In a message dated 97-10-30 17:06:45 EST, DSuniga@TACOBELL.COM writes:

<< I've seen a couple of Vanagons with what appears to be a metal railing
 along the rear glass.  The railing consists of 3 metal tubes that follow
 the bottom of the glass (hatch & 2 rear, left & right, windows).  I've
 usually seen them on busses.  Is the 'railing' a true Vanagon part or
 did the owner(s) just pull it off a bus & put it on their Vanagon?
  >>

ahh...  "Jailbars"...one of the few things that was carried over from the
splittie days....
It IS a true vanagon part, but only in the US on the '84 Wolfsburg Editions.
They are a Factory accessory, available widely in Europe  - obtainable in the
US, but a hassle to get, and must be special ordered from Europe.  But
because they were offered on the "84 Wolfs ed. vans, VWOA has to make them
available here.  Any other "Euro Only" part - like the cushioned headreast
inserts, and the (10?) hole Euro-Carat alloy wheels - (both standard on the
Euro Caravelle Carat) forget about getting them here...

This custom started w/ the '51 Barndoor Deluxe Microbus, and were available
up to '91 on the last Vanagon (maybe still avail in SA??)  (and yes, jailbars
were avail on the Deluxe Baywindow buses too)
These 2 horizontal polished aluminum bars (tubing) with a vertical cast
aluminum polished bracket supporting them in the middle of the rear window,
was designed as a "rear window glass protector" , but were really just for
decoration on the Deluxe models.
They were standard equipment on ALL deluxe micros, but were avail as an
option on other buses. On the split window buses, they were also in the
rearmost side windows too.
In '68, the Baywindow bus Deluxes became known as "clippers" and the rear
hatch Jailbar was the same as on the '64 up splitties (same glass) but the
rear side glass jailbars became diagonal.  In the Vanagon, the center cast
vertical bracket in the hatch was the same configuration as the earlier bus
ones, but had a different base to conform to the different shape of the
Vanagon hatch (making the center bracket "vanagon only") On some Euro
Vanagons I have seen rear side window jailbars, and these often doubled as
rear seat shoulderbelt mounts. (kinda like the ones on early Volvo wagons,
but horizontal bars)

so there....
now you all know what "Jailbars" are...  ;<)

BTW, I got 2 sets of Vanagon Jailbars for sale.....

(shameless plug..     :<)

chris