(Click on the pictures)
It
started with Trang. It was 1989, we were living in Syracuse, New York,
and we bought her brother's '84 Vanagon. At the time we had a '77 Buick
and an '85 Chevy S-10 pickup. The van was pretty nice, comfortable, and
very practical.We sold the Buick, and the Vanagon became our "family car".
Then one Christmas she wanted to buy her brother's non-running Karmann-Ghia.
I refused. I wasn't going to tow it to New York and then tow it to every
place else we might live. How impractical that would be! Ridiculous! I
thought it was over...
In '95 we moved back to North Carolina. Trang saw a '73 bug for sale and asked if I was interested. NO WAY! We had 2 cars (the Chevy pickup and the Vanagon) and didn't need any others, especially since we were renting and would probably move a few times before finding a permanent home again. I didn't want to be bothered by some old car. I thought it was over, but the subject came up again a couple of weeks later...Still my response was "no way!" But the subject came up a few more times again and I finally agreed to go look at it. How naive I was to believe it was still for sale! So we went to see it, and it was at her cousin's house. Hmmm. Okay, I'm slow, but I eventually figured out that she had already bought it... So now we had a 1973 Volkswagen Superbeetle.
She couldn't even drive it because of the manual transmission! So I got in--and my whole world changed. The unique Volkswagen smell and feel suddenly transferred me back to the 70's. I had several friends who had VWs back then. Now I was in the driver's seat. What a feeling. I started it up, heard that wonderful sound again after so many years, backed out, and drove on home, with very weak brakes.
We got the brakes fixed for $300 at Hick's in Durham, but I couldn't even change the oil. Fortunately Trang's brother gave me a copy of John Muir's book. What a book! I never saw an auto repair manual like Muir's. It gave me so much confidence to do so many things. I had given up on mechanics, but now I'll do almost anything on an air-cooled VW--as long as I have John Muir nearby. I've found that it's not that VWs are so easy, but that they're so hard to mess up. Until I got the hang of things, I'd get the carburator and timing way out of whack, but that durable little car always got me home!
So I got the fever..and here's what that little episode led to:
Ole
Reliable: the '73 Superbeetle, in the snow in Durham, North Carolina,
in '96. It's a great daily driver. It's the best car I've ever seen for
the price. Kids love it. It's great in the city and for commuting. The best part
is how many people comment on it. They grew up with a bug, or they learned
to drive in a bug, or they had one back in the 50's or something like that.
If I knew how many girls these cars can attract, I would have gotten one
25 years ago!
The
Orange Bus: As I grew more confident with air-cooled VWs, I really
wanted a bus. Whereas I had been in many Bugs back in the 70s, I had never
been in a bus, but we needed something bigger than the Bug, and buses have
a certain mystic that has always drawn my attention--it must have been
the Grateful Dead phenomenon or a nostalgia for the hippie era. So I bought
this '75 bus, but I bought it before I knew the difference between type
1 and type 4 engines. This '75 had a type 4 engine. Whereas the type 4
was stronger and faster than the type 1--I didn't have to downshift on
as many hills--it was harder to work on and maintain, especially for a
novice like myself. I eventually sold it to a college girl who wanted to
take it to Phish concerts. As far as I can tell, Phish is something like
a 90's version of the Grateful Dead.
The
Brown Van: This is the '84 that started it all. We almost had two
kids born it it as I chugged up a big hill to Community General Hospital
in Syracuse, NY, in the middle of the night. We got there just in time.
We drove this van all over the place: Niagra Falls, Toronto, the Finger
Lakes, all over North Carolina, and every place between North Carolina
and New York. The New York winters took their toll, though, and I eventually
sold it for $500 in North Carolina. The new owner was pretty excited to
have it. I hope it serves him well. Look how well the interior
has lasted.
The
Camper: We took this 87 Westy on many
memorable camping trips. Now that we have 4 kids, we need a van with
more seats (a Westy only seats 4 total). The '84 would've suited us, but
I'd developed an afinity towards air-cooled engines and eventually got
a '71 bus with 7 seats. The '87 was watercooled, so it was smoother, quieter,
and faster than the aircooled versions, but it was also heavier and more
difficult and expensive to maintain.
I sold the Westy to a fellow in Idaho. Occasionally I get e-mail from
him about one of his latest trips, but I feel bad when I hear of any engine
problems he had. I think the worst problem was one of aclimatization. This
southeastern camper spent all of its life in a low humid climate. The highest
I ever took it was less than 3000'. He moved it to a high and dry climate
well over 5000'. So he had lots of trouble with the fuel injection and
oxygen sensor on his trip and had to rely on VW dealers to help him out--and
we all know how much help that can be 
Anyway, I wish him the best of luck with it. We enjoyed it. Overall it
was a good van.
Das
Bus: My '71 "Station Wagon" bus, a seven-seater, walk-thru front,
1600 cc air-cooled (same engine as the Bug), van. This is a great bus.
It's got more leg room (I'm 6'4 and 230 lbs), more cargo space, and more
seats than the Bug. It's a little slower than the Bug, but, in the city,
it's peppier than a Vanagon and provides excellent visibility. Driving
on the highway...well, it's a bit noisy and bumpy. It's great for city
driving, camping, short to medium trips, and general household hauling
(moving a sofa, going to the recycling center, etc.), and it's easy to
find in a large parking lot! Again, the kids love it. They pack in and
we take off to the movies, a game, or a camping trip. Soon after getting
it I took it on a solo trip that included camping
on Cheaha Mountain, Alabama.
No matter what Chrysler claims about inventing the minivan, VW really originated the minivan. The VW bus was introduced to the market in 1951--30 years before Chrysler's!
The
Thing in the Basement is a '73 Thing waiting to be restored.
(The basement is actually my garage which is a part of the walk-in basement)
The Thing was descended from the Volkswagen Type 181, which was
built for the German Army for WWII before the US Jeep appeared on the scene.
VW actually originated the SUV, too! This Thing has no top, no brakes,
and no carburator. It needs new interior components, an engine overhaul,
and some minor body work, but, other than that, it's solid and complete--down
to the gas-burning heater. BTW, the Thing had more automotive-type
names in other countries, like Trekker and Safari, but these
names were already trademarked in North America by domestic motor companies.
Some day I'll get this Thing roadworthy and take it with me behind
my '79 Winnebago. Those two ought to look well together. 
John
Muir gave me all the confidence I needed to work on my VWs. I've never
seen an auto repair manual quite like Muir's. It's a book you can even
enjoy in your living room. John Muir was a hippie back in the 60s. The
book refelects a lot of hippie philosophy, but it also encourages the point
of view that anyone who wants to make his VW live forever, actually
can
do so, even with limited resources--like the typical hippie--and I'm a
definite believer in this book. The Haynes manual is a more conventional
manual. You won't enjoy it in your living room, but it is quite complete,
detailed, and contains a lot of good photos and general all-around mechanical
techniques.
I
had Bentley manuals for the '75 and the '84 vans, but I wasn't too impressed.
I had heard good things about them, but I also heard that they got less
complete in the later years. The '71 Bus, however, came with a Bentley
(for all the Type-1 and Type-4 late model buses) and it was much better
than what I had for the '75 (for the Type-4 buses only) and the Vanagon.
Then I checked a Beetle Bentley out from the library and it was much better
than the Haynes. They're not cheap, but for the good years, they're better
than the Haynes.
If
you only get one book, then get John Muir's. If you get 2 and you have
a Type-1 VW, then get a Bentley, otherwise get a Haynes VW manual. When
you're ready for a 3rd book, then either get Tom Wilson's How to Rebuild
your Volkswagen Air-Cooled Engine or get Hayne's Electrical Manual.
Even if you're not planning on rebuilding your engine, Wilson's book has
a lot of good information and can be quite interesting reading even in
your living room. The Haynes electrical manual is not VW-specific, but
it has a lot of good information on automotive electrical systems in general,
which, frankly, are very mysterious for me and not very well discussed
in the other books.
All of these books are available online via Amazon.Com and Barnes & Noble. The Haynes are also available in almost any car parts store and Muir's and Wilson's books are usually available in any VW-parts store.
Ain't the Internet great! It brings the whole VW community together from all around the world. I've met VW folks from other parts of my own town that I would probably have never met by chance without the Internet. One of the greatest things about the VW Internet resources is that you get a chance to see and hear about other people going through your same situations. Your also get to read some amazing stories about various people's VW trials and tribulations, like the guy who had to push-start his car on a slick icy parking in the middle of the night in the dead of winter somewhere in Utah by jacking it up and manually spining the tires until it fired. And the girl who drove around until she found a 24-hour donought shop in the middle of the ngiht to get someone to cut her malfunctioning seatbelt off with a knife. And the guy who had to pull his engine at night and carry it upsatirs to rebuild it inside his apartment living room because the apartment complex didn't allow car work in the parking lot. Or the guy who drove all around the North America, alone, meeting all kinds of interesting people, searching for the "beginning of the wind". Or the VW bus caravan to Inuvik, Canada, in the Arctic Circle. Or the guy whose gas pump went out on the Interstate in South Carolina and spent an afternoon inching up to the next exit by repeatedly pouring gas into his carburator and driving as far as that tiny bit would take him. And the stories of people struggling to get a certain bolt off, stripping something, dropping something and worrying that they damaged it, passing SUVs in the snow, and on and on and on...
Anyway, there are many many many VW resources on the Internet, but they
can all be reached via the RAMVA
newsgroup, any of the van-specific mailing lists available through www.type2.com
and www.vanagon.com, and the Thing
mailing list available through www.topica.com.