> this brings to mind a question:  how many of us are "hippies"?  i don't
> think of my syncro as a "hippie van", it's a 4wd brute that i use for
> hauling stuff on mountain trips.  but i also use it to camp at festivals
> and tailgate at red rocks.  i listen to a lot of hippie music (i was in
> high school in vermont at the beginning of the phish era) and vote
> green, but i work 9 - 5 and shop at the gap.
>=20
> it seems like most vanagon owners are utilitarian german van
> enthusiasts, not dead-following, nader-voting vegans.  am i right?

Some completely anecdotal observations.
I meet a lot of new vanagon owners (I build racks for them) and have noticed
an emerging demographic in the last couple of years.
Younger 25 - 35 year olds who are buying nicer 1987 and newer vanagon
westies and syncro westies.  They have post secondary education, often grad
school and are generally 'significantly' employed.  They are Very outdoors
oriented; biking, skiing, kayaking, climbing every weekend.
They could buy new SUVs, like the people in the nissan pathfinder
commercials, but choose the old vanagon.  Maybe its an anti-SUV statement.
They choose the vanagon over the eurovan. They probably have not owned a
type 2 bus.

Finally, they have had an engine conversion or are thinking about or
planning for it.

Gary Lee
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/vw.htm