>> Personal preference is a flatbed. And at least you had it towed out of
your driveway -- so you had a place to stay last night --- and your dog
didn't have to ride at a slant in the van --- while you and your wife and
teenaged daughter and her best friend crammed into the cab of the tow truck
with the tow truck driver --- who moaned incessantly that he was going to
get arrested for overloading the truck cab/no seatbelts etc ---- all this at
5 pm on a Friday when every mechanic in town is cleaning their hands and
anticipating the first cold beer of the weekend --- "Nah, I don't like to
work on them things anyway" --- when you have to be home Monday morning for
work and home is 600 miles away -- well you get the idea. BTDT :-)  <<

I can imagine all the breakdown stories this list could tell...  Yes, it was
in my driveway. The tow truck driver called and said he'd be there in 10
minutes. He arrived 2 hours later. With an excuse of course. Luckily I was
just hanging out with a beer waiting for him.  Fortunately, this van has
only seen 1 tow truck in the 11 years I've had it.  About a year or two ago,
after not driving it for 4 months, I hopped in to go to a blues jam. I
smelled gas when I started but ASS-U-ME'd it was just from sitting. Did I
stop and check? No. Did I keep driving for 15 minutes thinking the smell
would go away? Yes.  Luckily it was just me and AAA had a truck there in 5
minutes.

My old '84 was another story.  It broke down about every 2 weeks. This went
on for a long time until the problem was found. It got to know the tow truck
drivers by name.  A year or two later I had the clever idea of getting the
coolant flushed before taking to OC, MD on memorial day weekend. This is
before I knew how to bleed the air out and obviously before my mechanic at
the time knew too.  Surprisingly the van made it all the way down and around
town. Of course on Monday at noon, on the hottest day of the year, I looked
down to see the temp gauge pegged and the light blinking. Coolant was
literally spraying out of the heads.  6 hours later the tow truck arrived,
Bufus Buttcrack was the name I gave him for obvious reasons at the time.
Ah, the 3 hour tow truck ride with Bufus was oh so pleasant.  Luckily for my
wife my sister was passing by later and picked up my wife and took her home
hours before.

Gone are the days of my '65 beetle which I've driven hundreds of miles
without one of the following at one time or another, starter, spare tire,
gas pedal, brake pedal fastener, clutch and battery.

Bryan