To all my good friends and Vanagon folks-
It is with much regret that I write this email telling a sad sad story...

Here are some pictures showing what I am about to tell-
http://www.anthonykimmons.com/ike/ike.html

When Hurricane Ike came through, peered out through the garage window, late
at night to check on the cars.
With no electricity and only a flashlight, I noticed that my van was
'tilted' slightly but did not take alarm. Then I noticed that the tree that
was next to my 87 Vanagon seemed to "not be there anymore". I was a bit
concerned, but waited until morning to find out the news.

Later, when I went back into the house. I heard a huge crash above my
bedroom and a great pile of branches and leaves fell. The next morning I
discovered that an 80 foot pine had fallen over, crushed my beloved Vanagon
and was perched above my bedroom. The van however had prevented the pine
from falling completely into the house and possible saved me as I had been
right beneath it. I may owe my life to this old Van.

So, now I find myself without a Vanagon or at least a drivable one. I have
had this car since 1988 and have treasured it through the years.
We had some good times over the years and all the times it left me stuck in
the road seem now to have faded away. I think of only the good it brought to
my life. Funny, I always thought it would die from rust or an engine fire,
but never thought about it being crushed by a tree in the driveway. Oh
well... such is life, full of surprises. Regretfully, this may be one of my
last posts to the Vanagon list. All of you have been such a help as I worked
to restore this van for years now. Whenever I had trouble finding parts or
fixing some problem, there have always been those helpful list folks who
have gotten me through and kept this van running. It was in good shape, had
lots of new parts. I figure I put in far more than it's worth over the past
few years with a engine rebuild and lots of new parts inside. I was hoping
to have this van for many years to come...

What now? Looking once more from list advice. Part it out? Ebay?  Wondering
if any of you have suggestions? Wondering if there is any reason to believe
that I could recover the van even from this? The engine was not damaged at
all... as I said there are tons of practically new parts, including heads,
hoses, etc. As you can see from the pictures, the drivers side of the van
was pushed in and the top crushed down to the level of the seats. The
interior is basically fine as well, it's mostly body damage and window glass
that the van suffered. What should I do with this old girl? I don't see
where the Bentley covers this! Suggestions welcome!

Signing off-
Tony