A certain driver I know (ahem) driving a certain vanagon once started
driving and got on the freeway with the top up.   Got up to about
60mph or so before realizing that performance & noise were a little
sub-par, even by vanagon standards.  No damage done, fortunately.
Said driver was actually rather impressed that nothing bad happened,
and then understood why so many other drivers were giving friendly
"good morning neighbor" toots on their horns..

On Sep 18, 2007, at 9:25 AM, Jim Felder wrote:

> Ever wondered what would happen if your westy top popped on the
> Interstate? It happend to me yesterday rolling through Birmingham on
> I-59. Fortunately, my westy is a diesel 1.6, so top speed wasn't all
> that high. There was a lot of big rig traffic, though, and I could
> feel the airflow of those trucks tugging at my van with each close
> pass.
>
> Anyway, I had been in south Alabama for a meeting and left the
> campground hurriedly, although I did tug at the mechanism to see that
> it was latched and did my customary walkaround to ensure that no
> canvas was exposed down the sides.
>
> When it happened, I though I had been hit or had lost a tire, the
> noise was so loud. The good news, that the actual object of this post,
> is to report that the thing only popped up about a foot. I pulled it
> back down and made CERTAIN that the pin was seated in the hole.
>
> Jim