Hi Neale, 
Thanks for saying where you are.
North of Sante Fe,  Taos ?
I have a 'thing' about that area ...........'north of Sante Fe'
...........like out on the Mesa west of Taos.....i love it there !    makes
me wanna go.  I was though there in April.
   I'm glad you survived your mishap in pretty good shape.  I don't know how
long you've lived I NM, but I'd be extra careful driving there in general.
  Spectacular country !
Any offers from insurance yet ?
If it was closer, I'd be interested in buying it, but since I'm in southern
Oregon, and it's not a runner.....................
Be well !
Scott
www.turbovans.com 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Neale Pickett
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 10:54 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: What to do with a crash survivor

Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ> writes:

> What did you hit, and what was the damage to it?

No passenger vehicle will fare well when side-impacted at high speed.
The other car was a late-model Toyota 4-door and the Vanagon acted like
a battering ram (as would anything I presume).  The driver had a
fractured pelvis and the passenger had some internal bleeding.  The
side-curtain airbag kept the driver's head from smacking the window or
our grill.  I imagine that prevented some pretty severe head trauma.

There is no doubt that this is the collision scenario the Vanagon
handles best.  I don't know how I would have fared if another Vanagon
had broadsided me, but I was amazed at how well the Toyota protected its
passengers.

The advice I've gotten from list members has been great, thanks
everyone.  I talked it over with my wife last night and it's just not
going to work out for us to part the thing out ourselves.  We're just
going to have to eat the loss of money if we can't find anyone but the
insurance company to buy it from us.

I didn't mention in our last email that we like in New Mexico, north of
Santa Fe.  If anybody in the area wants to buy the Vanagon in question,
we're newly-motivated sellers!

Neale