When I got Chopstick (1980 White, automatic Westy), there was:
-a chopstick in place of the top alternator bolt
-gold sticker the on over-sink tray from the 1980 Wally Byam (founder
of Airstream) 3 Continent Adventure- Europe-Asia-North Africa and
caravan number (still looking for info, looks like it was a support
vehicle- the van appears to have been bought in Germany and one of
the stamps in the manual is from a dealer in Greece - I took Russian,
to me, the cyrillic looks like Hliaz Galathz- after that it usually
went to Merley VW in State College, PA for service)
-a faded green and orange travel toothbrush case with brush with
"written on it
-several dried leaves under the swivel seats (intentionally pressed,
I think?)
-Canadian change
-blue and red deadhead sticker in middle of back window
-some nice late 80s/90s paperwork in glovebox

This past week, I sorted my tools and cleaned up under the bed. I had
cleaned the main compartment before, but now I went after the side
compartments where the hinges sink into:
-Flyswatter from Todd's Auto Sales in Selinsgrove, PA (second owner's
freebie, I'm guessing? useful!)
-orange tic tac pack (empty)
-screws and nuts (most of which where neglecting their duty to hold
the Z-bed together- now reinstalled).
-2 illegible receipts (might blacklight in case they were van
repairs, etc.)
-twist of orange flagging tape
-library book card from Mary Williams' Dark Flame (UK mystery/occult
author)
-Rack-O card
-Mystic Seaport account balance receipt (1995)
-Riverside Markets blue and white striped unused matchbook (anyone
know where these stores are regionally?)
-black pencil with "IBM Endicott-Owego Quarter Century Club Day"
-Catholic Center mass program from Penn State (1986?)
-Strip of Walnut plastic veneer (looks too dark for the van)
Photocopy of a newspaper clipping- recipe for "Death Row Bourbon Sauce"
-more leaves
-smarties/sweet tarts type candies roll

I'm sure there is more yet to be found- the place over the outlet
sounds intriguing- will get back to you on that.

On Aug 18, 2008, at 8:23 AM, J Stewart wrote:

>  opend the 'secrect
>> compartment' and pulled out a dusty, never opend (it looked) VW
>> issue from
>> the factory First Aid Kit.  The owner was astonished, he not only
>> had never
>> seen it but was unaware of that hidden storage area.  I told him
>> that there
>> were collectors that would probably pay a premium for that first
>> aid kit.
>
> Then again, maybe not. I have the same first aid kit in my '84
> Westy, and while mine is not for sale, I did see one on Ebay a
> while back, and IIRC it went for less than $20.00.   Jeff

Oliver Mueller-Heubach
groundhogging@mac.com