Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 08:58:00 -0700
Reply-To: Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Subject: Tom and Ray: Vanagon adds excitement - and headaches- to driving
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
This should convince Wannagons that life is an adventure...;^-)
Posted without permission from 7/22/98 Detroit News AUTOS section:
Vanagon adds excitement - and headaches- to driving
Dear Tom and Ray: I am having a genuine, bona fide mid-life
crisis. I want to ditch a perfectly good, reliable 1985 Honda Accord
hatchback and get a used, but not very old, Volkswagen Vanagon.
Why? Because I'm sick of driving short cars in which everyone
else's halogen lights shine directly into my eyes. Because I like sitting
up straight instead of having my legs and lower back in stupid
extended positions while driving. I want something I can use for
road trips, something that will seat my friends, and hold the plants
I pick up when I stop suddenly at a nursery. I also want to be able
to keep my clothes in it and sleep in it when I go to a week-long
camp and it rains!
Even if I am crazy, what vintage of Vanagon is most reliable?
Help me either not do something stupid, or, if I'm going to be
stupid, help me do it in style, guys. Thanks.
- Margie
Tom: We'll help you do it in style, Margie!
Ray: I completely understand why you want to do this. In
"perfecting" the automobile, Honda and Toyota have essentially turned
cars into appliances. That's great for reliability. But do you ever get
excited about your toaster oven? Does your crock pot make you smile?
Of course not. Your Honda is reliable and trustworthy, but it's boring.
Tom: The Vanagon is just the opposite. Getting places will be an
adventure in the Vanagon, Margie. Since you'll never know whether
you're going to make it, you'll feel a thrill every time you do. While
driving down near the ground with lights in your eyes in the Honda is
tedious, wait until you get blown around in a windstorm way up in that
Vanagon. It's the next best thing to hang gliding!
Ray: I think this is a great move, Margie. After all, what is life, if not
an adventure? I'd go with the latest model Vanagon you can afford. I
think Volkswagen made it up until about 1991. Then they redesigned it as
a front-wheel-drive van and renamed it the Eurovan.
Tom: Either one will completely wipe out the memory of this boring
Honda, Margie. But make sure your AAA membership is paid up before
you pull the trigger, OK?
Copyright © 1998, The Detroit News
OLTECO Ari Ollikainen
P.O. BOX 3688 Networking Technology and Architecture
Stanford, CA Ari@OLTECO.com
94309-3688 415.517.3519