Date:         Wed, 13 Apr 1994 09:49:16 -0600
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jgladu@bcm.tmc.edu (John Gladu)
Subject:      saga...

>From: Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
>>climbing up into the bus ...
>
>kinda depends on your shape and height, i guess ... but that's why i added
>the extra pull-up handle on the driver's side (so i didn't have to keep
>grabbing onto the steering wheel ... like i did in my old 'bread-loaf' buses).

I've broken the hinge/door interface on the Bozobus twice now because I
hang on the door as I get in.

>>brake-slamming butt-dropping **Cool** feeling ...

>yeah, but how many of your passengers have actually screamed when you did
>this? :)  i mentioned it as something John and Mary Q. Public, Average
>American Buyers, wouldn't like.

I do this to people on purpose :-)
Deliberately park near something tall and solid and pull rightupclose.
White knuckles and a fetal position...

>that is one of the things i really like about the vanagon: foot room for the
>driver and passengers

I hadn't thought of this comparison, but I've been in enough different vans
to realize that you're right.  I find myself wanting a raised foot-rest for
my left leg sometimes, on long trips.

>turning radius: :) that's where the vanagon is really neat! Amaze Your Friends!
>Surprise Your Relatives!  but the air-cooled vanagons will outturn the water-
>cooled ones. if you park it with the wheels turned to lock in one direction,
>it looks like the wheels are broken. :)

That protruding tire was one of the few things that I disliked about the
Vanagon when we were car-shopping.  If you parked with the wheel turned
all-the-way-left and got out, you could easily get whatever you drove over
last on your clothes.  I suppose that I could just straighten the wheel...

My mother has a Caravan, and I must say that she's quite jealous of the
turning radius on our Vanagon.  The salesman that I spoke with the other
day claimed that the Eurovan has an even tighter turning radius than the
Vanagon.

Something I've done in the past: put the Bozobus in reverse, turn the wheel
all the way (one way or the other), let in the clutch (at idle) and get
out.  He will quietly turn backward circles until the fuel runs out.

I left him this way for half-an-hour once to heat up the tranny oil enough
for me to change it (in winter).

Many fairly dangerous stunts can also be performed involving the
double-double-doors and the moving vehicle.

I think I tried this (backward circles) in my wife's Vanagon once, but I
seem to remember that the front wheels straightened back out...

When we were car-shopping, my wife's primary goal was to get a "tall thing"
(she's 5'-2", and tired of not being able to see what's ahead).  We tried
them all.  She liked them all.  I was constantly having to ask her to try
them all before just writing a check...  I was pleasantly surprised when
she just showed up one afternoon in the Burgandy '90 GL.


bcnu - G (John Gladu)  .Opinions are just that.
Systems Support Center -- Baylor College of Medicine
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