I am amazed how people respond to our boxy contraptions today. Ten  
years ago my angular beige barndoor, the '85 Wolfsburg Westy, didn't  
get a wink, maybe a finger. My current '84 two-tone Teutonic  
Hersheybar gets waved at by wide-eyed children nearly every time I  
drive it.

Chris.

Wysłane z iPhone'a

Dnia Apr 10, 2011 o godz. 21:47 Robert Fisher  
<garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM> napisał(a):

> I pulled in at the grocery store next to a woman that was trying to  
> shoehorn
> two kids and a buttload of groceries into what looked like an old  
> Honda or
> the like. I don't have the middle seat in at present, and the  
> boosters/car
> seat are on the back bench; she stood up and looked into the side  
> window and
> said "Ohmigod, look at all that space...!" Then she said "That's one  
> of
> those classic vans... do they cost much?" (She may have been  
> confusing it
> with a loaf, actually.) One of the kids was diggin' it but I didn't  
> pick out
> what she was saying because I was listening to the mom. I'm sure to  
> her it
> looked like a rolling freight container right then... room for days  
> plus
> kids' seats.  : )
>
> I told her she could probably get one in decent shape for around  
> four grand.
> That's the number that popped into my head for a passenger van, but  
> I really
> haven't looked lately. I didn't go into the whole spiel of cost/ 
> difficulty
> of upkeep and so on, as I figured it highly unlikely she'd ever  
> really get
> one, assuming she could find it. I did tell her I paid $300 for it  
> but had
> to rebuild the engine and tranny in short order. (Even with that I  
> don't
> think I have more than $1400 into the thing for getting it on the  
> road and
> reliable-like.)
> I still think (and I know that this is preaching a well-worn sermon  
> to the
> choir) that a modernized, mid-priced Vanagon layout would sell in  
> bunches
> and droves. It might take some heavy PR to overcome the perceptions of
> front-end safety, but every body's afraid of something on a car. Too  
> bad we
> won't see it.
>
> Like many of you I occasionally get ppl that walk up and ask about  
> the van;
> the expression on their faces when they actually look through the  
> windows is
> priceless. In the back of my mind I always think they're thinking  
> "My god,
> it's full of stars!" hehe
> --
> Cya,
> Robert
>
> '87 & '86 Auto GLs