Well,

I haven't read this book, but I was fortunate to have electrical engineering
teachers who taught the truth about the Tesla vs. Edison conflict.  It is so
obvious to us today that Tesla was the real genius, and that Edison was just
a better capitalist.  Its amazing how history can be rewritten by whoever
has the most money!  Maybe I should name my Vanagon "Otto,"  my Passat TDI
"Rudolf,"  and if I ever get an electric car with ac induction motors, it
will be "Nikola."  btw,  when I was at school the M.E. department took an
old A1 Rabbit, stripped the interior, added a Rally cage, and replaced the
drive train with a Westinghouse ac industrial motor and a humongous power
inverter.  The rear seat was folded down and the entire area was fitted with
a thick plexiglass box full of batteries (vented to the outside).  They were
going to enter it into some kind of electric car Rally.  They certainly
picked a good platform. . .

Required Vanagon Content:
The plastic piece that covers the electronics on my Carat's flourescent
light is missing!  How can I get a new one?  Presently, I just slid the lens
to cover the electronics and half of the bulb to keep the kids' fingers out.
This is the kind of thing you wonder how the DPO broke, lost, etc.  I had to
replace every single interior bulb, including the flourescent, when I bought
the van!

Thanks,
Michael Townsend

-----Original Message-----
From: Kent Christensen <lkchris@USWEST.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Thursday, May 06, 1999 10:56 AM
Subject: Re: Interior Light -Fluorescent vs Incandescent

>Regarding fluorescent lighting (in your Vanagon--that's it
>for content--or elsewhere), I recommend "Tesla:  Man Out of
>Time," by Margaret Cheney.  Tesla is the guy who more or
>less invented fluorescent lighting (not to mention
>alternating current) and there was political trouble in his
>native Yugoslavia then too.  A good read.