No, parking on an incline should not matter at all.
If it does, something is wrong, but it's super unlikely. 
I assume you had plenty of go-juice in the fuel tank.

What are your spark plugs and gaps like ? it's not that hard to wet-foul
plugs that are an off brand, or pretty old, or the electrodes are worn  -
the wear so the plug gab gets bigger, and the electrodes get rounded off. 
Mostly spark plugs are really good these days, I seldom even replace many.
If I found Autolite or Champion plugs in a vanagon I'd sure replace those
with Bosch or NGK. 

Bottom line - what are your sparkplugs like ???
Scott
www.turbovans.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Chad Lyles
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:19 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: WHAT JUST HAPPENED???

Hello,
well as i announced this morning ...i passed DEQ and Hoppy is running
GREAT... i went and got my new tags at DMV and then went to the bank...(all
in hoppy) i was in the bank for 10 minutes came out and hoppy wouldnt
start... it would turn but not kick... checked the coil to see if i was
getting a fire...i was getting consistant fire. checked the fuel pump to see
if it was humming it was humming. every thing was as it should be... i could
smell gas so gas was moving and  had just filled up this morning ...but no
VROOM...
i called the mechanic he was puzzled and said "just get it towed" (which i
was like, "yeah i am 30 miles from you and i cant pay load up and 3 bucks a
mile on that!") so i called the tow truck and i was packing my stuff up and
i thought hmm... i will try one more time... i put the pedal to the floor
and cranked up... huge puff of smoke and strong smell of gas then VROOOOM!!!

so back to my question: WHAT JUST HAPPENED????
would the fact that i was parked on a incline maybe have been the start of
this non starting? its never done that before... i am just frustrated to the
max right now. i cant afford to keep putting her in the shop every 2
days...is this some thing i should worry about or chalk it up to a fluke?

--
Chad~
84gl "Hop-a-long"