>  This list is full of great people that are willing to go out of there way to
>help out another listee. I for one am greatful for people like Mark.

Great to hear!

>  One more bit of good news, I talked to a new friend that owns a body shop,
>and he is a VW guy, and he said that my Van can be fixed. I will have to take
>the money from the insurance and pay for the repairs myself, but I will get to
>keep my van, and have it repaired. I plan to do as much of the repairs myself
>as I can to save some of the money for other things it needs.
>  I have only had this van for about 1.5 months, but I have grown very attached
>to it. I had 6 Baywindows before this 85 Vanagon and I never got as attached to
>them as I have to this one. I am in this one for the long haul.
>  Well, thanks for listening and thanks to Mark and the others like him that
>are so willing to help others in need. Without his help I would have not made
>it home. And yes, I learned my lesson about checking the spare tire before a
>trip!

That's the spirit! Some of us DO become emotionally attached to our
vehicles - I do also - and it's good to save one from the knacker's yard.

BUT... that impact will have broken the seals in every seam of the body,
right to the front panel. If you don't want it to be showing signs of rust
within a year it's imperative to fix this and THEN get a comprehensive
antirust treatment done.

By the way, what was the condition of the Chev truck? I remember a listee
some time ago saying an Econoline destroyed itself against the back of his
Vanagon, also writing off the car the VW was shunted forward into, but the
bus was drivable and would be fixed. I tried to follow this up later, but
got no reply.

Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin, New Zealand
fax 64 (3) 479-7527
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
www.goingplatinum.com/member/vw1
www.my-successcenter.com/member/vw1
www.aciimoney.com/index.shtml?vw1
VW & Toyota vans, Toyota diesels and Macintoshes rule