Ah, the truth comes out!  People are more interesting than cars.  Who knew?

I got a van out of ignorance - I wanted a van to live in, my sister has one,
my brother-in-law is a true vanagonaut (albeit too shy to go to vanagon
events), and I had NO idea what I was getting into.

I stayed with the van through a year and half of nightmarish and expensive
breakdowns and repairs because of you guys.  The people I've met because I
have a van are delightful, interesting, generous, and much more diverse than
the people I meet in the rest of my life.

Oh dear, I'm waxing sentimental!  I'd better go back to painting the
house...

Joy

:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of Geza Polony
:::Sent: Monday, December 25, 2006 11:20 AM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Re: Come out of the closet, all
:::
:::This is by far the longest thread I've seen on this site, and it's about
:::people, not cars. Perhaps that in itself gives an indication of the
:::common
:::denominator here.
:::
:::I find myself attracted to these vans because of their legacy, which
:::leads
:::back to the kinder, gentler counterculture of the 60's. Even though it
:::may
:::have been hippie-dippy, touchy-feely, and artsy-fartsy, it was not such a
:::bad thing.
:::
:::I'm a former general contractor with a degree in Comparative Literature
:::from
:::the Sorbonne; studied film at SF State, earned living as photographer for
:::a
:::short while, taught in a community college for 11 years, built a couple
:::of
:::houses, play jazz piano (only Sundays), father of two, soft-hearted
:::Marxist,
:::landlord.
:::
:::A book I'm reminded of is "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."
:::There
:::is something about these vans that encourages you to explore them and
:::bond
:::with them by doing mechanical work. This goes against the grain of modern
:::consumerist culture, which produces impenetrable object meant to be
:::discarded. Maybe a distrust of this culture is another trait Vanagon
:::owners
:::share.
:::
:::
:::Geza