well darn, too 'non vanagon' ........
but the answer to your comment is .............LOTS of them, and swing axle
rear suspension is IRS 'sorta' , and dates from the 30's.  Might even be
that germans are who first came up with it.  All Benzes of the era used
swing axle rear suspension, for example, 50's, 60's.

Regarding traction for vanagons in slippery conditions, versus old
Buses..........
I can agree that old air-cooled VW Buses might have more 'go forward'
traction than vanagons due to their having a larger percentage of their
total wieght on the rear tires.
Regarding driving on slippery surfaces with Vanagons........If find that the
early ( 84 and earlier ) ones with non-PS sterring and manual transmissioin,
VERY easy to drive in the slippy stuff................but my PS and auto
trans 85 Weekdender is completely numb, and doesn't seem to have a lot of
'go forward ' rear traction either.
I must have driven through 30 snow storms in 7 years using my 82 5 speed TD
vanagon as a ski car ..........
never had the slightest problem...........had to use chains once in a great
while - that van did just fine in all kinds of snow.  Never even thought
about it almost.
  I love driving in snow , 'tis way fun.
And the Drier it is, the more traction there is, it's the wet stuff that's
more of a problem.
Scott
turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Grebneff" <goose1047@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 3:03 AM
Subject: Re: purple springs from H&R

>I still think my sorely missed
>> 67 split window van was the best "low-tech" vehicle I've ever driven in
>> snow.
>
> I'd hardly call them low-tech... how many other vehicles in the 40s,
> 50s & 60s had IRS?
>
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