Here on the East Coast in Virginia I have seen a few vanagons, but they are
still
not that frequent. When you see them out here they usually stick out even
with soo
many people driving suvs out here. I have been working on mine off and on
and have
driven it a total of about a year out of the about four years I have had
it. The guy I bought
it from was towing it around every time he moved(3 times) and wanted to fix
it up but
never got around to it. I was able to get it for 500$. He worked where I
worked and when
I got it running and drove it to work he saw it and said he felt sick to
his stomach. All
I could do was smile as I walked away after we talked for a minute. It is
definitely a unique
vehicle and I have learned a lot working on it without any kind of repair
manual. Once on
the road as a daily driver I look forward to the cheaper fuel fill ups
comapared to fueling my
1970 Mercury Monterey. Thanks to everyone for all of the stories and tips!!
I am glad I found
Vanagon.com while searching for information, this has been a great experience!!

Jason Orr
Victor 1.9 hardtop waterboxer 4spd

At 10:29 PM 10/19/2011 -0700, you wrote:
>    I think the reason there are more Vanagons out and about lately can be
>traced to gas and diesel costs.  I know that is why I found mine and began
>driving it around...and now I actually prefer it to my still very fine Ford
>4X4 with Alaskan camper...It's more fun to drive, usually, and easier to
>use....and most certainly easier on the wallet at the filling stations.
>   An American Van, vanagon-sized, or a pickup truck or a full sized
>SUV.....now a days you will spend  $100-$150 on each fill up.  My Ford gives
>me about 400 (+/-) miles of travel for that.  Most other full sized
>vehicles, until these last few years when the Sprinters, etc came onto the
>scene, they give about the same dollar/per mile ratio.
>    So people went to vanagons, which were cheap.  Or if 'cheap' was of no
>concern, they were still relatively fuel-efficient, compared to full sized
>vehicles.  Richy-rich folks felt "good" about buying a cute little Vanagon
>from one of the premium vendors and driving around righteously 'saving the
>planet' in that rather than driving  a Prevost diesel pusher bus with
>pop-out rooms, or an Adventure Wagon giant Van....
>  Worker-bees like me, we have to make ends meet...which got me into another
>VW Van again.(Who'd a-thunk it--30yrs later, again driving a VW van to work,
>pounding nails at the same wage?)....and now I really wouldn't go back to a
>full size truck again (except when I have to tow something heavy).
>    If someone gave me a Mercedes sprinter van, I might use it as my work
>vehicle but I wouldn't try to camp in it....too tall, most of them.  My work
>clients would be more impressed with a carpenter who shows up in a fancy
>modern vehicle, probably...but those vans, the new modern equivalent of the
>VW van, they are too expensive for me...and I don't care to learn to work on
>something that 'modular'...or pay for an extended service warranty to let me
>take it to the dealer, should it break....
>   Bazillions of Vanagons in the Pacific Northwest....
>   Don Hanson