I once walked right by Todd Duell's '85 Westy 9didn't know him at the time)
in the parking lot at B&N with my nose in the book I had just bought.  Nancy
was with our daughter in her car and called me on the cell phone to ask me
if I seen the Westy in the lot.  I u-turned and went back and put the Buses
by the Beach website on Todd's windshield.

The book?  "Beetles, Buses and Beyond!"

On 4/24/07, vt <samcvt@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> And, I have enjoyed not having a car payment since I bought the 84 w/11k
> miles on it in 1996 for $7k..
>
> A couple of weeks ago, my son and I were walking out of B&Ns with our bags
> of books, and someone had parked the same year, model nose to nose with my
> Westy.  Adam exclaimed loudly, "Geesus!  They're mating?"
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Geza Polony" <gezapolony@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 1:18 PM
> Subject: Re: The two kinds of Vanagon owner..
>
>
> > Spoken like a true VW bus person. Vanagons being the last of the VW
> > Busses.
> >
> > The VW ethic also means you get to groove on nature while you're waiting
> > to
> > get it fixed...towed...whatever.
> >
> > Cars are supposed to break down--that's what they do--and we need, as a
> > society, as a planet, to come to terms with that, to accept it, with all
> > the
> > cosmic implications it may have.
> >
> > That's what differentiates the true VW bus driver from the RV driver,
> who
> > in
> > the case of a breakdown is swearing about how he can't get the 440 HP
> ski
> > boat he's towing to the man-made lake in time to watch Fox News on
> > satellite. He doesn't get the cosmic implications of it.
> >
> > Grooving on nature is impossible in an RV, inevitable in a VW Bus.
> >
> > You're right, this does beat working.
> >
> >
> > On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:42:04 -0700, Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
> wrote:
> >
> >>Ben's got it right..You either re-work all the weak points in your van,
> or
> > you "hope for the best(but expect the worst)"
> >>
> >>  Now I may be off in my thinking, but personally, I would rather have a
> > machine that I've brought up to whatever level of "perfection" I can
> > afford
> > (time or money) my own self.  Yeah, If I were a billionaire, I would
> just
> > have a  bunch of vehicles and some people to take care of em for
> me...but
> > there are few of those..Jay Leno, Lyle Lovett (with motorbikes) Paul
> > Neuman..etc..
> >>  Even a brand new vehicle screws up often..A brand new camping vehicle,
> > ever more often...I once inherited an almost new Bounder when my father
> > passed away and my mom no longer wanted it..Got talked into taking it to
> > Baja instead of my 'regular' Baja outfit..usually a splitty, or a Ford
> > pickup, or something simple....By the time we reached our furthest point
> > south, I was steering with a set of vicegrips on the steering
> column...The
> > wheel fell off in my hands!  (when we got back to the US and our mail,
> > there
> > was a "recall" notice from GM saying.."You should have your steering
> wheel
> > checked at the dealer before you continue driving your new Bounder"...No
> > shi+!
> >>
> >> I spent that whole winter 'fixing'  Mo-Ho stuff on the beach in
> > Baja..."What good is a VCR if your generator won't run " or "Hey Honey,
> > the
> > holding tank is full..what do I do?"  Or, Honk! honk! Frantic waving out
> a
> > window, pointing down near the right of the Mo-Ho...Steps are hanging
> > down...A flat?  Of course it is the inside dually and the jack doesn't
> > work
> > in sand...Like that...
> >>
> >>  No, Give me a twenty year old vanagon and $10 grand...Keep your new
> > Mini-Winie, your Adventure Wagen, Your Prevost motorcoach..
> >>  When my van's alternator belt broke recently near Boron, California
> this
> > past trip...I knew exactly what it was..No Flatbed ride to the
> dealer.  No
> > "Bosch Hammer." instrument to hunt up to "diagnose the fault"..I just
> > fished
> > around under the bed and found my tire chains..took off all the hooks
> from
> > the tensioner rubber thingie and used that to drive the water pump and
> the
> > alternator till I got to a town with a parts store, camped in front till
> > they opened and got a new belt.
> >>  You can't even see the belts in some of the newer cars...If you have
> > satellite reception, you can maybe call ONSTAR and ask..."Hey, Onstar,
> > where
> > is my frikken alternator?"  Or if you are a millionaire, you discard
> that
> > car and get another new one brought to you..
> >>  Me, I would rather KNOW my van, inside and out, from personal
> > involvement.Sure, you have to spend some money to get it right (enough)
> > but
> > when you are satisfied, you actually know you have good stuff, done
> right.
> > You won't ever get your money back out, but then when you drive a new
> car
> > off the lot, you lose a bundle anyway...
> >>
> >>  You start with a new camper, you just start over with  new
> > problems....New *expensive* problems that aren't user serviceable...Call
> > the
> > dealer, call the flatbed...call you mommy..they still break..Gimme one I
> > can
> > fix most of the stuff on before it breaks (again?) and I think that is a
> > better way..of course, I may be a little "off" in my thinking..
> >>  Don Hanson
>

--
Pete
'79 Westy "Aardvark"
'87 Westy "Joe's Van"
'02 Audi A6 Avant
WWW. Busesbythebeach.com