My 1983 Rabbit had TAN coloured crank handles - did any Vanagons have tan interiors?  

No idea if those last better than the brown - I sold the car with terminal rust troubles when it was 13 years old.

 James
Ottawa, ON

> Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 14:26:25 -0400
> From: kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET
> Subject: Re: Looking for a brown window crank
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> 
> It is kind of strange that no one has reproduced the brown handles but it
> must have something to do with the type of plastic it has to be in order to
> be brown.  The black plastic stuff will fade over time, but holds up much
> better than the brown.  I am thinking maybe the plastic is based on
> something organic that is breaking down in the sun but I am no expert by
> far.  So in order to reproduce them in brown you might still need to use
> that compound which is either expensive or tricky to work with, or maybe
> both?  The crank handles were used on Rabbits, Jettas, etc. of the time
> period so I am sure there are lots of folks beside Vanagon owners that
> would love to have the crank handles in brown.  When I mentioned it to VW
> Classic Parts a few years ago, when they stopped here on their tour of the
> US, they looked at me like I was a crazy man.  :-)
> 
> There were also red, and blue window crank handles for the Rabbits.  Good
> luck finding those out there and those two colors seem to suffer from the
> same fade and crumble syndrome as the brown stuff.
> 
> Ken
> 
> On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 11:57 AM, Spencer Allen <spencervw@aol.com> wrote:
> 
> > Thanks Ken. I may take you up on a couple of those handles if an OEM
> > isn't found. Can't believe how scarce these seem to be.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: kenneth wilford (Van-Again) <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
> > To: vanagon <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> > Sent: Mon, Apr 25, 2016 12:25 pm
> > Subject: Re: Looking for a brown window crank
> >
> > Spencer, the brown plastic was garbage that crumbled over time with sun
> > exposure and I am pretty sure it will never be made again. However you can
> > buy a black window crank (we sell the for $5) then go to Home Depot and buy
> > some paint that is for plastic, and paint them any color you want. I
> > actually did this for some brown parts that I wanted to be black and it
> > worked really well so I am sure that same can be done going from black to
> > brown.
> >
> > Ken
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 1:21 PM, Spencer Allen <soxndubs1951@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Anyone have a BROWN widow crank they can part with. Mine just split
> > apart.
> > > pmail if you do. Thanks.
> > > Spencer
> > > 85 westy
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Thanks,
> > Ken Wilford
> > John 3:16
> > www.vanagain.com
> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Thanks,
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16
> www.vanagain.com