Present for Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

[Stig / Major Tom]

[randyo]

I have always wanted a double cab pickup

[big blue]

Me too! I've had a number of V-Dubs both air and water cooled. I presently own a 2010 CC.

[randyo]

my first car, was a sky '68 blue beetle, later on, I had a Vanagon, '81, last year they were air cooled. My older brother had a '57 Transporter, he named it Rolls Connardly (rolls down one hill, can hardly make it up the next) till he took the original 36hp engine, and replaced it with a built up 2180cc.

[Stig / Major Tom]

my first car, was a sky '68 blue beetle, later on, I had a Vanagon, '81, last year they were air cooled. My older brother had a '57 Transporter, he named it Rolls Connardly (rolls down one hill, can hardly make it up the next) till he took the original 36hp engine, and replaced it with a built up 2180cc.

Had an 80 Vanagon - should have bought the Champagne Ed. baywindow in the showroom. That 80 Vanagon drank like a Buick....plus I kept looking in the mirror to see if I was pulling a couch back there. Our 91 Vanagon had better MPG and was quicker.
Best VW I ever had was the '06 Scion xB!

Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

my first car, was a sky '68 blue beetle, later on, I had a Vanagon, '81, last year they were air cooled. My older brother had a '57 Transporter, he named it Rolls Connardly (rolls down one hill, can hardly make it up the next) till he took the original 36hp engine, and replaced it with a built up 2180cc.

It was '63, I think and the Jayhawk Sports Car Club was helping pit crews at SCCA races in the midwest central area. We borrowed a members VW van to transport my motorcycle to an event. It was definitely a Rolls Cannardly version with a 36 hp engine somewhere within! This is in Kansas, boys! The biggest hill around was "Mount Oread" (pronounced  oh- ree-add) the lump in east Kansas the University was sited. We spent hours at or below 50 mph in that thing!

[Stig / Major Tom]

Had one exactly like this '69 (red w/white roof) when I got home from the games in S.E. Asia (wife bought it while I was in 'Nam)
We filled it to the headliner, including an organ to drop off in Ohio at Granny's, and drove it on the snowy interstate from Topeka to Boston in Feb.
As you can see they don't waste space with an engine. We did close the doors.

The heat?....Perfect.
By the time your coffee was cool enough drink on a January, Massachusetts morning, you could remove your gloves, and no longer see your breath.
And, if memory serves - it could carry it's own weight as cargo. Most trucks can't do that these days, let alone any minivans.
Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

Son has rescued a '91 Vanagon or some such and has done a nice job of repairing its ailments starting by replacing the heater core! The pictures he sent were stunning the sheer amount of stuff he had to remove to GET AT the core! He has had it for several years now and several trips around Utah. 4 cylinder gas version.

[randyo]

Had an 80 Vanagon - should have bought the Champagne Ed. baywindow in the showroom. That 80 Vanagon drank like a Buick....plus I kept looking in the mirror to see if I was pulling a couch back there. Our 91 Vanagon had better MPG and was quicker.
Best VW I ever had was the '06 Scion xB!

Stig

my 81 didn't get the greatest fuel economy, my v8 silverado beats it easily, that is before you turn on the gas heater

one night 30 below zero, I was taking my son, and some friends to their youth hockey game, another parent riding with me says "geeze Randy, that's as hot as a wood stove", I was lucky to get 6mpg, with the heater going

[Stig / Major Tom]

my 81 didn't get the greatest fuel economy, my v8 silverado beats it easily, that is before you turn on the gas heater

one night 30 below zero, I was taking my son, and some friends to their youth hockey game, another parent riding with me says "geeze Randy, that's as hot as a wood stove", I was lucky to get 6mpg, with the heater going

I used to wake the wife and say, "Let's make a run to Dunkin D ----- while it's snowing to beat the band! See if we can get stuck!"
I had Firestone Town&Country snow tires on the rear of the '69 Bus. OK, so some few times she had to go sit on the back seat - or climb over and sit above the engine, when I got us really stuck. She was 19 and I, 20. Which explains a lot.
That VW was our first 4 wheeler.....after a couple of Honda bikes....so it was a novelty to us both.

Stig

[Neil955i]

So this compulsion to rise at some indecent hour before dawn is not a new thing then Stig?!

[randyo]

I used to wake the wife and say, "Let's make a run to Dunkin D ----- while it's snowing to beat the band! See if we can get stuck!"
I had Firestone Town&Country snow tires on the rear of the '69 Bus. OK, so some few times she had to go sit on the back seat - or climb over and sit above the engine, when I got us really stuck. She was 19 and I, 20. Which explains a lot.
That VW was our first 4 wheeler.....after a couple of Honda bikes....so it was a novelty to us both.

Stig

when it was time to get winter tires for my Vanagon, I was introduced to Nokian Hakkapeliittas, I had em front and back, went like a tank, I was sold, Nokians are the only winter tire I have purchased since, that was over 30 years ago.

I was 19-20 ? when I had my Beetle, I don't particularly remember a lot, (if you remember the 60's, you weren't there) growing up in rural Northern New England, frozen ice covered gravel roads have been my primary routes, still, even if main roads are plowed, I prefer to take the back road with now traffic, driving and riding in snow is almost mesmerizing, it was about 12 years ago, I started to experiment with riding in the snow, first, just knobby tires, the next year, I drilled stud pockets and inserted regular car studs with a pneumatic gun. The front hooked up well, and was more than satisfactory, the rear though, I had to be very careful with the throttle (V-Strom 1000) both accels, and decells, but the end of the season, I had thrown all the studs on the rear, but none on front, (I got 5 winter seasons out of that front tire/25k miles, and still 40% tread, but rounded knobs, even with the studs, it was no longer adequate for winter use)

seems as though studs make the tires last longer, not as much actual rubber contact ? slower speeds ?

the next winter, I decided to experiment with the Darkside, still the studded knobby in front, in back, a gamble, I bought the cheapest winter tire I could find in the closest size (outside diameter) I could  fine stock size is 150/70-17, I went with a 205/50-17, is actually 2.5 mm smaller. The extra weight of the car tire buffers the throttle inputs. The whole experiment, was successful, beyond my wildest imagination, travelling in weather that would have most people crying they didn't buy enough milk and bread.   Not just short rides,  100 miles away from home, with freezing rain, sleet, snow accumulating to 8" by the time I got home,  another time, just out in a blizzard  on an evening joyride. 

[randyo]

Son has rescued a '91 Vanagon or some such and has done a nice job of repairing its ailments starting by replacing the heater core! The pictures he sent were stunning the sheer amount of stuff he had to remove to GET AT the core! He has had it for several years now and several trips around Utah. 4 cylinder gas version.

My '81 air cooled Vanagon, had the standard heat exchange  boxes  on the exhaust manifolds, and a gasoline heater, same basic design as a kerosene jet style heater.  It had a heat exchanger, and fan, and made noise like the Vanagon had a jet engine when it was running.  It also has a timer knob, similar to a heat lamp in a bathroom,  you could go out on a supercold day, and twist the knob, and it would run up to 15 minutes,  and by the time it ran 5 minutes, it was woodstove warm, blasting 90° heat from the vents.

[CROSSBOLT]

Westfalia! That's what my 40 year old kid resurrected!