First the Bug, now the Van
 

Will Thom shed a tear?

By CECELIA GOODNOW
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

This just in: It's the end of the line for classic, air-cooled VW vans. A staple of the hippie era, the vans will cease production on Friday at the company's plant in Brazil, according to the Associated Press. And so passes another era.

To which we say, "Bummer, man! Now you're getting personal." Because my family has a long history with the hippie-mobile, and maybe yours does, too.

Buying a '73 VW camper van was a great idea back in 1986, when we needed a spacious vehicle for commuting with our 4-year-old daughter. Since then, we've gone through three transmissions and two engines, not to mention spit and baling wire, to keep the trusty tin can running. Just finding parts for the big guy is a challenge. I was ready to give it a hero's sendoff years ago, but my husband refuses to release his white-knuckle grip on the wheel.

"I'm going to be buried in the back yard in that van," he says, brooking no argument. (Hmmm, maybe sooner than you think, I muse.)

But, hey, he loves his van, and I love him -- and the way he flashes a peace sign whenever he passes another VW van driver. Instant rapport.

Yeah, we've got a lot of memories tied up in the old buggy, from camping trips with our two kids to frigid, early-morning commutes to the ferry, with a portable heater humming in the back to counteract the leaks in the floor boards. No more VW vans? Perish the thought. (But don't tell Jack. If he hears that, he'll never get rid of old faithful.)

Yeah, and they'll stop making A/C engines pretty soon, too.

Just picked up a '56 sunroof body a couple nights ago. I have most of the parts now to make a nice oval ragtop, with semaphores, even!

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More details on the last of the air-cooled buses here: http://66.34.72.138/cgi-bin/gallery-search.cgi?string=Serie+Prata

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I just attended a VW Xmas dinner last night and there were three "factory" guys there. They work here for VW of A, but we call them factory guys anyway. VW is in a sales slump now, so I was talking to them about how to get out of the doldrums. I suggested a retro microbus, of which VW had a very nice concept car last year. VW in Germany balked.

The factory guys think that's what VW needs here in the US: a retro bus, to get people into the dealerships. It would probabaly have the same positive affect that the New Beetle had. But the real factory guys, the ones in Germany, still don't understand the US market, and don't want to take the plunge. Of course, the concept car microbus would have cost US $45K. They need to get the price down.

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Ah, progress. Early 944s have that left instrument cluster, just with a temp gauge on top.

I once owned a '67 split window crew cab, in fact, I owned it twice. Dead stock, that white/cream color, and super clean.
Loved it...regret selling it.
.
I'd sit and look at it and imagine what would make this the best all-around single vehicle for many.
I decided it would need a lower roof line, lower-sitting seats, and a slightly more aerodynamic nose.
A horizontally-opposed, liquid-cooled mid-mounted 6 cyl. engine with access through the bed and sides.
4WD option.
Radiator in the nose, perhaps. Keep the drop gates, of course.
You get the picture.
I always thought that something like that would sell. Dunno.

Out of curiosity, is it possible to import these buses into the US if you added emissions controls, etc...?

You'd probably have to jump thru the same federalization hoops as you would any other car, ie 959, etc