Date:         Wed, 31 Jul 1996 11:36:13 -0400 (EDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Michael Pelikan <strlngis@sover.net>
Subject:      Howdy duty

Hi!

I'm new to the list, and thanks to Joel Walker for spotting me
on the aircooled vintagevw list and inviting me over.

I'm on that list because of a nearly life-long love affair with
Volkswagens which stretches back to about 1958 when, at the
age of five, I got to ride in a VW sedan.  What did I love about it?
Well, the overall look:  the semaphores, the gear shifter (looked like
the end of a hard-boiled egg to little five year old me) and especially
that the owner let me ride in the space behind the rear seat!

I've owned something like thirteen or fourteen Volkswagens since
about 1976.  Let's see, two ghias, two type 3's, a couple of brief
flirtations with type 4's, a diesel rabbit, a diesel jetta, and oh yeah,
five vw busses of several sorts...

The first was a 65 with a 59 1200 cc engine.  Named it "Go Bus"
'cause that's what you were always saying to it.  Once achieved
a forward speed of 50 mph on a county road through dead-flat
Minnesota farm land, after accelerating totally floored for several 
minutes.  I claimed it as a top speed, even though it *may* have 
been wind-assisted.

The next was a cherry Westy about 1970 or so (might have been
69) named "Luther" for it's stout heart and sturdy Germanic
character.  Luther had a lot of adventures.  Sold it and still think
about it - it could still be out there somewhere...

Moved to Alaska in 1980 and stayed till 1994.  In Juneau I owned
the same type II twice.  It was a homely loaf of the early pancake
engine era (no access lid above - is that '75?) which never got a name
but might be the most important, precious of all of them.  After a while
of owning it I sold it to a guy and it passed out of my personal story.
Several years later I started receiving messages on my answering machine
from some woman I'd never heard of saying she'd just bought a vw bus
and the Alaska DMV was making her trace back the last x-number of
owners because some nimrod along the way had failed to transfer the
title properly.  She said we *had* to meet so she could get my signature
on some form.  After lots of near-misses and phone tag we agreed to 
meet at a Tex-Mex place on South Franklin in Juneau.  I got there and
a few minutes later a woman walked in and my whole world just went
blooey.  To make a very long and colorful story a bit shorter, we were
married in San Diego 5 years later, and not quite ten months ago our
first child was born - his name is Stefan.  All because of that homely,
rusty old bus...

Then three years ago after eyeballing them from the first time I ever
saw one, I bought a '93 EuroVan MV 5 speed from Eero Volkswagen in
Anchorage, Alaska.  A few months later I was offered a new job
in Vermont.  We rented the 2nd biggest U-Haul truck in the world,
loaded it up with all our stuff, and drove down the AlCan in a caravan
of the U-Haul and the EuroVan.  4500 miles in eleven days.  Got plenty
of stories to tell, which I'll doll out in contextually appropriate metered
doses over the coming days & months.

The EV has been almost completely trouble-free.  It now has just over
65,000 miles on it.  The air conditioner clutch siezed last summer, blowing
up the compressor, destroying the serpentine belt, the compressor bracket,
and a bunch of other terrible stuff.  VW payed for most of that one (we were
out of warrenty by miles but not by years - letters were exchanged).  

Except for that, I've done all my own maintenance.  I'm a subscriber
to the EuroVan Update newsletter from HP Products in KY, and
a frequent caller to Bentley Publications asking them to puhleaze
get the lead out and get the manual published.  Haven't called 'em
in a while - any news there?

Oh yeah, the H2O temp gauge and the gas gauge have the intermittent 
which I'm sure has been the subject of a thread or two here.  

But that's it.  I'm beginning to believe the EV is fairly bullet-proof
(knock knock knock on wood).

that's more than enough for now, and that's my Howdy duty.
Talk to you on the list!

Michael
'74 Super Sun Bug
'93 EuroVan MV