My sister and brother-in-law have an '82 vanagon (VC) and an old bug that
doesn't run.  When their kids were younger they regularly had "paint the
bug" parties, sent the kids out with poster paints and let them decorate the
bug however they liked.  In due course it washed off in the rain and snow,
then when the next birthday came around another bunch of kids would have a
chance to paint it.

After the kids got older they used the bug to store logs for their wood
stove, placed conveniently right outside the door to the house.  And then
they towed it up onto a mound in a nearby field (they live way out in the
country) and decorated it with Christmas lights.  It has become a local
landmark - occasionally shows up in photographs showing the quirky things
people do in upstate NY.
As for things found in vans - a horseshoe in mine.  I'm guessing it was from
the first owner, in Texas - somehow the Palestinian accountant in suburban
Richmond, VA didn't seem like the type to have horses!

Joy

On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 3:17 AM, Bob Stevens <mtbiker62@comcast.net> wrote:

> Crayon "art" on the pop top above the upper bunk that was revealed after
> popping the top. Pink butterfly's, squiggly-creatures, zodiacal-circles, all
> from the children of the man I got the van from. Easy to clean off but kind
> of a little "trip" to imagine just how much fun they must have had, making
> the van their very own that way. Took me back to when my own daughters were
> little tykes and doing the same thing on "secret canvases" of their
> choosing.
>
> bob
> '87 Syncro Westy ... artistically-embellished
>

--
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Dr. Joy E. Hecht
Consultant on Environmental Policy and Information

Email: jhecht@alum.mit.edu
Phone: 1-202-494-1162
URL: http://www.joyhecht.net

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