Most awkward momoent/situation with vanagon?

[targis58]

Can you see what's going on in the pitures?

Yes, it's my westy pulling a 8000lb tow truck to a safe spot that has 2000ish lb part van on its bed for crushing.

I called a tow truck to have my part van towed away from my house yesterday. When he was ready to leave my driveway his truck wouldn't start. He tried to fix it for an hour with no success. Since the truck was blocking the half of the street disturbing traffic and his fellow tow truck wasn't available soon, I had to pull his truck with part van on it to clear the street. That was about 300 feet pull and it was the most awkward moment for me with my van. And I bet it was the most embarrassing moment for the tow truck driver
I was afraid but now relieved since my westy's butt is still looking sexy after all that.

Have you had any awkward moment with your vanagon?
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90 westy 2wd w/ TBD

[240Gordy]

how was that awkward? looks to me like a moment of unflappable elegance and grace.

and why would you feel the need to rescue the tow truck? if you damaged your van or anything else you would be SOL. SO what if they were blocking the street? Can't your neighbours figure out how to get around it?

Okay rant over, I'll go back under my rock now.
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Tencentlife said,
"So, now that you know what you're doing, go to town."
2010 GOLF TRENDLINE 2.5
1985 GL now with more! a 2.1L
H&R SPORT(RED) Springs FRONT , SLAM SPECIALTIES RE6 AIRBAGS REAR

[DAIZEE]

Other than jeopardizing your van, I hope you got a standing ovation!! No your face should not be red but I would think that the towers face was crimson laughing his head off. Glad it worked out for you tho.
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'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

[SyncroGhia]

I've copied this from my Limey thread as it's pretty much the most embarrassing situation I've managed to get myself into and shows just how wrong it can go when you go out playing on your own!!


I wanted to check out what tyre pressures would help for my offroading in Devon so after speaking to the owner of the stables where a friends horse is kept, I ventured out to the next farm along and asked if I was ok to use his 4X4 run to test a few things. He said no probs but don't get stuck as he didn't want to have to pull me out. Ok no probs, I didn't want to try anything silly, just try a few up and downs to check how the tyres did.

I drove through a cuople of fields onto the 4X4 course only to find it was very boggy after a days rain (the previous day) and the mud was more clay than mud. Hmmm, I could get stuck very easily here so will need to be careful. Wellies were donned and I walked around a bit looking for easy routes in and out inbetween the trees. There weren't many. I figured that they're been playing with tractors or monster trucks in there it was so deep and cut up.

I ventured into the woods on a seemingley easy route. Everything was fine until just at the end where it met up with a more used and boggy route. As I inched forwards, the front wheels sunk. The front bumper was on the floor and I wasn't go anywhere. Bugger!

I engaged both difflocks and proceeded to try to get back onto the harder ground. No chance... in fact the back end slid sideways into a large rut bottoming the back of the van out and as the front was now buried, I had to bail out and walk away for help. Not what I had planned at all.

Here's how I left it.

Now it was already on a lean and I stopped as it was getting worse and I didn't want to risk rolling it. Better to be pulled out safely than make it impossible to be recovered.

Well I wasn't prepared for what happened next. Rob backed up his tractor to the van and we hitched up thinking it would pull it up and out if he pulled it diagonally across. Nope!!

I was in it when we stopped at this point!

Ok so now it's gone beyond the verge of going over and is only being held up by the strap connecting it to the tractor so Rob can't move either. He was spinning all 4 wheels just pulling me this far.

Rob phoned the farm and got one of his guys to bring the Manitou along to help out.

That turned up 5 mins later and proceeded to get stuck about 5 times itself before managing to get to the front of the van. Thankfully Manitou's can push themselves out with their forks if they get stuck! This playground was way way to big for Syncros!

Once we got organised, I hitched up a strap to the front of Limey and we proceeded to lift the front up in the air and while pushing it backwards, Rob pulled it with the Tractor until all 4 wheels were back on solid ground.

The whole thing took about 2 hours and please don't do what I did and go offroading on your own. Only professional muppets do this
Oh please excuse the pics as I only had my mobile on me when all this happened.

MG
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T3 Syncro 16 S6 Westfalia Limey SOLD
T3 Syncro 6x6 SOLD
T3 RS6 Bluestar
T3 Tristar Syncro 16 SOLD
T3 Tristar Syncro RHD SOLD

[aeffertz]

That's crazy, MG!
Any damage to the van after it was all said and done? Glad you got it out and didn't get hurt!

[photogdave]

Most awkward for me was being broke down in the parking lot of Van Cafe waiting for a tow truck to take me to another garage! They wouldn't help because I didn't make an appointment. However a kindly mechanic came out on his lunch break and got me going so I could at least drive to the other garage!
Most triumphant moment came at The Gorge after Sasquatch Festival a few years back. A freak storm left the campground and its roads a muddy bog. We had to drive uphill to get out and all these morons kept zipping up the road and stopping when they panicked. They had to get a tractor in to start towing people up the road. This Eurovan totally cut in front of me just when I was getting momentum and forced me to a stop:

My passengers got out and pushed him out of the way but by this time I was sick of the whole mess. So pretending that I had a syncro, I pulled onto the grass and zigzagged around all the tents until I was at the road and blazed up the hill parallel to the track, passing all the suckers waiting for a tow. Everyone watching was shouting "Tiger! Tiger!"
So call it an awkward moment turned into a triumphant one!
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89 Syncro GL Westfalia 2.1 WBX/WBXaustSS

My Westy Movies:
photogdave On Vimeo
photogdave On YouTube

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[klucz]

Once while in Alaska I pulled off along a river to park for the night. It was getting dark and I just drove a ways along the river, parked and hit the sack. I slept great to the sound of the rushing river. Some time in the early morning I awoke to an extremely loud pulsating booming sound. For the first few seconds I had no idea what was happening. Then I realized that there must be a helicopter hovering over my Westy. After about a minute or so it flew away and I hopped out to see what was happening. Then I noticed the huge white X on the ground next to where I parked.
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84 Westy 4spd sold

[Robw_z]

[GWTWTLW]

So, coming up on 2 years ago, I was getting ready to leave for Telluride in what would be the final voyage of the Adventurewagen. Just as I was leaving, some friends dropped by with a some treats to give to some friends that were flying down from Alaska to meet us in T-Ride and couldn't fly with their own treats ( ). Since the van was already packed, our own treats were buried so since the new treats were stuffed in a purse and wrapped in birthday paper, I just threw them up top loose. 10 hours later, the contents of my van were scattered across the landscape in rural Idaho. While waiting for the tow truck, the very nice police officer was helping me find anything that I might want to salvage. As I was in the middle of explaining that every one of the broken beer bottles littering the highway was full and closed at the time of the accident, he reached down and said "Hey, is this yours?" I swear my heart stopped and I just about cr@pped myself. As nonchalantly as I could, I said "Yeah, it's a birthday present for a friend, thx!" I'm very glad he didn't ask what it was in it. My night could have ended very differently.
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89 Syncro Westy - GW 2.5, now with a double knob job
@gwtwtlw

[Van-go108]

Once we were running up from Central Mexico on the Pan American Highway and pulled up to a toll booth outside of Monterrey. Paid my toll and said, "Later" to to toll person, stepped on the gas and "CLUNK!!". My CV joint bolts must have fell out. I was so embarassed. We had to push Her off to the side of the toll area to repair. I was missing a few bolts and essential tools. The guy in the booth was great and had a cousin that came to our aid at 2:00 AM out of the darkness with a tool box on his shoulder. Saved my butt. My wife and kids just continued to sleep throughout the whole affair.

Later, I realized were I screwed up. In the repair bible in a little box it states not to re-use the CV bolts. REPLACE THEM. I was a Newb, what can I say.
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"Okay, so there's 6 beers and 5 of us. You know what this means don't you? 4 of you are going to have to leave."


1973 Thing
1957 Continental Mark II Click to view image

[klucz]

[NorBullitt]

A few years ago I was the proud owner of a syncro. One day I was backing into my parents yard to park. At the end of the parking area is a 1,5-2 ft drop. Ive parked there hundreds of times, but this time I somehow misjudged the distance, and suddenly felt the backend was about to go over the edge.
I stomped on the brakes, yanked the gear out of reverse and then into what I thought was the crawler gear, held it with the e-brake before stepping on the throttle.
Turns out I had put it back into reverse , and over the edge I went...
The grass was wet and my tires weren't the best, so despite having both difflocks engaged I wasnt able to get enough traction to pull myself out.
In the end my cousin came and gave me a tow with his beater fwd Audi.
It hurt my pride having a 2wd towing my awesome newly aquired dual difflock 4x4 loose from a lawn.... in the summer ......

This was the car, and right behind it is the drop:

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1967 Bug (euro)