"The Old Trout"?  Jeeze.  You be a brave guy..
  I've used my Van as a Sag a few times.  Once, we were bored and figured
out that we had well over $35k worth of bikes (3) on the back of a $3k
vehicle...Guess our priorities were OK.  We couldn't fit everyone in the
Ferrari...
  Don Hanson

On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 4:04 PM, Susmay <susmay@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Just had a great trip bicycling across PA on rt 6 while the Old Trout drove
> the Westy Sag wagon. We had a very astute British friend along to keep the
> Old Trout company. Halfway to Preque Isle our friend commented that smoke
> was coming out of the defroster vents. I casually informed the Ladies that
> smoke was a normal condition for these old vans, as many members of the list
> comment about the frequency with which they catch fire, and it was nothing
> to worry about. After some minor panicking looking for fire extinguishers I
> decided that the 21 year old heater fan seized up. And turned it off.
>
> On a previous bike trip with 3 cycling buddies the 20 year old AC clutch
> seized and smoke just billowed out of the engine compartment. Of course we
> had no idea which greasy bit of engine was trying to ignite, so that was
> another tow job and a crappy soccer mom van rental to continue our journey.
> Expensive.
>
> The bottom line - I love the Westy and will put up with these annoyances as
> part of the fun of traveling with such a unique old van. But gotta have that
> AAA.
>
> Thomas Hawkins
> 88 Westy Fireball
>