I think EV vehicles make sense for the environment but what worries me is
this...

Our grand-children and great-grand-children won't see as nice a landscape
in the National Parks as we do today.. Imagine a landscape such as Joshua
Tree NP etc. etc. with electricity poles and cables crisscrossing the sky
and charging stations everywhere for the convenience of the visitors and
campers?

I won't be here anymore to see it myself but somehow a few more guys like
Musk could destroy nice landscapes with bad moves...err..  in the name of a
clean environment...

On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 3:17 PM David McNeely <davmcneely40@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Of course, the young ones are not interested in learning Vanagons (or any
> particular "obsolete" vehicle).    It just doesn't make economic sense from
> their standpoint.  There are lots of Toyotas, Fords, modern VWs ........ .
> Few of our old vehicles.  Heck, I even found that the local junior college
> auto tech program won't take in any vehicle over five years old.  That
> includes my Toyota Prius, which is why I found out.
>
> On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 11:51 AM Dan N <dn92610@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> *"And from my perspective, would the person servicing it be capable?"*
>>
>> Well... they will say they are capable because they have the Bentley book
>> on the shelf... and the real capable mechanic is busy jumping from one van
>> to another to help solve the problems...
>>
>> I have a story... my daughter was travelling recently with her '90 tintop
>> from Oregon to Arizona. In Tucson a little rubber hose connected to the
>> thermostat tower blew. She found a shop in Tucson and waited for 3 days to
>> have a spot for repairs. They replaced the hose and some other unnecessary
>> stuff. On her way back to Oregon, some hundred miles north of Tucson, the
>> coolant light blinked (not overheated). I told her to check the coolant
>> level in the expansion reservoir, it's very low (they didn't bleed
>> properly)... she filled it up. Some hundred miles later, the same thing
>> happened. I told her to check the level every morning before hitting the
>> road. She happened near the GW store so I told to get a new blue cap and
>> have the cooling system bleed well. No one had a spot for her and GW didn't
>> do it. So I have to instruct her how to bleed over the phone and email. She
>> did it with the help of her boyfriend. They made it home safely.
>>
>> So... yes... There are still some good mechanics with experiences on
>> vanagon out there... BUT... how many young ones want to learn to replace
>> them after they are gone?
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 11:03 AM David McNeely <davmcneely40@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> In part, this is a matter of "aging out."  If these folks are to stay in
>>> business, they must hire young folks into their shops.  There just aren't
>>> enough old folks who know our vehicles still around.  Just this past
>>> week,
>>> I tried to set up a shop visit for my camper.  Best shop locally by
>>> reputation is one called European Auto Haus.  Best tech there used to be
>>> "Obie," who was trained in Germany on VWs back in the day.  He was super.
>>> But Obie of course could not work forever.  He had to move on to
>>> retirement, well deserved.  Sadly, European Auto Haus responded by saying
>>> that there are six Vanagons in shop currently for work, but none of them
>>> will get serviced before summer, and that they could not promise a date
>>> for
>>> my van earlier than
>>> August.  And from my perspective, would the person servicing it be
>>> capable?  mcneely
>>>
>>> On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 10:52 AM Eric Caron <ericcaron96@comcast.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> > The recent post about why do you purchase from Amazon reminded me of
>>> the
>>> > good old days of purchasing from our venders like Vanagain.  One of the
>>> > best things was that I could ask questions about the products
>>> especially
>>> > about correct fit or how to install.
>>> >
>>> >         I realize that now, Ken is the only vender that I can still do
>>> > that with.  He is incredibly generous with his time.  I really don’t
>>> know
>>> > how he does it and runs a family business as well.
>>> >
>>> > In tech emergencies I have called Ken and he has answered the phone and
>>> > helped.  Last time was when a friend was helping to install Ken’s power
>>> > steering rack. It was a simple thing but we would not have figured it
>>> out
>>> > without Ken answering the call.
>>> >
>>> >         I try not to call unless I need to.  Another time when a friend
>>> > was here we were stuck and called Dennis.  And sure enough he talked us
>>> > through the problem.
>>> >
>>> > In the old days I used to talk to folks at Bus depot, but though I
>>> really
>>> > appreciate the business, and I hope to drop in to visit one day, the
>>> folks
>>> > on the phone can’t help with issues, as they don’t know VW buses.  And,
>>> > sadly the site is very hard for me to use. They do however, have a lot
>>> of
>>> > great bus items and nice to have them on my coast!
>>> > Van Cafe, was great before it was sold.  Peter and others there talked
>>> me
>>> > through many part installations.But, that ended.
>>> >
>>> > I even once got tech help from GW, but they don’t seem to do work there
>>> > any longer. Though to be fair, They were very helpful in emailing
>>> > information back about specific products like how to update the engine
>>> > management system.
>>> >
>>> > So, I really appreciate that Ken sends out help videos, has useful
>>> > articles and info on his site, and I don’t know how he does it, but
>>> even
>>> > answered the phone and gave help directly.
>>> >
>>> > I do miss the days of calling the different venders to make orders, and
>>> > get personal direction on the products.
>>> >
>>> > I think they mean well, but other then Ken I don’t think vanagon or VW
>>> bus
>>> > people answer the phone, or can directly assist.
>>> >
>>> > Hang in they're Ken.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Eric Caron
>>> >
>>>
>>