Date:         Thu, 26 Dec 1996 11:29:10 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Don Kane <dkane@mail.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject:      New vans update (change the stats)(long)

	Since it's so slow here at work this week (I do support, and there
is almost no one here to support), I can finally post about my new vans and
bus.
	First off, I bought the '84 Westy with a blown engine from Volks
Cafe last week, and will have it towed up to San Mateo from Santa Cruz
sometime today. This is my first Westy, and I'm really excited. It is in
pretty good shape other than the engine. The interior needs cleaning up,
and some small repairs on the interior, but it will be a nice addition to
my collection. Looking through the service records, Volks Cafe put a
rebuilt engine in this van in April of 96. The PO apparently was a bit of a
space case, and would pay no attention to the temperature gauge. She must
of blown a hose or something, and just kept on driving. The engine still
runs, but is very smokey, and smells burnt. I'll know more after tearing it
down, but it may be serviceable. Even if I buy a rebuilt long block for it,
I'll only have about $4,000 invested. Joel, add a '84 Westy to my stats!!
	New van #2: About 3 months ago, I was rear-ended on the freeway.
Traffic slowing down fast, me slowing down fast, and the guy behind me
reading a newspaper or something. He was in a Dodge pickup truck, and was
probably going 50 mph or so, and I was slowed down to under 20. My '85 GL,
survivor of the Dempster Highway(ok, half the dempster highway, this was
the van that got left halfway up the Dempster at Eagle Plains, then nursed
back to Dawson to await parts shipped from Volks Cafe) was totaled, over
$7,000 worth of damage to it. The other driver was driving a company car
(British Motor Cars, Inc.), so I didn't have to deal with uninsured
motorist garbage. I had purchased this Van about 2 years ago with one head
removed for $800, and put about $500 into it to get it running, so I didn't
have much invested in it other than a lot of my own labor. Still, I was
prepared to have to argue with the Insurance company hoping to get enough
to replace it, maybe $3,000 to $4,000 would have made me happy. Well, when
the Ins Co finally got around to making me an offer about three weeks
later( they were renting me a car the whole time, so it wasn't too bad, but
I was getting tired of driving an Oldsmobile, and wanted to get back in a
van. My wife's '87 GL doesn't count, cause it's an Automatic, and besides,
she didn't want to drive the Olds either), they said they would give me(try
to keep a straight face here) $6325. Well ok, I guess I could accept that
without much pain. Then they sold it my '85 back to me for a salvage price
of $250. The engine miraculously wasn't damaged in my old van, so I called
Kyle at Volks Cafe and asked him to keep me in mind if he ran across a van
with a blown engine, or no engine. Turns out that he had just looked at an
'85 GL with a blown engine(turned out to have a big whole in the top of it
when they got the FI stuff off), It had been sitting in a field for a
while, and had rat or mouse crap all over the engine compartment and needed
cleaning up inside, but was otherwise in quite good shape. I bought that
for $1400, and since I was having back and neck problems from the
accident(still am for that matter, medical settlement is being handled by a
lawyer), I asked Volks Cafe to switch engines for me. They did it for a
very reasonable price. I had the engine/transmission moved as a unit from
my old '85 to my new '85, since I wasn't sure what shape the transmission
was in on the new van. I'm still not sure how I feel about this new Van, I
don't yet have the same connection with it I had with my old van, having
put so much of my own labor into, and living with it on the Top of the
World trip, and I'm not crazy about the color, Gold, just like my Wife's
'87 GL. I might sell it after getting the Westy running anyway, or I might
keep the Westy through the summer and a trip back east and then sell it and
keep the '85. Who knows? So now I have the 2 running vans, an '85 and my
wife's '87, my old '85 as a parts van and indoor storage shed, sitting in
the garage filled with boxes, my new non-running Westy, and a '67 that I'll
tell about in the next paragraph. Amazing, as 2 years ago I was a new
subscriber to this list, a wannabusser who had last owned a VW bus in 1970.
	So, the '67 bus I mentioned: Back in the late '60's I had owned a
nice '61 for awhile, and an almost new '68 that I purchased in '69. I loved
both those busses, and put many cross-country trips in them, as I was a
musician on the road based out of Nashville at the time. I've always wanted
another old bus, preferably a split, but a baywindow would also be fine,
but since starting up with busses again 2 years ago, they've all been
water-cooled vans. I drive by an Auction warehouse on the way to work every
day, and from the freeway I can see the few vehicles that leave outside,
Last March I noticed a blue bus in there, so I stopped in and checked it
out. It was a '67, nose pretty bashed in and rusty, cargo doors crunched at
the bottom, passenger door ripped up. Quite a bit of surface rust, but
almost no structural rust. The interior was in good shape for an old bus.
All the seats (9 passenger), with only a couple rips in the original
fabric, except for the front bench, which was pretty ripped up. A couple
small rips in the headliner, and all the interior panels intact. It even
started up after a jump. I went to the auction the next day, not having any
idea what kind of interest there would be in this bus. Most of the cars
being sold were repo's or drug seizures and were much newer. When it came
time to bid on the Bus, I opened with the minimum bid of $100, someone else
bid $150, I countered with $175, and that was it. $175 and it was mine. It
ran well enough to drive it the 15 miles home, and it's been sitting in my
driveway ever since. I've replaced the cargo doors and passenger door with
swap meet stuff, and this summer I'll tear the engine down and see what it
looks like. My 12-year old daughter has decided she wants it when she turns
16, so I've got plenty of time to restore it.
	Well that's my update on a years worth of stuff that I haven't had
time to post. My thanks again to Kyle and Peter at Volks Cafe for all the
help. I've had nothing but good experiences with these guys.
Don Kane
dkane@mail.arc.nasa.gov
'87 GL
'85 GL
'84 Westy
'85 GL parts van
"67 Standard Bus