Bryan,

There are actually a surprising number of vans left in PA.  Lots of Germans
immigrated to the Philadelphia area and bought another Volkswagen, my
parents included.
In the town where our shop resides (just north of you), people see dozens of
different vanagons running about town all year long!  ;>)  People here must
have an incredibly distorted view of the number of VW vans still driving
around.  Once we actually almost had as many here on the premises as Chris
has!

-Hans
East Coast Vanagon
http://www.vanaru.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "BJ Feddish" <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2007 6:47 PM
Subject: Vanagon (and owner) sighting in SE PA

>I actually parked next to an 82 Vanagon diesel today at Home Depot. When I
> got back out the owner was getting back into his van. We started chatting
> as
> I claimed that I thought I and one of the last vans left in PA. :)  He
> said
> he had 5 of them, including a Westy Syncro. I asked if he was on the
> Vanagon
> list and he told me no. He says his father was one of the first VW
> mechanics
> in the US and he was also a mechanic that did all his own work.  He says
> he
> still hangs out with a bunch of the older German mechanics (he was German
> too) and has a large supply of parts squirreled away. He had never heard
> of
> most names of list members with parts that I mentioned.  He also lives 2
> miles from me.  So, 2 miles from me is a cornucopia of German mechanics
> and
> parts hidden in the woods somewhere.
>
> Anyway, he told me I had a special sticker (no longer readable) on the
> side
> of the van next to the gas tank that he claims is from Germany and means
> my
> van was driven in Germany at one time then was exported. Is this correct?
>
> Thanks,
> Bryan
>