Date:         Mon, 20 Dec 1999 19:55:10 -0800
Reply-To:     Austin <austins@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Austin <austins@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:      shoulda waited for Friday(?)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I've been noticing a very disturbing trend recently; methinks 'our'
Vanagons are plotting against us.

To wit - there currently seems to be a spate of *identical* symptoms of
weird electrical gremlins, usually solved by replacing the ignition switch.
 Then there are tires, hundreds of which apparently wear out at the same
time.  Auxiliary batteries ...cracked coolant sensors...sudden MPG drops to
~10...disappearing 3-4 gear shifts...clutches gone south...sudden stumbling
for no apparent reason...sticky lifters...seeping heads...air conditioners
dying...and now one of our very own hijacked to a town in Texas that
doesn't even exist (was a ransom paid to get out of that one? Roswell
West?).  These things all seem to happen at the same time to
(statistically) too many of us.

I'm begining to think *our* Vanagons are communicating on their own virtual
network, at this very moment, plotting to have a buncha brake calipers
start binding, or windshields start leaking, or ????

There's a good chance it's our own arrogance that is the source of this
problem.  Taking a cue from the PC nazis in San Francisco (you no longer
'own' pets in SF, you are a *guardian*), I think we must consider ourselves
as GUARDIANS of our (oops) *the* Vanagons we own (oops again) care for.  As
Native Americans understood themselves as stewards of the land, so we must
approach these vehicles that we are being allowed, at their pleasure, to
share.

Just a wondering mind wandering - or a wandering mind wondering -

Austin