In a message dated 2/12/02 2:00:32 PM Eastern Standard Time,
vanagons@NTPLX.NET writes:

> How much you want to bet, the P.O. forgot the top was up, and went to pull
> out of the garage! Is that what a Dometic fridge looks like?
> Doug
>

more like the DPO had the top up and tried to pull IN to the garage..  i
actually sold a replacement poptop to a lister 3 years ago who did the same
thing...he had a '86 vanagon Westy and was doing some "stealth camping" in a
high-rise parking deck.   Security guard came in the middle of the night and
told him to get the hell out of there before he called the cops, and in his
half asleep groggy stupor, forgot the top was up..   drove like 15 feet at
full throttle, hit a overhead concrete beam, lifted the van's front wheels
OFF the ground...then the van came bouncing back down, messed up the PS
rack..    the top wouldnt close right, looked just like the one in the pic
(front foot and a half pretty munched up), except there was also damage at
the rear poptop hinges from the shock, and the canvas was sheared.  we did
the swap in my driveway, there was no damage to the body of the van (a few of
the threaded holes were mushroomed out a bit, but a few taps with a hammer
fixed that)  and he was on his way.
PS...his insco actually totalled the van because of the damage!!   he bought
it back, bought the top from me for $350, and was back and running..and had a
nice settlement check in his pocket ...

chris