OK, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks those Mitsubishi vans look 
kinda cool. Sure, the only *other* people who agree with me also think 
Vanagon's are kinda cool...

Wouldn't give up my '85 Westy for anything... (unless I find a nice clean 
Syncro Westy being sold by someone who has no idea what it's worth... :-)

Tim

At 04:21 PM 6/25/2003 -0500, Owen wrote:
>I too have always liked the shape of those Mitsubishi vans. I see more of
>those in Houston than Vanagons.
>
>One vehicle that might be the basis of a modern Vanagon is the MB SmartCar.
>While it appears like death on wheels that is the perception many have of
>the vanagon. In fact the Smart Car is built around a crash cage concept and
>is pretty darn safe for a car of any size much less that little thing.
>Expand the crash cage concept of that car and make maximum use of a larger
>chassis and you have the evolved vanagon. Modern TDI with decent mileage and
>it could be pretty cool.
>
>That said I love my 84 Westy and wouldn't give it up for anything.
>
>Owen
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "John Parson" <bentway@IWON.COM>
>To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 1:55 PM
>Subject: Re: vanagon sized/shape/style vehicles
>
>
> >   I've always thought small, older Mitsubish vans look like shortened
>Vanagons.  The only place i've seen a lot of them is on the west coast.
> >                   Chris P.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  --- On Tue 06/24, Andrew Grebneff < andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ
> > wrote:
> > From: Andrew Grebneff [mailto: andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ]
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 07:35:22 +1200
> > Subject: Re: vanagon sized/shape/style vehicles
> >
> > >one type of bus i always kinda lusted after was a
>Mercedes<br>>MB-100.<br>>about the same size and shape as our vanagons, but
>with a front<br>>engine between the front seats.<br>>i think they've
>discontinued it in favor of their<br>>more-minivan-shaped vehicles.
>:(<br><br>The MB100 looks like a Hiace gone wrong. It's also FWD, and made
>in<br>Korea... I strongly suspect therefore that it is actually a
>Ssangyong<br>design (until recently Ssangyong  was a manufacturer
>making<br>locally-designed large Musso 4WDs using Mercedes sixes & diesel
>5s;<br>it was bought out by another manufacturer recently) and not a
>real<br>Mercedes..<br><br>>and i think the public misconception of no-nose =
>no protection<br>>continues,<br><br>Unfortunately! The Type 2 and Hiaces
>prove that forward-control vans<br>CAN be safe... to their occupants (not to
>the occup[ants of the other<br>car, though!... ie see the Caravelle vs Volvo
>crashtest).<br><br>>and you aren't likely to see any
>well-designed<br>>vehicles (like our vanagons) that use the interior
>space<br>>efficiently or effectively. the Honda is an attempt at it,
>but<br>>look at the intended audience: surfers, bikers, hikers ... not
>a<br>>soccer mom in the bunch! ;)<br><br>Fortunately the YH/LH-100-series
>Toyota Hiace is still going<br>gangbusters in production, though there is
>also a longnosed so-called<br>Hiace sold alongside it! I hope Toyota sees
>the light and continues<br>the cabover design. The Mitsubishi Delica
>(=Express, L300) is still<br>in production in Korea as the Hyundai H100. Kia
>has just released a<br>cabover Hiace clone also. Mazda is also still making
>its Bongo (also<br>sold with Ford Econovan badges).<br><br>Strictly speaking
>these Japanese vans are front-midengined, as the<br>engine is located inline
>& slightly behind the front axle line ie<br>within the
>wheelbase.<br><br>>but then, i wouldn't mind if the vanagons were a tad
>bigger.<br><br>Nah, it's plenty wide enough already. Want wider, get a
>Dummer... I<br>mean Hummer.<br><br>>anyway, i guess my point is, they ain't
>making no more no-nose<br>>vans ...<br><br>See above<br><br>>and the vans
>they are making aren't very good for what<br>>we want.<br><br>No, the
>long-nosed vans either are the same length as a VW with 1.5m<br>less
>cargobay length, or the entire vehicle is 1.5m longer...TOO<br>long!! Crap.
>I'll stick with rear-engined VWs and Hiaces (I just<br>bought 2 1986 LWB
>10-seater dual-slider 2.4 diesel Hiaces, one being<br>an LH66 dual-range
>4WD). The trend toward Eurovans is lamentable.<br><br>I believe the Hiace is
>sold in M�xico. What's to stop people bringing<br>them into the US
>privately?<br>--<br>Andrew Grebneff<br>165 Evans St, Dunedin, New
>Zealand<br>64 (3)
>473-8863<br><andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz><br>Fossil
>preparator<br>Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut<br>
> >
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