our
45 Years of VW Vans
*We Become Owners of a '61 Van
*The '73 Van & Teenagers
*Getting
an '80's Van
*Pretty Boy - 1991 Westfalia
Remembering back, it seems our love affair with the Volkswagen van began in the late 1950's when we borrowed a relative's
VW truck-van to make a run up to North Carolina. Our idea was to pick up a sister and her 5 young children and bring them
to Florida for a visit. It was a wonderful trip, we traveled at night, the kids slept, the adults took turns napping and driving.
This van minus its owner's plumbing tools and supplies was empty: there was plenty of room for bedrolls, and even a rocking
chair in case the baby was cranky. But one of the best parts of the journey was the interest everyone had in the van.....no
one had seen such a vehicle, and all wanted to look in the windows when we were stopped for gas. There were lots of questions:
how many folks are sleeping in there, where's the engine, who made this truck, etc.
We Become Owners of a '61 Van
In the early 60's when we had small children, we heard of a VW van for sale and after financing $1,800 at the credit union,
it was ours. Our first trip was at night to visit friends vacationing in Highlands, NC. The baby's portacrib sat securely
on the second seat, we took turns napping on the third seat, and our 4 year old slept in the back. We realize now that such
arrangements are unsafe, but at the time it seemed the ideal way to travel with small children.
The '73 Van & Teenagers
We spotted our next van on the local Dodge used car lot, turned out it had belonged to someone we knew, and we learned
it had been traded in simply because his wife thought it too boxy. This engine was different, made by Porsche, and our favorite
mechanic wanted no part of it. A genius in a VW shop in the nearby village of Woodville turned out to be exactly what we would
need for the next 10 years.
First tasks for the new van were providing transportation for our teenage daughters and their friends who were visiting
from Tallahassee's sister city of Popayan, Colombia. Destinations visited during the summer of 1975 included Kennedy Space
Center, Disney World, Florida Caverns and the north Florida Gulf Coast. Everyone liked the van.
Both the '61 van and the '73 one were eventually sold to neighbors. A young man finishing up at Florida State University's
law school took our first van down to Apalachicola, and we often joke that we'd like to drop by to visit it. It was our gypsy
wagon, and we love it. Our '73 became the first car for a teenage boy down the street, and when he was finished with it, another
neighbor's son-in-law bought it and restored it before selling it a couple just starting out on the VW road.
Getting an '80's Van
We bought our '80 VW Van in 1985 from a German family, who had it for traveling in the northeast. It was about 4 years
old, and fit in well with our changing family, which now included a senior citizen parent. We camped in the mountains of northern
Georgia, made trips to south Florida, Atlanta and even New Orleans. It is still in the family, but used mostly for local fishing
trips down to the St. Marks River or over to the Ochlockonee River, or Lake Talquin.
Pretty Boy - 1991 Westfalia
Our 1991 Camper Van was purchased in south Florida,and its silver and champange features influenced us to
name it "Pretty Boy," in remembrance of one of our favorite cats. A Naples couple had gotten the camper for a trip to New
Hampshire, but when they returned to the "tropics," where parked vehicles get very hot, the van's a/c didn't seem to cool
efficiently. We solved that problem with a large piece of styrofoam cut to fit into the poptop opening. (We older native Floridians
grew up learning to stay cool.) Our first camping trip was only a short 3-day outing into the Everglades, but soon we were
on our way traveling all over the USA.
Thanks for a "VW Memory"
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