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Fri Dec 10, 2004 6:12 pm

crofty wrote:
you have to admit that the split is a much better looking automobile.

Do you have children? Never could I say one looks more beautiful than the other. They are beautiful for different reasons. As for buses, the bay has the perfect evolution from the quirky charm of the split to the modernity of the Vanagon :D
Colin

Fri Dec 10, 2004 6:17 pm

Wow!

I cannot believe that this diatribe that I wrote in 2002 is still getting responses.

Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:42 pm

Well....... not much has changed in the last 2 years. We are still the red headed step child.

Fri Dec 10, 2004 8:07 pm

paleale wrote: I agree with you.

Now that's funny. How did you happen to pick up this thread after 2 1/2 years, paleale?

Fri Dec 10, 2004 8:13 pm

I'm a firm believer that CAR GUYS need to stick together.

How soon before we're not allowed to TOUCH anything on transportation... the way we're going now, we'll all be herded to and fro on public transportation with a fun factor of 0.

Speed freak, adrenaline junky, restorers, modifers, choppers, bobbers, customizers, drivers, junkers, detailers... we all have to stick together or we have no chance! 8)

Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:52 am

I may build me a house in which the bay resides inside for all to see as a museum piece.

Makes me laugh when people say "you don't see one of those every day" to which I reply, get on the Samba and you will see many.

We're a dying breed, but we must stick together to keep this legend alive.

Mon Dec 13, 2004 8:32 am

There was a super-shiny early Bay on Pimp My Ride last night...Xzibit was standing in front of it at WCC giving his little pimp speech. Perhaps Bays are moving up in status???
Um, not that I watch PMR regularly or anything...

Mon Dec 13, 2004 9:46 am

Maybe bays are so common as strong, reliable daily drivers they don't attract the young hip, pierced, tatooed crowd that loves the splits for their exclusive kewlniss.

Mon Dec 13, 2004 11:33 am

Amskeptic wrote: crofty wrote:
you have to admit that the split is a much better looking automobile.

Do you have children? Never could I say one looks more beautiful than the other. They are beautiful for different reasons. As for buses, the bay has the perfect evolution from the quirky charm of the split to the modernity of the Vanagon :D
Colin

They made splits for 17 years and bays for 11. Maybe "quirky" charm is for the later buses and the buying public proved it.

Bay window owners are the only ones I ever hear crying about being ostracized. You never hear split owners crying because a bay club or guy didn't say hi! LOL

Mon Dec 13, 2004 12:46 pm

My '70 camper is my first bus driving experience. Ever since I've come of driving age way (way and getting wayer) back in the mid '70s, VWs got snorts of derision from "real" car owners. Whatever. The derision continues from those who "don't get it", but has abated somewhat. Now people get all misty-eyed and share fond memories of their past air-cooled experiences. "I used to have..., My brother had...," etc., usually capping it off with a wistful "Sure did have a lot of fun in that car."

Mine is my only driver at the moment. I like the look of splitties, but they are too rich for my blood, and seem highly impracticle amongst today's roads and, especially, drivers. Splitties and bays take a certain level of skill to drive that today's younger drivers often lack. New cars today are more and more engineered to take skill out of the driving process. ABS, systems that refuse to let you take a corner too fast, wired accelerators, etc. Along with that technology is increased costs for parts and repairs, and increasingly, a reliance on the dealership shop. Even generic auto "shops" are endangered as auto-makers don't share information anymore.

But I am far from elitist. This past spring I was given an '80 vanagon, and was thrilled to learn it is air-cooled, but wants time and money, both in short supply. I drove my '80 jetta into the ground. My Mother recently purchased an '83 vanagon that I've driven and it is an experience that is a world apart from driving my bay.

VW is a trendsetter. The boxy rabbits and jettas were quickly copied and now the world is rife with the generic design. Retro is in and VW started that trend, too, with the new beetle. Now we have a plague of PT-Cruisers, Thunderbirds, Mini-Coopers, Phantoms, some retro chevy pickup, ad nauseum.

Ostricization sure helps my wallet, so I don't worry too much about it ("My motorcycle has more horsepower!"), just do one of these :roll: .

:) :D :lol:

neal

Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:40 pm

I am amazed by people who are embarrassed about driving VW splits or bays.
Most people who criticize are driving a rapidly depreciating pile of plastic and thin tin.
The only worry about Type 2 is that the "in" crowd like movie stars are finding they are very "chic" and are jacking s...t out of the price.

Warren

Mon Dec 13, 2004 7:05 pm

I have had the pleasure of driving a 67 Westy for the last 19 years. Did I know what type I was buying, absolutely not. Did I know a Westy from a Dormobile, no. A bay, a split, nope. What I did understand was that VW had/has the coolest campers on the planet....
I find it funny that a lot of people don't even think a 67 rates true "old" bus status. The bus/camper evolved with lots of improvements in camper functionality. Did some unique features fall by the wayside, of course. Looking back at the different Westies is a walk back through time. Seat fabrics, choice of wood, or "veneer", "wild" color combinations were tiny snippets of society at that time. It is that diversity and funky VW'ness that makes all these oldtimers so darn fun. Will any new camper be appealing in thirty plus years the way these are? I can't see how...
I have always had a bit of envy for the "upstairs" room on bays. Does that make one model better, no just different. The common thread is that we all love and enjoy VW's. Heck everybody else lumps them all in one category anyway.
Take your bay, your splitty and drive somewhere quiet and dark, pop the top, open the hatch, or not, set up the tent, sit in your chair and feel damn lucky....All the little silly details become just that.

Mon Dec 13, 2004 8:53 pm

Couldn't say it better!!!! :D

Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:01 pm

static wrote: Wow!

I cannot believe that this diatribe that I wrote in 2002 is still getting responses.

Believe it, Baby!

I have a splitty project that I'm either going to sell or swap out to buy a Bay I can drive. My plan is to camp with my family, and I like the idea of the room I have in a Bay, and how much safer my passengers will be in a Bay. Having a large engine on the cheap that will keep up with traffic too is a plus. So I want a later bay.

I thought of myself as a splitty owner for a while and now I'm a Bay owner wannabe. This deal or the next, it will happen. But I've been able to compare and contrast the two groups and I see the plusses and minuses in both.

You've got the Splitty crowd. Some of them good and decent folk trying to help each other out. But you've also got the hoarders too and that just turned my stomach. I can't/couldn't find original interior components without paying and arm and a leg for it and there are guys out there actually collecting middle seats. Sad in a way. I really like stock stuff. If I bitched about the prices, I get some nimrod making a comment that I must be poor...Hey asswipe, I didn't make my fortune writing checks! At times, their disdain for the bays and the bay crowd was damn embarrassing to be associated with. Like when someone makes a racist comment that you know is wrong and everyone goes along with it through their silence. Used to be that all the VW folks were cool people you could trust. That was 20+ years ago! Now there is a bad minority in there that I have issues with.

Then you've got the Bay crowd, which appears to be in transition. It looks like it was made up of people who wanted to use them for their daily driver or they wanted to live in them, pissing in a bottle because there is no bathroom. BTW, that doesn't help the Bay cause...so can we just keep that private? Coffee cans too? If that sounded derogatory, its wasn't meant to...we are ambassadors to the hobby. FWIW, from what I've read and observed, Bay folks are way cooler, and are more likely to help you out in finding the stuff you need. This includes the split owners who also have Bays because seems all the "bay curious" splitty owners that I've met just love the VWs period...any shape or form. Anyway, it looks like the Bay group is in transition...folks like me crossing over because prices and parts scarcity make Bays a bargain by comparison and a little turned off by that crowd. I'm a 40-something with kids who grew up with beetles but now I need more room for the family.

I only know that my kids don't give a crap whether there is a bar in the middle of the window or not. All they care about is the noise and the funny (good) way my VWs ride and smells. And me, I like the idea of being being a better steward of their safety, by being able to stop in time so I don't rear end the guy in front of me and I like the idea of lots more steel in the frame since I'll be living in the crumple zone so I can be around to put mine through college.

I like all the VWs. If I had garage space for it, I'd have one of each. But if I have to be judicious in how I use my garage space, and I do, I want to put something in it that is safe and reliable that I'll enjoy using and not worry too much about it if it gets in a scrape. I'll take a Bay please.

Soon to be known as:

Westy Steve

PS=> If I find that my Bay is excluded from too many VW events, I'm just gonna have to found my own club down here in the S.E. Bays only. Camping on the beach, road rallies...it will be cool. Suggest you all do the same.

Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:48 pm

This again?

Yep, there are some jerks in the split crowd.

But there are jerks in this crowd too.

Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:37 am

Our Day Will Come!!! Just wondering how many Posters here went to the Split Forum to see if they are talking about us over there? Who really cares? They have their place and we have ours. You know, a Club would be nice but who is going to run it? It takes a lot of time to do it right and do it well. What I would like to see is a Bay Window Registry in the USA that we could all sign in to. As much as we travel in our Bays it would be great to meet some one along the way, have a beer or what ever and to just appreciate the fact that we are different. As far as the Shows go, try to find a VW show in Oklahoma. I went to an open show last year just because I like old vehicles. Got talked into entering my Bay even though that was not my intent. But, the burgers were free if you did so what the hell? I was in a Special Interest Class of all things, showing against a Speedster Replica and a Riding Lawn Mower. Guess which vehicle won the class? Only in Oklahoma......................

Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:32 am

Hi. My name is BrownBus and I drive a Bay Window Bus.

Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:36 am

My name is Jeff, and I drive a Baywindow bus.

... I choose to drive my Baywindow Westy, and I do not feel ostracized at all by splitwindow bus owners because I don't go to VW shows, don't buy VW magazines, don't have VW tattoos. I could drive a split window bus if I chose to, I like the comfort and fit of the Bay. I really don't care if a split window bus meets me in the road and its driver does not wave, I just keep going on my way without any problem. I just wonder sometimes when that happens, that driver of the split bus may be thinking "he wishes his bus was a splitty". No, I am driving just what I wanna drive.

I used to think people rode Japanese V twins or other non-Harley V twins because they could not afford the Harley-Davidson. Turns out most of those riders on the Japanese V twins or Victorys or whatever could have had the H-D, but chose the more refined style and modern design, and are not affected by the hype that surrounds the Harley. Like our buses, those are all V twin motorcycles to 98 percent of the people that see them anyway.

I am extremely secure owning and driving my Baywindow Bus, how about you?

Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:00 am

Crazy this thread is from 2002. But I was going to respond that there was Norcal Aircooled Group that meets up in Bay Area and there's Busfest coming up in a couple weeks in Vallejo. But you probably didn't foresee that in 2002..heheh

I dunno if my 78 is pretty enough to take to a show. busfest.net sez any condition but I dunno. I know an old splitty that looks like crap can get away with going to a show cuz it's old but a late model bay, I dunno. What excuse do I have. It is a sunroof bus which seem to be fairly rare but lots of surface rust on upper half...but then again the surface rust matches the orange bottom half paint. I dunno. :-k

Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:48 am

Quote: I dunno if my 78 is pretty enough to take to a show.
You can park your crappy old '78 next to my crappy old '71.