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Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:45 pm

Lanval,

congrats... you're back on the road...

now you know my color.. :-) (I don't know yours)

if you happen to see a guy in a blue Carat... playing LOUD Philippe Jaroussky

it's me... :-)

I keep my eyes open... I scan for VW vans....

cheers...

Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:01 am

We went on vacation to Grand Marais, MN last week, and saw 5 vanagons! It has to be a record for the salt belt! :D

1- Silver late model GL in Two Harbors

2- White '87 or so on the side of the road south of Grand Marais (looked to be taking photos, and not broken down :D)

3- Assuan brown Westy, probably '83.5 or '84 parked by a motel north of Grand Marais, looked to be sitting for some time.

4- Bordeaux Westy, '87 vintage heading south on I35

5- Bordeaux Westy, '87 vintage heading south on I35 about 15 minutes ahead of the other one-I think they were travelling together.

Wow!

Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:59 am

I was up in Leadville, Colorado and vic. this last weekend (in the rain and snow). I think the only place I've seen more 'Gons and/or Westys is the GoWesty home page.

First there was my own:

Then the rest, all between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning...

-- Light blue with some kind of high-top driving down Harrison Ave.
-- Beautiful white Westy with bra parked on Harrison Ave. Sunday AM
-- Brownish Westy parked in front of a house on West 7th, I think.
-- Light tan Westy parked at a repair shop on Highway 24, along with several Bays
-- Blue/White aircooled parked at a house south of town
-- Beautiful charcoal Westy with waving driver in Buena Vista, south of Pb-ville.
-- dark brown Vanagon - don't think it was a Westy - on Highway 24.
-- also saw two different Westys in Gunnison, a white one and a brown one, on my way to Pb-ville.

An amazing concentration of German steel.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:59 am

I was up in Leadville, Colorado and vic. this last weekend (in the rain and snow). I think the only place I've seen more 'Gons and/or Westys is the GoWesty home page.

First there was my own:

Then the rest, all between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning...

-- Light blue with some kind of high-top driving down Harrison Ave.
-- Beautiful white Westy with bra parked on Harrison Ave. Sunday AM
-- Brownish Westy parked in front of a house on West 7th, I think.
-- Light tan Westy parked at a repair shop on Highway 24, along with several Bays
-- Blue/White aircooled parked at a house south of town
-- Beautiful charcoal Westy with waving driver in Buena Vista, south of Pb-ville.
-- dark brown Vanagon - don't think it was a Westy - on Highway 24.
-- also saw two different Westys in Gunnison, a white one and a brown one, on my way to Pb-ville.

An amazing concentration of German steel.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:11 am

teabone wrote:
Did you pick up that van out west or back here? Margie and I saw this one in Stillwater... in July '05.

[edit - upon further review, dissimilarity of antenna placement indicates these are probably not the same van. thanks for playing]

Yeah, I bought this one out in Oregon last year. I saw a few Vanagons when I was in the cities, most notable a pair (one westy one hard-top) next to a really nice house on Midway Parkway by the fairgrounds in St. Paul.

And a gratuitous (pause in the) action shot:

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:13 am

83.5-85 white westy, Mission Bay area, San Diego.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:32 am

redtail, That is One Sweet Shot.....
Berge

Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:55 am

Photoshop (of the sign) :wink:

Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:27 pm

floggingmolly wrote: Photoshop (of the sign) :wink:

Max speed of 25mph lol. I was actually lucky the weather was so cold and wet when I went over the pass (except for a bit of scary snow in August) as I didn't have to worry about over heating. Apparently that road, through Rocky Mountain National Park, is the highest major paved road in the U.S. topping out at just under 12,200'. I figure the 2.0 was pushing a mean 50 hp at that elevation!

Sun Aug 24, 2008 2:02 pm

Huntington Beach this A.M. Driving East on Main off of PCH, on my way to Sugar Shack... Turned left and saw folks getting out of a clean '85 Westy, purchase plates from PoP ToP Heaven. Vey pleasant smiling driver. After breakfast, went over to park at Brookhurst State Beach lot, coupla sweet Euros and a Beautiful 87-88 Westy Creme Colored ! Several more GL and an '84 GL, slightly lighter color combo than my Assuan Brown/Tan. Talked to a pleasant young man with a '70 Westy poptop. Nice day for bike riding and for vanagon, euro, westy sightings. I don't think I will post any more pics of these sightings, in case the driver was NOT supposed to be at the beach...
Berge

Sun Aug 24, 2008 4:43 pm

I was working at the go-kart track today, and after two summers of watching old splits, bays and Vanagons passing by, a really nice Syncro pulls in. He drove over from Vermont, but he said it was a Colorado van so it was not only clean, but rust-free. The owner was a really nice guy, apparently he either owns or works at a shop called Kingdom Imports in Lyndonville, VT. The place has no website but they work on Audi, BMW, Subaru, Saab, Volvo and Honda based on the business card.

I enjoy how the camper in the background makes it seem to have a super-top or something.

Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:01 pm

Went on a trip abroad last week and discovered these. I missed the shot of the really nice syncro I saw, but I was still having fun seeing these in Paris...

Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:15 pm

They LOVE Assuan Brown in Europe..... Do they not?
Berge

Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:48 pm

What I want to know is what's under the decklid in that French Brownie (mmmmmm brownies....). Interesting exhaust setup...
I really like the lettering on the back that states just simply 'BUS'.

Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:31 pm

snowesty wrote: What I want to know is what's under the decklid in that French Brownie (mmmmmm brownies....). Interesting exhaust setup...
I really like the lettering on the back that states just simply 'BUS'.

That looks like a Monza exhaust. I had one on my '81 that I had in high school.

Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:34 pm

Huntington Beach bicycling and some surfing today. Too many Vanagons, Westys, Bays, and Bay Westys.... We stopped counting at around 26 combined. BTW, it was jammed today...
Fun times...
Berge

Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:32 pm

Met Tom and his diesel westy waiting for the ferry on Kootenay Lake(longest free ferry in the world!). What else is there to do while waiting except have van-chat.. Toaster's in front.

Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:52 pm

We were at Rockie mnt national Park and saw a really nice westy in a national forest camp ground.... In Wyoming Im not having good luck finding any around. There are tons of bugs out here tho.
Peace.....

Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:21 am

Here are 3 of the Vanagons I saw on Labor Day Weekend. The first one shown I was able to talk to b/c a semi tipped over a mile in front of us and traffic was backed up for over an hour on hwy 285. He just put a Subaru engine in it (done by Rocky Mtn Westy) and he sure could cruise once we got going again. I was really surprised just how fast he could go.

These two were spotted in downtown Crested Butte.

Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:34 pm

Today, at the mall across from Lakewood's Southwest Plaza, I was driving an out of town friend around in Winston. He needed to move, but I think he was a bit annoyed with me--spat out gas when fueling, cranky shifting, etc. Still performed, though.

At any rate, there was a yellow air-cooled Westy, looked just like those two earlier in the thread! I gave a cheery double-honk in Winston... Nothing. He pulled into a service station. Pulled in next to him, idling, waved... Nothing. Looked down at the ground, as if AVOIDING noticing Winston, my friend, and myself.

Well... At any rate, saw him. Don't know if he saw or wanted to see me!

Best!