omg.

That's scary, and just so sad.

Yeesh.

Parts falling off.

Sounds like the designers/engineers got drunk and made some kind of
personal "bet" to see just how bad they could make a car, and sell it.

At least the very least, the Vanagon had better QC. And design/engineering.

Neil. Who owned a Pinto (German V6), but sold it quite quickly.

On 9/9/07, joel walker <jwalker17@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > Is the Vega in there?? Couldn't find it. It should be!
> > To this day, I can't believe Chev made, or sourced, that failure of
> > an
> > engine with its' piston/rings scraping away on aluminum cylinder
> > walls.
> > How could they do that? Surely they must have known.
>
> they knew. they just didn't care.
>
> the air filter on the vega was $40 back then. you replaced the ENTIRE
> metal air cleaner, not just a paper element. the whole thing was a
> sealed unit... into the trash.
>
> it had metric AND sae nuts and bolts all over the engine.
>
> the interior panels were plastic, and the holes/slots for door handles
> and window cranks were cut out jaggedly, as if by hacksaw.
>
> and the killer was, my mother bought one (against my advice), and it
> lasted about 30,000 miles ... but beyond the warranty! ... when the
> front lower a-arm fell off the car as she was backing out of a
> neighbor's driveway.
>
> it wasn't just a failure, it was a disaster!!
>
> and nobody sued GM, like they did with ford and the pinto.
> wonder why?
>
> OVC:  my vanagons NEVER had those problems!!! i've never even heard of
> a vanagon lower (or upper!) a-arm falling off. :)
>
> unca joel
>

--
Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia -
"Jaco"  (Bustorius)

http://web.mac.com/tubaneil

Please send fav Vanagon/Westfalia links to me at:
musomuso1963@hotmail.com