My first *real* bus would have been the '90 Carat. We had a couple bays before then, but #1 was hardly driven and #2 never was before they were sold. Lost the love when I realized I couldn't sit up straight in a bay westy.

So the Carat... a friend had bought a Vanagon and I realized how BIG and FUN they were. Had never really noticed them before. Anyway, we looked a number of 'gons locally but nothing interesting. Then an ad on The Samba in Charlottesville for a '90 Carat w/ a bad tranny sealed the deal. Turned out only 2nd was bad, and even then only when you applied power :)

That van introduced us to many of the fun  aspects of 'gon ownership. After we repalced the tranny with something (a little better) it even got us to Everybus. Never took that van very far (didn't trust it) but drove it all over the place locally. Unltimate surf-mobile. Sadly, when we got a westy it got driven less and less and finally passed it on with a lousey trade. Immediately regretted it.

Still have the westy, but recently got another '90 (a GL this time, but it's getting jumps) so rust work can begin on the camper. It's going to make both a wonderful surf-mobile AND kid hauler!

john