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DESPERATE SEARCH UPDATE

Alas, but the Rose Family in VA is selling HERBIE, the $500 1973 VW Van which they were desperate to find a little over a year ago .....now after a million dollars worth of time, fun, energy and money, it's time for Herbie to be adopted. Anyone interested should contact 4roses@beldar.com. In the meantime, they're shedding a few tears and singing "thanks for the memories," which go rather like this:

The family asked for help in locating a VW van as their teenage daughter wanted to rebuild one with her father as a project for the two of them. Several of our readers suggested web sites and other ideas. Then we heard that they found a VW Graveyard Heaven and were hoping to create one van out of two. Soon there was news of the Volkswagen on which the father-daughter team would work miracles. Described as a really cool vehicle, having a factory sunroof, an ocean blue body in good shape, with a front spare tire rack, it was apparent that prior interest in a transporter had disappeared. It was love at first sight!

A struggle began to rebuild the motor, and the daughter started learning how to drive in anticipation of the day the van would be on the road. Pretty exciting times for all concerned, and it wasn’t long before Kristin was sitting in the van talking to HERBIE as if he could understand that he was acting like a uncooperative spoiled child. Her mother wrote, “This dinosaur of ours is finally coming together, but she thinks he is the finest thing soon to be on the road....I'll let you know as soon as we move a little further ahead...We haven't had any luck finding hot air flaps for the heater....Boy, was this more than we knew what we were getting into, but it has been so fun....Even my husband is warming up to Herbie...He actually thinks these vehicles were smartly made, but like Greek to him....He had worked on American cars only.”

Then one day HERBIE was RUNNING! And almost road-ready! Getting to this point was quite an adventure, helped tremendously by a Volkswagen Genius Neighbor. He had rebuilt several bugs and used to teach at the local college. Just so happens he was very reasonable. FREE!

All that working together on fixing Herbie and having some fun along the way, meant learning a lot about a 1700 pancake engine. They had two VW books and say it was like putting together Leggos. The motor, which turned out to be three taken apart, came to them in buckets and boxes, and they were clue less as to what it was supposed to look like. One e-mail to our web page said the motor was sitting on a creeper on the garage floor, running, and then a week later that it was mounted in the van, and being checked carefully before a test drive. Little brother (12) joked that the spare motor should go on the tire rack, with a spare clutch in the closet.

With Herbie running very well, practically purring. the van was road-ready EXCEPT for the lights and inspection. There was trouble with a back tail light, and the whole braking system had to be redone. Helpful suggestions included that the trouble might be the ignition switch, or a need to rewire the brake booster, or just get new fuses, etc. etc. etc. Eventually the lights worked!

HERBIE’S wardrobe includes a tire cover showing a smiley face with tongue stuck out (Teenagers :-p ). They made their own seat covers, necessary to cover the mustard yellow vinyl seats. While definitely personalized, the Roses tried to make HERBIE as authentic as possible, with orders for some of the cosmetic things, new headliners and carpet from such sources as the Rocky Mountain Motorworks and the J C Whitney catalog. A local artist offered to paint a mural on the van and to do it free to advertise his business. The whole project has been quite a lesson in finances for the kids, on how to get what is needed for little to nothing. Spare parts sold to the junk yard, trades to the junk man for some things, and even the sale of a broken block and other spare aluminum parts to the recycling place!

Here’s hoping that wherever HERBIE ends up, his owners keep us appraised of his adventures, and send us some tales for our VW Stories. (Click "refresh button" so bus will run.)

WHAT A TRIP....AND WHY IT'S FUN TO OWN A VW VAN.... Scott e-mailed us the following story, which you just gotta love: The day after he bought his 1970 bus (July of 97), he and some friends left Victoria (Vancouver Island, BC), and drove down into the States and across to IL via the I-90.

They were in a hurry to get to a large music festival (Cornerstone) just outside of Chicago so covered those many miles in 2 1/2 days. They made an audio diary of the whole trip including: thoughts, various updates on location, reports about funny signs (ie: Wall drug..), spur of the moment skits of pure silliness (usually brought on by lack of sleep), local radio clips, songs they wrote, any close calls (ie: wind in the badlands nearly blowing them into oncoming semi's), and some words from new friends along the way....

They traveled in tandem with another car and used CB radios to communicate. They gave both cars silly code names , Scott's VW is named Molly and his friend's Mazda was called Pickle. Molly and Pickle became quite attached to each other over the next few weeks of travel. They went through BC, WA, ID, MT, WY, N & SD, IA, IL, MN on their way

Huge lightning storms the 2nd night in SD helped inspire the very tired group to keep driving. Somewhere that night the VW lost a muffler. With all the noise of the lightning show, no one even realized the muffler was gone until they started her up the next morning after a rest stop (while gulping coffee and donuts supplied by donation to the Boy Scouts). WHAT A NOISE!

Repairs were managed in Iowa after the music festival with the help of some very nice locals who let the group take a new muffler from their shop (in Moline) and go around to various garages until they found someone who was willing to customize it by means of a torch so as to line it up properly with Molly's headers....He would only let Scott pay him AFTER putting the muffler in place ("make sure it fits"). Scott did the work in his parking lot while the gang ate ice cream in the shade. Scott wrote that he has lots of stories, Molly is doing well, and that there are even more adventures planned ahead for them. E-mail: Skarpes@hotmail.com

ANOTHER INTERESTING SITE ABOUT VOLKSWAGENS Be sure and visit The Volkswagen Thing Ringmaster (http://members.aol.com/MPB181/ring.html), from there you can access many web pages constructed by VW Thing owners.

AUTOMOTIVE URL Mark Wan, europa@netvigator.com, wrote in to ask that our readers visit his personal web site at http://home.netvigator.com/~europa/ , which features automotive news.

OTHER SITES TO VISIT: :http://www.peak.org/~maynardj/pics.html http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/4548/and http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5587/pictures.html

IT'S NOT A CAR, IT'S A LIFE STYLE! Eric (chocrokranch@easilink.com) says HI to all Volkswagen fans. Writing in to touch base with some fellow VW enthusiasts, he insists that he loves hearing about other nuts. His story is that he began loving Volkswagens by first mocking them. As a teenager, he was part of a deeply traditional tennis team, which traveled all over the western United States to play in tournaments and competitions. They would always travel via a long Ford van which was property of the local high school, and they were usually about the fastest vehicle on the road. The trips were very enjoyable, but he specifically remembers one time when they got passed by a VW bus. IT WAS GREAT! It turned into a race...it was like, a race for honor! (at the time, Eric admits he was young and didn't think a VW was an honorable thing, ha ha!), but when the tennis van eventually got passed, it was much to the dismay of passengers and driver ( Eric's father, the coach). They all talked and laughed and joked about it the rest of the trip, and he still remembers how funny it was that the VW left such an impression.

About year later, in the back lot of a used car dealership, Eric spotted a blue VW bus, with weeds growing halfway up its sides. Going in and asking about it, brought the response YOU CAN HAVE IT!! He towed the bus home that day, and began to clean it up. He admits he knew squat about VWs then, so it was interesting working on one. Only 15, not yet old enough to drive, Eric would sleep in it and hang out in it, just dreaming about the day he could drive it. When he finally got his license and began driving the bus, he writes that it was like rediscovering himself....."I'll never forget the feeling." Ever since then he's been into air cooled busses...."it's my life style, and that's all I can say!" That first bus was a 75, and he now owns two 75's, two 72's, a 76, and is about to become a proud owner of a beautiful 79 Westie. Eric strongly encourages all who are thinking about adding a VW as a family member to do so, to just go for it, it will change the way you look at things.!! Also, he has several extra parts, a couple of engines he'll part with along with a bus or two. He would just love to see someone start a new project. Eric wants the tradition to live on!!

ANOTHER GREAT SITE WITH PICTURES Guillaume (gpuiseux@iway.fr) emailed in to suggest visiting http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5587

PUT ON YOUR THINKING CAPS....SEATS NEEDED Steve & Lahni need ideas on what type of high back seat can most easily be fitted into their VW bus.....they were thinking of maybe a '74 Super Beetle seat. They took their first van trip last summer and weren't very comfortable with the stock seats. So think of some solutions....and let them know at E-mail: Steve.hale@vcrgn.itochu.com Let us know too....we'll include your ideas on this page.

ADVICE SOUGHT ON AIR COOLED ENGINES Jack (jackmc@ptd.net) surfed in to say thanks a bunch for the ability to access our journeys. In his mid 30's and, "for some strange reason," seeking to buy a VW camper. One of his first vehicles in the early stages of driving (late teens) was a 72 bus. Whitewater kayaking was (still is) a major interest, and he writes that the bus made a gReAt vehicle to transport several "boaters" and had plenty of room on top to tie kayaks on. But, wouldn't you know it, he blew up the engine while coming home from a trip on Western PA's Yough river. Pushing 50 mph on 3.5 cylinders- in a nasty headwind- in July was just a bit much for her, Jack admits, and BANG-CRACK-RATTLE ...may she rest in peace :-), he writes. Anyway, he had a VW mechanic type friend who agreed to go and retrieve her off the interstate for the title. At the time Jack remembers his Dad insisting it was a fair trade...Jack thinks he probably asked him to loan the money for the tow job. But now, back to his rekindled interest in another VW. The camper seems perfect for family. "I married a great girl who loves camping and likes to be cozy," he writes, "and If that doesn't say VW camper, what does? " He is a bit skeptical of the air cooled engine so is thinking of a mid 80's Westie vanagon. Whaddya all think? (jackmc@ptd.net)

GAS TANK NEEDED!!

A VW Van Lover in New Jersey writes that a 1978 Volkswagen Bus (Westfalia) was the coolest thing ever seen, so ownership was inevitable. The only problem: THE GAS TANK RUSTED OUT. This van has a 1971 Porsche engine but it hasn't run in a couple of years. The owner is 19, bought it two years ago and maybe put like 10 miles at the most on it. Naturally, the desire to drive it is great, but there just don't seem to be any gas tanks in the New Jersey area. HELP find a cheap tank. Please send any ideas to this site, or to Galamp78@aol.com (incidentally the nickname of this Westie is Galamp78). Thanks.

SEARCHING FOR A VW VANCamilla (bugalu79@hotmail.com) wants an old fashion VW van.....and she needs some suggestions on beginning her search........E-mail her (and us) some of your ideas. Thanks.

ONE IDEA FOR FINDING VW VANS http://automobiles.classifieds.yahoo.com/virginia/ automobiles/byowner/volkswagen/index.html

LOST MAIL: AIR COOLED VS WATER COOLED Mail from a VW Van admirer, asking questions about the problems of newer van engines as compared to some earlier air cooled ones, has been misplaced. How about some pros and cons? We'll include them on this site.