As I have mentioned before, even in the tiny town of Round Hill, Virginia, there is one other Vanagon owner besides me. Even though I parked next to him one day at the grocery store, he wasn't very talkative when he came out. As to where all these cars are, I;m always amazed when I go to local car shows and look at the registration cards on a lot of the show cars-they are local, even a lot that list "Round Hill Virginia" yet I never see them out on the road, just at shows.    Jeff Jeff Stewart ----- Original Message -----
> 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