Date:         Thu, 16 Jul 1998 08:55:13 -0700
Reply-To:     Mark McCulley <raven@HALCYON.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Mark McCulley <raven@HALCYON.COM>
Subject:      Re: six cylinder vanagons
Comments: To: DavidM <dmc@CYBURBAN.COM>, Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 10:23 AM 7/16/98 -0400, DavidM wrote:
>SyncroHead@AOL.COM wrote:
>>
>> In a message dated 98-07-15 18:24:40 EDT, kennedy@FDU.EDU writes:
>>
>> > Consensus of past conversations, list and elsewhere, is that
>> >  VW never did six cylinder engines from the factory, altho as
>> >  Joel has documented, Oettinger did a brutally expensive
>> >  aftermarket six with Vanagon pistons.
>>
>> I'm not certain where I heard this, but I understand that this engine was
>> designed by VW who decided not to use it.  Oettinger then bought the tooling
>> and the rights to produce the engine.  Too bad VW never did a proper 6
>> cylinder Vanagon.  I figure a few improvements to the Vanagon and it would
>> have survived another 5-6 years and sold better than the Eurovan.
>
>Isn't the biggest marketing problem with the Vanagon that it cannot have
>air-bags? They are now a requirement, so is side-impact protection.
>These changes probably meant it would have been as expensive to retrofit
>them as to design a new vehicle.
>Ever wondered why they still make many of the old vehicles for sale
>overseas - they dont have all the USA regulations.

The biggest marketing problem with the Vanagon was VWoA's marketing
department. But it's a moot point, new Vanagons will never again be sold in
North America. It wouldn't be that hard to add airbags to the Vanagon
though. They would need a new steering wheel and dash plus all the
electronics for the air bags. Don't know about adding side-impact protection.

MM