The answer is simple.  VW engineers were asked if there was anyway to cut
production costs when designing the 094 tranny.  Remember that the late
'70s and early '80s were a rough time for the European economy.  They
developed a rather unique solution.  Since any automotive designer will
tell you that there is no way that a vanagon could ever possibly power
itself up a hill (do the math yourself if you don't belive me) there must
be a little magic used to make everything work.

They decided to look into the work of Nickoli Tesla.  One of the things he
was working on at the time of his death was a way to transport mater using
high voltage AC current.  (some belive that this is where the writers of
Star Trek got the idea, others don't)  When the VW engineers saw this
research they new they had found the solution to 2 problems.  1) how to get
a giant box to go 75mph powered by not much more than a large lawn tractor
engine and 2) how to make a 4speed tranny with only 3 gears.

As you might have guessed by now, providing you haven't deleted this
message yet, the solution was to replace the back half of the input shaft
with a Tesla generator and replace the gear cluster with Tesla
receivers.  This system allows the van to be "pushed" along using a form of
mater transmission rather than direct mechanical connection.  The problem
with the crackle on your AM radio is not a spark but rather a miss
alignment in the subspacial return when shifting the "gears".  To correct
you'll need a Hiesenburg Uncertainty Principal exemption.  This should be
available from any quantum physicist.

"I'm off to see the lizard"
  Chris Smith