Hello vanagoons,

Just got back last week from a trip to South Carolina in the new old '71 Westy 
(thanks heaps to all listmembers who offered advice on heat, axle, bumper and 
other items). Had a great trip... me and my SO planned lots of sightseeing and 
such, ended up spending almost the whole time at Edisto Beach State Park with 
the Westy parked right up on the beach, soaking up the sun and 80 degree 
weather. I'm starting to reconsider this whole up north thing...

Learned a LOT about the westy on the trip down (things most of you folks, I'm 
sure, already know). Started out driving down 4th Avenue here in Brooklyn, 
heading for the Verrazano Bridge. Had to stop for gas. Pulled up a little 
short of the pump, had to restart it. Turns over real slow, won't start (did 
some thinking and looking later. Maybe a worn bushing?). Attendant comes 
running up to me...

Attendant: "No, sir, please do not start!"

Me: "I want to start it..."

Attendant: "Please sir, I can push!"

Me: "No really, I just want to see if..."

Attendant: (starts pushing) "Sir please I can just..."

Me: "LET ME START THE CAR!!!"

Sure enough, she turns over okay, I fill up with premium, and we're on our 
way. Lesson #1 learned - NYC gas station attendants are afraid rustbuckets 
will explode and kill them. Lessons #2 and #3 came shortly thereafter... 
namely that bridges are NASTY and the Westy is cold. I mean really cold. I 
have the boxes and the hoses and everything in tip-top shape and wired right 
open, but that ain't nothin'. It was okay when the sun was out, but as night 
fell and we were in the middle of Delaware it got COLD. Brrrrr! 

Fast-forward to 2 days later, as we approach Charleston, South Carolina. The 
bus has been behaving famously. Ride is smooth, she fires up almost every 
time... I'm becoming really happy about the vehicle, and the weather is now up 
to about 75 degrees. Got the window open, the jacket off, the sunglasses on, 
rolling down route 17 at about 60, and she starts making horrible noises. 
Awful. I start losing all power. 

Uh-oh.

I slide off to the side of the road and shut the engine off, get outside to 
take a look. Oil thrown all over the place. I open the hood and smoe pours 
out. Deb asks me what's wrong...

Umm, I, uh... I dunno.

I'm supposed to be real smart about these things, having had a '74 Super as my 
daily driver for 6 years, but I just stare at the thing. Don't have the idiot 
book with us (forgot it and didn't want to go back over the bridge for it). 
Check the oil, it's real low. Big surprise. All I am thinking is how many 
millions of times I have heard how easy it is to throw a valve in a Westy. 
Hmm. Never had anything go really wrong with the bug, so I have no clue what 
an expensive noise sounds like. Hmm.

Luckily, in this whole long empty stretch of 17 we break down in front of a 
radio station. I go in to make some calls, Deb waits in the van. Found "The 
Carolina Bug Shop." Sounds good. Called up, asked if bugs was as in cars. Sure 
enough! Talked to Ken Erwin, the owner and mechanic, on the phone; he agreed 
that it might be a big deal, and starting it was probably a no-no. 

In the meantime a nice kiwi farmer and former Ghia owner had stopped to help. 
He drove us to his old mechanic (pointing out the many sights along the way 
and giving us a brief history of kiwi farming in America); his mechanic said 
that he no longer did air-cooled, so he took us to the VW dealership where we 
had a nice refreshing beverage and called AAA.

Flatbed came, loaded up the Westy. Deb took pictures. By this point, we were 
laughing. I was sure we were going to end up selling the bus to Ken for $200 
for parts and taking the Greyhound home. 

The truck driver kept us entertained with stories about the local police, and 
took us down a lovely stretch of backroad that was off-limits to trucks, but 
heck, it's shorter and a hell of a lot prettier. I really miss the South. 

Got to Ken's and we got out the flashlights and started having a look. Well, a 
little oil leaking here and there... Put a quart in and turned the key. VROOM! 
Sounded like brand new. I guess I had just overheated it! Man, did I feel 
stupid. But I felt more relieved than anything. Never overheated the bug - 
hearing that noise just made me think disaster. We then had a long 
conversation about low octane gas, compression ratios, engine compartment 
seals and cooling equipment. The seal on the bus was pretty shot, so we made 
an appointment to come back in a couple of days and pop in a new one. 

Two days later we rolled back in in the morning. The bumper had to come off 
anyways, so I took the opportunity to put on my new passenger side bracket. 
The seal fit nicely, and we put in one of those Gene Berg dipstick temperature 
gauges. Nice gizmo - makes me feel a lot more secure while driving. Well, one 
pot of coffee led to another and we ended up spending most of the day looking 
at his project cars (a really nice '73 Thing and a '67 splittie (umm... 21 
window?) from Arizona that was so rust-free I almost cried) and the various 
engines he was in the middle of building. We drove away knowing a lot more 
about our vehicle and having spent next to nothing. He seems like a top-notch 
mechanic and a top-notch guy who, sure this is his business, but it is also 
his passion. What is it about these cars that makes owning one feel like 
membership in a big club? Over the next week and a half we must have met a 
dozen people through the Westy, trading stories, checking out each others' 
campers... There are, BTW, a lot of NICE looking Westies in South Carolina. 

I guess my point was this - if you break down in Lowcountry South Carolina, 
check out Ken Erwin at the Carolina Bug Shop. He did real good by us. I'll try 
to get pictures on my website by next week.

Take it easy, and if you see a rusty '71 in Brooklyn, honk. Or don't. Everyone 
honks here, so I probably wouldn't notice.

- Anton
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* Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei...                *
*                                                              *
*                                                              *        
* J. Anton Elmquist                                            *
* anton@spacelab.net                                           *
* http://www.spacelab.net/~anton                               *
* '71 Westy, '64 bug remains, '84 Mazda heap o' truck          *
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