Hello, everyone.  My name is Cliff Hungerford, and I currently live in St.
Louis, MO.
I subscribed to the list over a month ago, and have thoroughly enjoyed the
stories, reports, technical info, and especially the FFFFriday Follies!

I currently own a 1988 Vanagon GL with overhead a/c, fold down rear
seat/bed...the rest is pretty vanilla.  Oh, yeah...it's a manual
transmission, 2.1 liter engine, etc. etc.

I've owned a few VW's over the years, my favorite of which was a '64 bug
(with a '59 engine), affectionately referred to as the "Bruise-Mobile" by my
friends, due to the purplish blotches caused by the unpainted Bondo that
comprised the largest portion of structural integrity in the car.  I
originally bought the car for US $50.00 in Berlin while stationed there in
the Air Force.  After "repairing" all of the rust, putting on new tie rod
ends, etc., etc., the flywheel started getting chewed up, cog by cog, until I
finally had to start parking on hills to be sure of an easy start-up.  When I
finally dropped the engine and took the flywheel (a fun task, to be sure) to
various junkyards/parts places, everybody laughed at me (sounds the same in
German) and told me to get rid of the beast.  I sold it to the on-base
mechanics shop for $150.00.  Not a bad return on my investment!  Since then,
I've owned a couple of K70's (precursor to the Jetta, sold only in Germany,
as far as I know), an '84 Jetta, '86 Quantum, and the '88 Vanagon.

The Vanagon currently has 92,000 miles, and has only needed one new head
gasket, rear brake shoes and a new starter, so I guess I'm pretty lucky.  I
am having a problem finding a slow leak in the cooling system.  Like another
recent posting, I can smell coolant (but only outside the van, not inside)
after driving to or from work, but there is not a real significant loss
(maybe a cup or so every couple of weeks).  Is this even worth chasing down?
 I've been as thorough as I could in finding the leak, but can't tell where
it's coming from.  I'm mainly afraid that if it's a hose, it could be getting
ready to blow one of these days.

I was getting ready to trade the Vanagon in on an American-made van, but
since I've found all of you out there, I think I'll hang on to it for a few
decades, and see how it holds up.  Thanks again for the help, entertainment,
and generosity you all seem to provide.

Cliff