There's a difference, Dennis. He said high winds. In steady winds above 25mph (easily done on the front range there in Colorado) that heavily eats into the top speed with a stock Vanagon. Even on an upgrade it can make a difference. Several years ago, I was traveling to Chicago, (and hauling a trailer). My co-pilot was driving and noted that he couldn't get it above 65mph even floored. Thought something was wrong. Turns out we were heading into a 40 mph head wind, so based on air resistance we were closer to 100 mph. For that you need more HP than a stock vanagon can provide.

On Jan 2, 2012, at 11:30 AM, Dennis Haynes wrote:

> My '87 Syncro Passenger now with 153K on 215/70-14 tires easily gets to 80
> and beyond. 2 years ago I drove it Daytona from Long Island and was really
> surprised at well it gets up to speed given a bit of time. If you are having
> trouble reaching 60 on level road something is seriously wrong. I mention
> tires as larger tires can actually reduce top speed due to less horsepower
> being available.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Jon Kanas
> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 1:30 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Not Fair!!
>
>  Greetings and Happy New Year,
>
> Yesterday morning (12/31) at about 7:40 I was Northbound on I-25, north of
> Colorado 66 approaching Johnson's Corner in very high winds in my gray
> Syncro Westfalia.  My top speed was approaching all of 60mph - like I said,
> it was windy.
> Much to my surprise, I was overtaken by a gold Syncro
> (non-camper) who was easily doing 75 or 80.  We waved at each other.  If, by
> any chance, you're the owner of that gold Syncro and on the list, please
> p-mail me.
>
> I need that kind of power!!!
> --
>
> *Best Regards,
> Jon*