I was going out to my Westy Vanagon this morning, and thinking that, the
Vanagons really don't have the same spirit as the old type II. I mean, they
seem sanitized and spiffied up almost to the point that you forget their
origins.

Well, I was brought back to reality when my Westy would not start, and a few
whacks on the solenoid was all it took to get things going again. Reminded me
of the many times I would crawl under my '71 van to short the solenoid
terminals with a screwdriver to start it.

I guess this is one design issue that the German engineers passed on from the
old type II's. Deep in the soul of the Vanagon, the type II lives.