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sanchius 
Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1451
Location: IN
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 Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 7:42 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Ob.Vanagon.Content: Sunsets: the very last pic I took of my old Syncro before the big wreck
| Abscate wrote: |
Hello Tunes...
I grew up to the sound of VooDoos busting glass coming out of NFAB in NY...later C130s ...the planes that win wars the smart way.
I’m connecting to Air Force this week. Dad passed on Good Friday - he fought on The other side ...RAF
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Hey Abs, I was meaning to ask about your dad.
It speaks well for both him and you that you were there for him when it counted the most.
You only get one shot at doing that right and it's really nice to be able to look back and be proud of what you did.
Plus, you are showing your kids what they'll be doing in 30 years.
Mine always cringed when I would tell them "I changed your diapers and if you don't study hard and get a good job, you'll be changing mine."
Funny, my dad talked about watching the P-39 Airacobras from NFAB flying over in WWII when he was a kid growing up there. Here's his ship performing hazard duty fighting the red menace on the high seas by serving as the US military honor presence at Princess Grace's wedding in Monaco in the early 50's
This is a tough time.
I must say, the military held an awesome, respectful and very moving burial ceremony for him.
If it helps, I've PM'd you the eulogy I wrote for his funeral a year or so ago.
Feel free to use any part that applies. It starts/ends like this:
It is never easy to lose a parent… someone you love… someone you look up to…. someone who always led the way…
The person who served as an inspiration for you and was a model for your life… the person who opened the world up for you…
Dad was all of these. He was a special man, He was an intellectual, a businessman, an officer and a gentleman, a world traveler, a loving husband, a kind and giving father.
...lots of personal history and stories deleted...
The special thing about memorial services like this is that they are both for the deceased… and the living.
So let me end by asking you to look around you….
To think not only of those in your life who you love, who you look up to, who lead the way for you…
but also the ones who love you, who look up to you and for whom you lead the way….
And draw them close, make them feel safe and cared for, make the time for them, inspire them, open the world for them…
And, thus, pass on dad's legacy to the next generation.
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dobryan
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Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16501
Location: Brookeville, MD
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Jake de Villiers
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Joined: October 24, 2007
Posts: 5911
Location: Tsawwassen, BC
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E1
Samba Member
Joined: January 21, 2013
Posts: 6532
Location: Westfalia, Earth
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:20 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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| Abscate wrote: |
I’m connecting to Air Force this week. Dad passed on Good Friday - he fought on The other side ...RAF
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Unless misreading, very sorry to hear this... condolences.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman |
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22641
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 3:19 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Thanks E1. Yeah, he took his last flight on Friday evening , then left for much higher places.
And left us with...
“It was easy fighting the Germans when they were bombing your families. This generation of kids fighting to get guns out of schools are the Greatest Generation”
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jimf909
Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014
Posts: 7466
Location: WA/ID
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 4:47 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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| Abscate wrote: |
Thanks E1. Yeah, he took his last flight on Friday evening , then left for much higher places.
And left us with...
“It was easy fighting the Germans when they were bombing your families. This generation of kids fighting to get guns out of schools are the Greatest Generation” |
He sounds like a man of remarkable insight. Feeling sadness for your loss as I’m sure you’re feeling gratitude for all that he gave you.
Peace.
Jim
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- Jim
| Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22641
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 7:32 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Sanchius...the P39was built in a plant right next To NF Airbase at Bell Aircraft..that was Dads career in the US
In his professional life He did Concorde, Saturn V, Lunar Module, and Space Shuttle. Being the runt, and too young to leave at home, I occasionally got to go to Redstone and Houston with all these guys talking with German accents. My mother then taught me German and then I could join in. Quite a period of history.
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sanchius
Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1451
Location: IN
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| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 3:33 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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| Abscate wrote: |
| ...Houston with all these [old] guys talking with German accents... |
Yeah, I ran into a table of these gents years ago during a visit inside the fence at Los Alamos Nat'l Lab.
They leave a big impression. They were working on more than just rockets over in Das Vaterland during the war.
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22641
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 6:29 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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I played tennis with a relative of the inventor of the V3
GERMANY to NYC
Imagine the dynamic of World War II changing when missles start dropping on NY In 1945, with no defenses.
We missed it by 4 months.
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sanchius
Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1451
Location: IN
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| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:43 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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This thread is going places I never anticipated, but I guess that's the whole point of it.
Let's bring it back home with a picture of spring in the high desert.
Like the wrecked Westy, I retained my wrecked Audi cabriolet, acquired a cheap clone and moved all the good stuff from the wreck to the clone.
And now, I'm finally back to where I was a year and a half ago, a bit older, a bit greyer, a bunch wiser and definitely feeling like I've been thru the wringer.
But not bad. For $800 + $300 in euro headlights + about $350 in parts from the old cabby wreck (the price to buy the wreck back from the insurance company) + about $400 in other random parts + 5 long weekends, I have my fun, cheap to run, commuter car back, too.
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22641
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 5:50 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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Sorry about the thread drift. Bring on the Husky......
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sanchius
Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1451
Location: IN
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| Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:26 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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| Abscate wrote: |
| Bring on the Husky...... |
OK, here you go...
Now that it's here, the bus is certainly earning its keep, easily hauling this weekend's acquisitions for the new house:
1 heavy side table, one big living room chair, a bakers rack, a chinese vase, 8 large arts, and a gargoyle.
Plus three ladders of varying size to install the arts (hopefully) without dying.
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Last edited by sanchius on Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Abscate
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Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22641
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:53 pm Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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The youngest is having a tough time with Grandads passing, but that big beautiful cat is good for several happy text emojis every time
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sanchius
Samba Member
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1451
Location: IN
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 7:29 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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A year on, it's time to tell the story of how I acquired my current 2WD Westy. Pull up a chair...
A few years ago I had swapped a 2WD transaxle into my Syncro to keep running while my long-time friend Mark at Wolfsberg Autowerks in Boulder expertly rebuilt & regeared my tired Syncro trans to handle the SVX motor I had sitting on my engine stand.
When I took the hit in the Syncro, I was still running the 2WD trans and the freshly renewed Syncro trans was sitting safely on a pallet in my garage.
Knowing I was sidelined for awhile while I got my head back together, I sold off the SVX motor and started reducing my collection of spare Vanagon parts.
But I soon realised that my life wasn't whole without a Westy and, in the absence of a big insurance payout, I was going to have to find one on the cheap, right when interest in Westys and their values were skyrocketing.
I had long ago concluded that a 2WD was good enough, even preferred, for my driving habits.
After looking around for a replacement 2WD Westy for awhile and coming up empty, one day I was out looking at the fresh Syncro trans thinking, "Now what???, I probably can't sell this for what I have in it, only Mark knows how good this rebuild is. But it's doing me no good sitting there."
Then inspiration hit.
I called Mark and asked if he had any builder vanagons in his yard of spares that he'd want to sell and whether he was interested in the Syncro trans that he'd built up for me.
Maybe I caught him at a weak moment or maybe he felt sorry for me or maybe he's just a genuinely nice guy. Or maybe all of the above.
His answers were "Possibly" and "Yes, definitely!"
He said to come over and we'd look through his storage yard.
I was looking for a pop-top weekender for the extra interior space and, fortunately, those were of little use to him relative to full-kitchened Westys.
He understandably wanted to keep most of the good vans as stock for his VW business.
We combed through the remaining basket cases, air-cooleds and rust buckets, finding none that would be viable without a lot of rework.
We were about to give up when he said, "Wait, I have just the one for you"
Buried behind a bunch of other vans was the 2WD clone of my wrecked Westy: a sahara-gold pop-top 2.1L Weekender.
It was in rough shape; it had been sitting there for 8 years with a shattered windshield, rust in a few places, rotted out tires, rotted tent, broken taillights, filled with blown-in dirt from the blown-out rear window and the engine & trans in an unknown, but questionable state.
But its bones were good, no frame rust or discernible accident damage.
With manual trans & steering and no AC, it was just what I was looking for!
I could work with this.
We worked out a deal on the spot that we were both happy with: a straight up swap of his dead Westy as it sat for my rebuilt syncro trans.
I returned a week later with a battery, gas can, replacement windows & taillights, good tires, a tub of spare parts & tools and got to work.
Mark went beyond the call of duty getting it running after sitting for so long while I removed the rear headbanger and cabinets that I had no interest in.
It cranked over nicely and, after replacing the fuel filter and pump, it roared to life!
As it warmed up and no hoses blew, we cleared the other vans from around it, drove it into his shop to fix the remaining electrical issues and drove it home that night.
I was back on the road and thus started the thread we are in today...
Thank you, Mark!
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dobryan
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Jake de Villiers
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dobryan
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sanchius
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Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1451
Location: IN
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chimivee
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Joined: September 23, 2009
Posts: 741
Location: Orange, CA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2018 10:11 am Post subject: Re: Sanchius and Tuna ride again... |
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I really enjoy your thread and all your positivity. You've made some sweet lemonade.
Since you mentioned Mark at Wolsfberg Autowerks...
| sanchius wrote: |
| or maybe he's just a genuinely nice guy. |
Last year, en route to Rocky Mtn National Park from So. California, I had a mechanical on my Syncro. After some calls to this great community, I was connected with Mark, and I limped my van over. He stayed after hours to get us back on the road the same day—even scavenging a part from a personal project, when his other spares on hand weren't good enough. He charged us normal rates, let us spend the night in his lot—nestled like family among his other vans, and were back on our way in the morning.
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86 Syncro Westy, etc |
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ALIKA T3
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Can't wait to see for the rest to come 