Itinerant Air-Cooled

Indeed a battleground. . . .




So, I moved the Adventurewagen write-up to its own thread.
Battle Ground was my quickie appointment with plj who had two VWs, a very nice 1971 camper with Chrysler metallic red and white paint, and a 1973 Thing with metallic blue paint.

It should be noted right here, that we displayed a heartwarming delicate and totally adult America At Its Best conversation that was initiated by a "I can't stand John Kerry and I really can't stand Hillary Clinton." Somewhere in there one of the two participants mentioned that upstate New York rural rednecks actually respect their new senator.

But the bus was a beauty, with stock exhaust, a mellow and gracious engine that was very happy to get a valve adjustment, light steering made slightly more accurate, a gearshift made lighter by application of great gobs of grease, and a workmanlike brake adjustment. Once again, I had a customer shooting looks at me as I wound it out to 45 in 3rd, "hey, it is DESIGNED to run at this speed." (it is, you know. . .) (well, it is). We did find a missing doghouse cooler tin. Now what good is a dog house cooler if it is going to spew hot air into the engine compartment?

The Thing was a blast to drive. Quite firm suspension like the old microbuses with a bug's quick steering and snappy clutch/brakes/accelerator. We discovered a left dustcap on the right wheel. What does that mean, class?
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Correct. The speedometer cable hole was a nice small incursion point for bearing-killing dust. We smeared red RTV over the hole and a repack is in the future.

Sent on my way with banana bread, it was a blessedly blessedly easy day.
Take care of your historically significant very nice VWs, plj. I enjoyed the sunny day on real flat concrete and a real garage and our beautifully moderated conversation, sprinkled with some of those saltier observations. . .
Colin

Sounds like a very rewarding visit...well done fellas. There is nothin quite like having a good stock of parts on hand during IAC visit. It sure is a huge time saver. I can't wait to see some pics. Colin's bus looks like it is being "escorted" by some mob guys.
Best Regards,
John

Love that picture, Colin!

wow, I gotta learn how to find parts like that...impressive! I get overwhelmed knowing where to start, even. (such a newbie)

And I wish there was a pick-n-pull somewhere near Seattle (or anywhere with in a 3-4 hour drive)--is there one that I don't know about? I'd love to go scavenging, and it doesn't really count if you can't see what's on the bus yourself.

lari

Great image! I think they should rename those H-things.

"Contempt" would be my choice.

Colin, I do appreciate everything you helped me with on my two vehicles. I took your advice to heart and this weekend took the 500 mile roundtrip to Yakima, running through those gears at a much higher rpm level than what the ol' bus had been used to. We attended Volksfest 2007 where we had a very good time, thought we had a chance at winning best camper, but were beat by a very nice late 50's camper. (bummer) The bus ran really well getting about 18 mpg and only dropping to third on those really steep hills on highway's 12 and 97.
I know some day you'll come to the "right" way of thinking. Until then we know that you did us a real service and we look forward to your return next year out here where the Army met the Indians and not much happened, but a town name.

Below are pictures of the pictures of the aforementioned vehicles.

pj wrote: we had a chance at winning best camper, but were beat by a very nice late 50's camper. (bummer)

That red photographs beautifully in the shade. Glad it ran well. I miss those good old days in Battle Ground. . . . when it was sunny and warm. . . now it is an icy 60* and cloudyish as I head to Montana. . .
Colin

(ahem. . . front reflectors?? korrect orientation?
. . . .ze VW StockNaziPatrol)