I seem to recall, perhaps incorrectly, that my '83 VW
Quantum Wagon had some sort of heavy nylon shear pins
integrated into the rear bumper mounts. I guess the
idea being that at least some of the impact force
would be dissipated in shearing these big plastic
pins, leaving the rest of the frame to absorb the
remainder.

Of course, any kind of parking-lot 'boink' would
require that these big pins be replaced, no doubt at
great expense by your local VW dealer, but it probably
prevented your crumple zone from becoming too
crumpled. May be something to think about when
devising one's own Vanagon bumper setup.

Me, I'd like to have a set of those big band-steel
bumpers you see on Jeeps and UPS trucks. Those are
bumpers you can truly BUMP ...

"OK, I'll leave it at that since I've already gone on
for far too long about something I don't know a whole
lot about ..."

Jeffrey Earl
1983 diesel Westfalia "Vanasazi"

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com