bachmanb@SMTPGW1.PLK.AF.MIL wrote:

>      Hmmmm.
>
>      My '91 seems to do pretty good holding itself back with the
> automatic;
>      'course one shouldn't downshift at too high a speed.... -Blaine

   My wife tried the same trick but under differend circumstances.
While living in Colorado, our '84 didn't have what you would call excess
power( suprise!) .  While trying to merge onto I-25 in traffic she
attempted to pull it down into 2nd to get a little more umph. Now all of
this is normally fine  and I have done it often.  The problem is that I
forgot to point out to her that you must not push that little button on
the shifter when excited and attempting this manuever.  I got a call @
work on a police cellular phone from my SO casually mentioning that the
van stalled and would not re-start.  Leave work, find them on the side
of a 4 lane expressway, Van no run...   Pulled the plugs and had her
turn it over.... No compression... tow it home.  Now I had only rebuilt
this motor a month previous so at least there were no stuck bolts.
LESSON:  a vanagon auto WILL go into 1st gear at 65 mph, if you don't
mind replacing all of the exhaust valves.  I never calculated the
resultant RPM's but I'll bet it was impressive...
Mark