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SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:01 am Post subject: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Hi volks! PLEASE read this.
Some time ago I compiled model-by-model information for each model of Vanagon, for each year in the USA market. It was all just text and I completed barely over half of the Vanagon years at the time. These descriptions were available at Vanagon.com for many years, but no longer exist there since that URL was re-purposed.
I have begun creation of a new website to host this information, add the missing years, as well as additional information. The purpose is to provide one-stop-shopping for definitive information on the Vanagons VW sold in the USA market. As part of this effort, I have recently purchased a large-format scanner (not a small expense) so that I can make clean, straight, hi-res scans of VW's largest brochures and original window stickers.
I have a very good start as I own originals of all the primary USA Vanagon brochures and am only missing some incidental brochures for accessories, color charts, etc. I also have originals, copies or scans of about 12 or so original window stickers. While the brochures depict what VW intended to sell, they have no prices and don't actually demonstrate what VW DID sell.
Unlike the "preliminary information" in the brochures, the window stickers are the definitive source for Vanagon information and include what options they actually produced and at what prices. I intend to include scans of the window stickers on the website, when published.
So, I respectfully request the Vanagon community's assistance in creating an archive of window stickers. If you have an original window sticker or a clean copy, please contact me about how I can obtain a clear scanned image.
You might MAIL me an original window sticker, which I would mail back after scanning. If you have a very good scan you could email it to me. If you have a very good photo-copy, you could mail it to me. There are various ways to accomplish this, but I would like all the images to be very high quality, not just a photo from a digital camera, (though I may resort to that).
Please let me know in this forum what you have and also contact me by email so we can move this big project forward!
Thank you in advance!
Jim Davis
[email protected] _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
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Alaskaberrys Samba Member
Joined: June 19, 2016 Posts: 1000 Location: SE Alaska
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:12 am Post subject: Re: A Call for Vanagon Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Wish I had one to contribute as I used that list you compiled quite a bit in learning about our Westfalia when we bought it. None of the original paperwork survived unfortunately, so I’ll be paying attention to what you compile.
Good luck, I hope your able to complete the project. _________________ '91 Westfalia, Bordeaux Red Pearl 2.1L 2wd Auto
'91 T3 Syncro Doka, Escorial Green 1.9L TD AAZ “Gremian” (to provoke, irritate, exasperate, vex...) |
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kourt Samba Member
Joined: August 13, 2013 Posts: 1922 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:53 am Post subject: Re: A Call for Vanagon Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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You mean one of these? Here's mine!
kourt
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danfromsyr Samba Member
Joined: March 01, 2004 Posts: 15129 Location: Syracuse, NY
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termuehlen Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2012 Posts: 986 Location: Redwood City
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 1:57 pm Post subject: Re: A Call for Vanagon Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Here is the one I have. This is an odd paper size. About 11" x 13", so it doesn't fit into my scanner as a single page. I am not keen on sending the original. Let me know if a photocopy is the best way for me to provide you this information. I could take it to Kinko's and see what they can do. It probably makes sense for you to come up with a specified method to get the best quality image, i.e. take it to Kinko's and scan at a certain resolution, or scan on an 8-1/2" x 11" machine in two pieces at a certain resolution if you can stitch it together.
_________________ 1988 Westfalia automatic Subaru OBD1
1986 syncro tintop wbx |
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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16473 Location: Brookeville, MD
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flyboyaviator Samba Member
Joined: November 29, 2009 Posts: 154 Location: South Florida
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 5:23 pm Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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OP where can we see the ones you have so far?? |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7402 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:31 pm Post subject: Re: A Call for Vanagon Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Cool. I wondered who Munroney was and learned this...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroney_sticker _________________ - 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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SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:35 pm Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Thanks for the responses so far.
Early window stickers were very large and therefore no typical home scanner is large enough. The later stickers were smaller. The middle-era of brochures (85 to about 89) were the large size, also too big for a home scanner, thus the purchase of a large-format scanner, partly for window stickers and partly for brochures.
I have done some Google, Bing, and Yahoo searches and have found some images that way. I hope to accumulate as many as I can that have really good scans and images from the inter-webs so far are pretty spotty.
termuehlen and kourt:
Thanks for yours. I can definitely use the data from them.
In addition to the data, I hope to accumulate as many as I can which capture the whole image for posting on the website.
I'll look into what FedEx Office (kinkos) can do as that might offer a way for many to have theirs scanned locally. Neither my local Staples or Office Depot could do larger than 11 x 17. 17 is big enough, but most year's window stickers were wider than 11 the other direction. I might come up with instructions for home scanning done in 2 parts where I could manually stitch the images together.
flyboyaviator:
I'm progressing on the brochures first and then intend to tackle window stickers, so I don't actually have any stickers scanned so far.
Thanks again!!
Jim _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22568 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:41 am Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Are you scanning these higher res than a decent phone pic? I'm not sure there is much detail necessary on these.
Termuehlen..you need to take you van back and demand your farfughnunen, they left it off your Bus, er, I mean Van. _________________ .ssS! |
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riceye Samba Member
Joined: March 09, 2006 Posts: 1661 Location: Caledonia, WI
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Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:03 am Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Hi Jim,
I sent these images to your aol email address, as well. Posting here for the benefit of others. Scanned at 600dpi in two images. I hope you can stitch together for your use.
We are the second owners of "Olga". We purchased her in January of 1994.
_________________ '87 Westy Weekender - daily driver on salt-free roads
There's gonna be some changes made.
“I find that things usually go well right up until the moment they don't.” - Ahwahnee
"Quality isn't method. It's the goal toward which the method is aimed." - Socrates, later quoted by R.M. Pirsig |
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SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
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Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 9:47 am Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Thank You! I'll let you know how the "stitching" works out.
Jim _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
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SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
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Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:29 am Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Vanagopons,
The experiment of stitching two scans worked out well. It required a bit of Photoshop work to make up for misalignment, etc. which was a bit tedious, but end result is good.
If anyone has a home scanner and can scan their original new-car window sticker in two parts, I'd be grateful if you'd send the scans my way.
When scanning, please make sure of a few things:
1. Scan the entire document. Even past the edges is OK since I can easily crop it, but having any part cut off in the scan is trouble.
2. Scan it at at least 300DPI. 400 to 600 would be better.
3. Make sure you're careful about lining up ON EDGE on the scanner and use the SAME EDGE for both scans. Rotating one scan even slightly to match the other is very problematic when trying to stitch the two scans back together.
4. A JPG (or other photo file type ) is best but I can deal with most others as well.
You can email the scans, preferably ONE scan per email to:
[email protected]
It will be a while before these are publicly published, since I'm working on the brochure scans and written content right now, so be a bit patient and I'll get there.
Thanks again!
Jim Davis _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
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E1 Samba Member
Joined: January 21, 2013 Posts: 6375 Location: Westfalia, Earth
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Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 9:34 am Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Great project, after my own heart, Bravo!
My scanners are all in storage (along with most everything else), but happy to help on the backside PS work if you need another quality-stringent, production kinda SOB.
600 ppi is what I used on scanning all my printed, graphic work samples. The trick is getting them dead flat and shooting them dead square -- and shooting a few to get the best, sharp focus.
I agree a later iPhone or similar may well have enough gusto as a repro tool, though my 5 likely would not. _________________ ‘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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SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
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Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 12:16 pm Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Thanks E1!
Right now I'm working on scanning the brochures before I move on to the window stickers.
One thing I've found is that the brochures were not printed straight with the paper edges. Frustrating when editing to decide when to rotate the image a slight amount or not. To make up for this, all the images I'm doing now are cropped very slightly. Probably not noticeable to the to the public who will be viewing these, but when you're zoomed in sufficiently while editing it's a bit frustrating.
Regarding taking photos, while this can capture the data in the image, it can never faithfully reproduce the image like a scanner. The camera image is always distorted to some degree because the photo is taken from a single point making the edges farther away from the camera lens than the middle. The corners are of course the furthest away. Because of this distortion and focus issue caused by varying distance from the lense, I'm not using any pictures of brochures from a camera or a phone. For the window stickers, I'll certainly be less fussy because none are in perfect shape to begin with.
Thanks!
Jim _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
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SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
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Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 5:38 pm Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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termuehlen - Can you please scan your sticker in 2-parts as riceye has and then email them to me.
My latest scanning guidelines:
1. Scan the entire document. Even past the edges is OK since I can easily crop it, but having any part cut off in the scan is trouble.
2. Scan it at at least 300DPI. 400 to 600 would be better.
3. Make sure you're careful about lining up ON EDGE on the scanner and use the SAME EDGE for both scans. Rotating one scan even slightly to match the other is very problematic when trying to stitch the two scans back together.
4. OK to have any amount of overlap between the 2 portions of the scan, but please be certain not to leave any gap.
5. A JPG (or other photo file type ) is best but I can deal with most others as well.
6. Please don't redact the VIN. I can't see why this is a concern, but if you must...
To all:
DIGITAL PHOTOS: I've received only a few of these and a few more from internet searches. If you don't care to go through the trouble of scanning so I can actually post it on the website, a clear digital photo will at least provide the DATA that I also desire. Thanks!
Email to
[email protected]
Thanks!
Jim Davis _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
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SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:41 am Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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Anyone else with a window sticker to share?
I know, I know. It's at the back of the drawer somewhere or in the bottom of your Vanagon papers box, right? Or worse.. You know you have it, but where could it be? I bet you'd like to see your old window sticker too.
Please take a few minutes to help me document accurate information about our beloved Vanagons.
Thanks!
Jim Davis _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
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gene l Samba Member
Joined: August 31, 2013 Posts: 136 Location: LOS OSOS,CA.
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:03 pm Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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PM me an address and I will send you my original 1985 sticker. I have no camera or computer knowledge. I would like it returned to me. |
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SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 5:54 pm Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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gene l,
Will do. Thanks! Really appreciate it.
Who else can help?
Jim _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
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E1 Samba Member
Joined: January 21, 2013 Posts: 6375 Location: Westfalia, Earth
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 6:06 pm Post subject: Re: Vanagon New Car Window Stickers, PLEASE |
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SyncroHead wrote: |
Thanks E1!
Right now I'm working on scanning the brochures before I move on to the window stickers.
One thing I've found is that the brochures were not printed straight with the paper edges. Frustrating when editing to decide when to rotate the image a slight amount or not. To make up for this, all the images I'm doing now are cropped very slightly. Probably not noticeable to the to the public who will be viewing these, but when you're zoomed in sufficiently while editing it's a bit frustrating.
Regarding taking photos, while this can capture the data in the image, it can never faithfully reproduce the image like a scanner. The camera image is always distorted to some degree because the photo is taken from a single point making the edges farther away from the camera lens than the middle. The corners are of course the furthest away. Because of this distortion and focus issue caused by varying distance from the lense, I'm not using any pictures of brochures from a camera or a phone. For the window stickers, I'll certainly be less fussy because none are in perfect shape to begin with.
Thanks!
Jim |
Sorry, been busy and just saw this.
Yes, it's common that the trim is almost never dead-square to the graphics. All I do is zoom in tight to a line or text to parallel to, then use a pen tool in Photoshop to draw a level line, then rotate the line to parallel the text or line art. Once you know that angle you can:
1). Rotate the entire scan to level
2). Use the healing brush to clean up the now-crooked page edges
I do disagree, though, in what you said about lens distortion in being unable to achieve a "flat-field" image. The longer the lens the less distortion there will be, but that might mean having a straight telephoto, or best yet, a Micro lens between 60 and 200mm. But for your project, obviously buying such a lens isn't practical, just pointing out it's not impossible. _________________ ‘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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