[OT] My Other DD VW Car - not really ot

[spewey at comcast.net (Spewey)]

T Berk wrote:
> On the short list are a:
> 
> - two door Fox wagon

Ah, the lowly Fox.  VW's red-headed B'zilian stepchild.  Although the 
idea of a 2-door wagon is very cool and only an early Saab 95 does it 
better, these cars were made from stapled-together cat food cans.  They 
fall apart.  You don't want that.  Hey, look, Member Banned:
http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/article_803.shtml

> - Vanagon, water cooled (w/ an inline 4 motor 'upgrade' at some point).

Dear lord.  Do you realize what you're saying?  Vanagons are like 
cats--you don't own them, they own you.  I am H20 to the bone but when I 
saw a nice, cheap Vanagon in 1996 I had to get it.  It had 140K on it 
and the heads rot out every 70K.  So I drove the wasser-leaker for a 
year or two and then went to find a new engine.  I had a wholesale parts 
deal going at the time so I elected to re-do the original with new 
Spanish heads.  Took it apart and shook /my/ head.  Let it sit a year or 
two and then paid to have the mother rebuilt and slapped it back in 
myself (that's the easy part).

It has been great ever since (about 15K more) and I love it but, man, 
it's different.  Slow.  Sucky to the max in any kind of wind. 
Persnickety.  And I have read all about various conversions and the only 
one that sounds good is the Vanagon S with the When Rice eXcels motor:
http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/article_757.shtml
That or a 911 six.  Neither way is cheap.  I really don't know how all 
those air-heads can enjoy travelling cross-country with a stock motor.

> I haven't lived with either of these models for extended periods but I'd 
> like to keep the Roc out of the danger zone of every day driving as much 
> as possible, I know, I know it was meant to be driven.

It changes your style.  Nothing is in a hurry.  Peds (esp. kids) see the 
round-eyed happy face and fear not in a parking lot.  Other vans honk 
about 85% of the time.  There is no end to the 12' things you can haul.

> I've really been jonesing on a square cut VW bus, kind of like it's the 
> same era, styling as the Rocs; not all melty jellybean like the A3 
> Jettas & EuroVans etc or Vintage like the splitty buses.

You could be a candidate for a lonely Vanagon to glom on to.
Be vewwy vewwy cawefuw.

Not for sale, too wuvved:
http://s94043504.onlinehome.us/van/van5.JPG