Date:         Fri, 30 Apr 1999 02:10:43 EDT
Reply-To:     Noganav@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Martin <Noganav@AOL.COM>
Subject:      '84 Vanagon GL For Sale
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

My heart sunk when I saw this van for sale in the "Park and Ride" lot near
the Agate Pass Bridge in Suquamish, Washington.
It was the first Vanagon I ever owned and I had driven it from Maine to
Seattle when I moved west in 1991.  I bought it from an meticulous engineer
and his family in Augusta, Maine in 1991.  The mileage was just over 60K and
it was extra clean inside and out.  They loved the van so much that they
insisted on taking photographs of me with them and the van on the day of the
sale.  The kids cried when I was driving away.  They had purchased a new mini
van that had more power to pull there pop up camper.
Anyway, he told me that the heads were bad, it overheated, and the temp gauge
light flashed intermittently.  The Augusta VW dealer wanted over 1500.00 to
repair the problem.  I thought to myself that it ran too well to have the
problems he said it had.  He was still hurting from his mini van purchase and
didn't want to put any money into it.  He volunteered to deduct the 1500.00
repair estimate from his asking price of 5000.00.  I offered him 3000.00 and
he took it.  He included a set of snow tires with rims and a brand new
Bentley Manual.  I filled the empty coolant reservoir and drove it to my
brothers house in Bangor without any major incidents.  The temp gauge went
all the way to the top, the light flashed a couple of times, but it never
actually overheated during the hour plus trip.  Browsing though the Bentley
that night, I came across the procedure for bleeding air out of the cooling
system.
First thing the next morning we built a crude ramp, followed the Bentley
instruction and bled all the air out of the cooling system.  From that point
to the day I sold it, the van ran beautifully, the temp gauge stayed just
below the light, and the light never flashed.  I had a minor coolant drip
from the left head but I checked the reservoir weekly and topped it off when
needed.

I loved and cared for this van like no other vehicle I ever owned!!  I had to
sell it to buy a pick up truck for my construction work.  I regretted selling
it for months after.

Back to the present.
My heart sunk at the sight of the van today.  Missing hubcaps, Maypop tires,
sagging curtains, huge dents and deep scratches on all sides, and rust.  What
an awful sight.  Depressing for me, to say the least.  What kind of person
does that to a Vanagon?  A pox upon them and their kind!

The asking price is $2500.00 and the sign says "great mechanical condition".
I was too sick to look at the interior condition.  If anyone out there is
looking for a beat up Vanagon, p-mail me and I'll somehow gather the strength
to stop and write down the telephone number on my next trip to Bainbridge
Island.

Andrew