Ahhh yes the Sermons of Bob Hoover, you are indeed fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such a mentor. I however had the John Muir book but it was fundamental in helping me maintain my first air cooled VW, it was akin to some of the “idiot’s guide…” books that are around now. I agree with Mr. Hoover, it is certainly not a comprehensive repair manual but it did teach me how to check the valve adjustment every other time I changed the oil just to make sure that pesky #3 cylinder didn’t overheat. I have slept since then and have forgotten more than I learned. I would never have made much of a mechanic anyway and now I am old and as Mr. Hoover so eloquently points out so are the VW’s. I  wonder about the wisdom of trying to chase another one down but here I am, VWless and reading with great interest the adventures of other VW enthusiast. 

David Higginbotham
Silk Hope, NC

<
Date:    Wed, 3 Jul 2019 21:00:16 -0700
From:    Jack Elliott <pdaxe2gto@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Vanagon Reliability & Philosophy

I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Hoover before he died. He coached me a
lot through an engine rebuild I was doing, explaining, as if to a two
year-old, how things worked. His attitude was grumpy, and he had reasons
both personal and medical for that. He indicated that he thought that John
Muir got much wrong on a mechanical level. That said, Muir's relaxed
approach to working on his VWs is something I wish I could better emulate.
>