My syncro's previous owner removed the front bumper cover, blended the 
frame underneath into the body at the sides, and then welded a winch 
mount & brush guard on, with bracing angle iron running from the sides 
of the winch, underneath to the frame.
It's beefy. It's easy to intimidate the assortment of street punks in 
their cheesy l'il neon-lit dorkmobiles out here in the Denver suburbs...
Uh, but it's very useful for shoving stuff out of the way, like large 
rocks, and I dangle a tire over it to push other cars, and it always 
hits the ground first on severe approach angles...
I love the thing. I think all Vanagons should have one. The only 
problem is that, since I know how tough it is, I find myself nearly 
tempted to actually shove the afore-mentioned dorkmobiles around!
It makes pedestrians walk wide around the van, too...
There's a mediocre picture here:
http://farrside.net/camping.htm
I'm actually curious to see what happens if I hit a deer...
-Simon

On Tuesday, December 3, 2002, at 11:19  PM, Loren A. Busch wrote:

> Re-routed thru Santa Cruz on the way back to Washington and had Volks
> Caf� put on a set of the big bull bumpers.  Love em, now I'm looking 
> for
> the next mini pickup that cuts me off, he may get creamed.  They also
> seem to have a nice intimidation factor in traffic.....
>