As the header suggests, I just bought a bus and found out about the group all 
in the same day, or two.  I got a '85 Vanagon (new bus), a subscriber which
had 34 messages this morning (new user), and screwed by a car salesman (old
problem).  
First things first, does anyone know Steve McNeeley, formerly of Clearwater?
If you're out there, I'd like to talk to you.
Anyways, the bus had 99K miles but looked fantastic.  The dealer asked for 
$2500 and I talked him down to $1400 after having a mechanic look at it.  There
were numerous problems including an arc in the districutor, broken baffles in
the muffler, and a possible leak in the head gasket.  
Smitty, of Smitty's garage in Gainesville told me they all leak eventuallly, is
this true?  WEll, I thought that if I could get it for $1400 and in a couple
months get the head gasket fixed, everything would be peachy.  Uuuuaaaannnt!
Wrong answer.  No sooner had I signed the paperwork than things started 
going wrong.
First, the engine light came on, due to lack of water in reserve tank I think?
It ends up that the engine is leaking water like a sieve, big puddles under
the bus each morning.  
Second, the odometer doesn't work.  Isn't it illegal to sell a car with a 
broken odometer?  So, now I'm left wondering how many miles this thing
REALLLY hason it.

How many people have had the head gasket replaced?  Do you trust a normal 
mechanic or do you go for the VW specialist?  Is $800 reasonable?  As a poor,
struggling grad student it hardly seems so!  I've done this repal
repair on an old 280ZX about eight years ago, I just don't think I can do it
again.

: )    because he has a combi....
: (    because it doesn't work...

chuck