Well since we are looking for opinions, here comes one! Bear in mind, this
post should not be read until Friday...

Those Vanagons still taking to the road today are the strong, the fittest,
the survivors... Darwin's Own. The few weak Monday and Friday built lemons
have been culled from the herd by time and poor owner maintenance. Know
that if your Vanagon is still on the road today, you are driving one of the
Good Ones! (Can you hear the music in the background? I don't recognize the
tune, but it's something bombastic by Wagner :-)

I bought my '85 Westie in '01, with absolutely no Vanagon knowledge... I
had to find out just what a "Wasserboxer" was after I bought it. I knew
nothing of head gasket leaks or any of the other common quirks that assil
these beasts.

I did have some automotive knowledge (though it had been a few years since
I turned my own wrenches), so I did a complete coolant hose and belt
replacement, tuned it up, replaced a bad alternator (with an almost-as-bad
FLAPS rebuild), replaced the coolant expansion tank (which I no doubt
cracked while changing the hoses) and hit the road for a 10,000 mile
six-week trans-continental odyssey. I was not at that time a member of this
list, so I was travelling in blissful ignorance...

Except for replacing the FLAPS alternator with a Bosh reman, and a couple
of oil changes, the van ran flawlessly, and provided a trip I'll never
forget. It's hard to beat waking up, rolling over, and watching the sunrise
from the south rim of the grand canyon while your coffee perks (yeah, I
know you aren't supposed to camp there, but I pulled in *really* late... or
really early, depending on how you count it).

So, I guess I would say... Trust Your Ride!  (but definitely carry some
tools, no sense being a damn fool about this "trust" thing :-).

Tim