hooking up 
the chains in the middle of the road. Not too busy a 
road, though.. :) How weird was it? A car ran out of gas 
300 ft in front of us just as we're doing all these 
hookups in the rain.. Well, ya had to be there. It was 
weird. And wet. 

We finally chained it up, through the spare and with me 
steering. I think I might have been more relaxed about 
my first free-falling tow steer had the speedo not 
worked so accurately! 
	Did I mention the brakes didn't work? Well, the 
emergency brake did. Fortunately, it was not put to use.
The next day, we re-lashed everything, with a couple of 
spare tires lashed to either side of the spare, used 
that as a cushion. Heavy,heavy chain connecting the two 
cars. I prepped and sat in said bug for 90+ miles 
steering and enjoying the odd stares from people.. :)

God loves the idiot, and our ventures were quite 
idiotic..It is a wonder that the bug didn't fly off the 
road on the first attempt....

The chain-tires approach worked better. The final tally 
on damage: One front fender squoosheed, vents in bottom 
twisted :( But all that was from the previous kludge 
attempts.
 What an adventure, now, the boring 'fixing' things.. Ah 
well, gotta stop and start somewhere. This should be an 
interesting bug in a few months.. 


Charlie "stunt driving" Callahan

P.S. One of our earlier towing adventures involved 
towing a automatic bug backwards 320 miles on a dolly..