Date:         Tue, 02 Apr 1996 16:02:51 GMT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         debug@wku.campus.mci.net (Doug Skinner)
Subject:      Introduction

I guess it's time to introduce myself (and my VW).

My name is Doug Skinner and I live in Southern Kentucky. I am married
and have a 13 year old son. I have a brown 1985 Vanagon GL that is
starting to get a little gray in it's hair (like its owner). I have
decided to get my wrenches back out of hiding in the garage and take
over maintenance on my bus as it is expensive to have others do the
repair/preventive maintenance for me. 

Volkswagens are starting to become somewhat of an oddity around here,
as we lost our VW dealership here in the mid 1980's. My Vanagon was
purchased at this dealership, and the PO got worried about the nearest
service center being in Nashville, Tenn (about 70 miles away). Hence,
they opted for a Toyota, and I got one of the loves of my life - my
Vanagon in 1979. I have a good friend who just happens to own a
garage, and he has serviced my bus for me until last month when I
decided it was time to start doing things for myself (as I did when I
was young and couldn't afford a mechanic). I gently told him about the
potential loss of business he was going to suffer (he is a friend) and
his reply startled me. He told me that he was more than glad to lose
my vanagon's business as it was a pain in the a** to work on. Oh,
well...

So far, since assuming the title of chief mechanic (and bottle washer)
for my Vanagon I have had to replace the coil as the bus would run
ragged any time it was raining (the tower on the coil was absolutely
eat up). I have also tightened the rear view mirrors (though I might
have to buy new ones, but got lucky). Today the Vanagon and I are
going to Midas for a new muffler.

Things left to do...
Get new struts for the back hatch.
Repaint the nose as it is starting to look bad.
Spring cleaning - inside and out.
Replace the boots on the rack-and-pinion steering as they are in bad
shape.
Replace/repair the power steering pump.
Repair the A/C (it hasn't worked in 2 years, has a leak somewhere in
the body of the van).

Wish me luck,


Doug Skinner from Bowling Green, Kentucky
85 Vanagon GL
debug@wku.campus.mci.net