I thought Daimler was owned now by Chrysler, not Ford?  And "a former
British company"?  Weren't Mr. Daimler and Mr. Benz about as German as they
come?
Hmmmmm.....
bmc  :)
"Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel...."

From: Derek Drew <derekdrew@RCN.COM>
Reply-To: Derek Drew <derekdrew@RCN.COM>
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 22:23:59 -0500
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Fwd NYT: Farewell, Old Bus

The New York Times marked the passing of our bus heritage with the proper
somber tone. 

January 4, 2002

Farewell, Old Bus. Hi, Your Majesty.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

The first-generation VW Microbus.

An era is ending at Volkswagen, and, in the rarefied precincts of royalty,
another is about to begin.

In Brazil, VW recently ended production of its "combi," otherwise known as
the Microbus (and in Germany as the "bulli"). The loaf-shaped, air-cooled
van, officially called the T2, was the successor of the original bus
sketched in 1947 by Ben Pon, the first American importer of VW Beetles, and
produced in 1950. In the 1960's, the bus became a hippie clich�, chugging to
rock concerts in psychedelic paint jobs.

In Europe and the United States, the bus was succeeded by the T3 of 1980 and
the water-cooled Vanagon of 1993. The Brazil factory was the last source of
the T2, which has been recently sold only in Latin America.

"Adios Combi" said headlines on VW advertisements in Mexico. The ads might
have worn a tear, as did the cartoon bus in ads that VW ran after the 1995
death of Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.

Across the Atlantic, a Volkswagen subsidiary, Bentley Motors, has polished
off a state limousine for Queen Elizabeth II. It will be the first Bentley
owned by the Royal Family, which since the 1950's has relied on a series of
Rolls-Royce Phantoms for state occasions. (Even those were radical
departures, since the Queen's father and grandfather preferred cars from
Daimler, an old British company that was later taken over by Jaguar, now
owned by Ford.)

The Bentley will be used on formal occasions. Other transport in the
Buckingham Palace garages includes three Daimler DS420 limousines, a
favorite of the Queen Mother. Queen Elizabeth is believed to lease a Daimler
version of the Jaguar XJ8 sedan.
The new car is a gift from Bentley and British parts suppliers for the
queen's golden jubilee in June. Experts say the one-of-a- kind Bentley would
cost at least $750,000.

________________________________________________________
Derek Drew                             New York, NY & Washington, DC
derekdrew@rcn.com                    212-580-6486
Email me for viscous couplings
'90 Syncro Westfalia...
...seen off-road at
http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/Syncro_Madness_Area.htm
Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are:
    http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon
    http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro
     http://www.vanagon.com <http://www.vanagon.com/>
     http://www.syncro.org <http://www.syncro.org/>
My refrigerator article:
      http://www.vanagon.com/info/articles/Refrigerator/Reefer_Madness.htm
My article that shows how to deal with insurance companies:
      http://gerry.vanagon.com/files/auto-insurance-madness.html
To view Wolfgang's incredibly informative wheel article
      http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/fitbigtiresonvanagon.htm
To view Tim Smith's incredibly useful gearing calculator
      http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/syncrotireandgearratios.xls
To view two articles about how to think about improving your gears at
transmission rebuild time
      http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7207
      http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Syncro/message/7221
To view some 16" Trailing Arms that enable much larger tires see
     
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syncro-org/files/Wheels%2C%20Tires%20%26%20Gea
ring/Wheel%20%26%20Tire%20Photos/16_Inch_Trailing_Arm.jpg
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syncro-org/files/Wheels,%20Tires%20%26%20Gear
ing/Wheel%20%26%20Tire%20Photos/16_Inch_Trailing_Arm.jpg>
To view the only perfect 16" rim for T3 Vanagon Syncro see
     http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/perfectwheel16s.jpg
     http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/images/perfect16wheel.jpg
SYNCRO OWNERS WHO DRIVE OFF THE ROAD:
     You only get to change your ring and pinions once every 10 or 20 years
      because that's how long the average syncro transmission goes before
      its next rebuild. Start planning for higher number ring and pinion
sets NOW!