c.1970 VW Van

I got by well enough that Summer without transportation, but I had become accustomed to having my own wheels, and I didn't want to go back to school without a car. Despite all the drama I had with the Citroen, I was still inclined to follow my heart rather than my head when it came to cars. That helps explain why I made an offer on what was essentially a derelict VW van that I had seen by the side of the road. I had long been attracted to the karma of the VW van, and I thought this was my chance to live the lifestyle. In its present state it was basically a hunk of junk, but I knew that old VWs were always reperable. I offered the guy a measly $75, which was half of his $150 asking price. He reluctantly accepted it.

This marked the first time that I bought a car that wasn't in running condition. I had it towed to the local VW dealer. They got the engine running, but then it became apparent that the transmission was no good. I wanted them to fix that as well, but the service manager wouldn't take the job. He told me I would just be throwing good money after bad. His exact words were, "Tuition is going up." It was his way of telling me I could either learn my lesson now, or pay more money and learn it later. I didn't want to hear it. That was basically what the Citroen guy in Buffalo told me about my DS, but that worked out okay.

So I had it towed to a transmission shop (coincidentally the same shop where I first discovered the Dodge Challenger a couple years earlier). They located a rebuilt transmission and put it in. The final bill wound up being easily more than the vehicle was worth. I could now appreciate what the VW service manager had been trying to tell me. I wished I had taken his advice, but it was too late now. I had to pay up.

At least now I could drive it and enjoy the VW van experience. The first thing I discovered was that with the stick shift way up at the front of the vehicle and the transmission way at the back, shifting gears was very much a hit and miss endeavor. Finding 1st gear was like playing pin the tail on the donkey. But before long I got the hang of it. I found that if I aimed the shift lever for a particular point on the dash board (just to the left of the ash tray) that it would slip into 1st more often than not.

The vehicle quickly began to grow on me. Having the front seats mounted on top of the front suspension made for an interesting driving position, especially when going around turns. It was the exact opposite of the MG experience, where the whole vehicle rotated in front of me. Here I was way up front, and the entire rest of the vehicle trailed behind me as we moved through the turn. And having the steering wheel practically horizontal really made me feel like a bus driver. Although the engine was woefully underpowered, the torsion bar suspension was surprisingly nimble. As long as I wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere, I found it to be very fun to drive.

After only about a week of driving, however, the so-called "rebuilt" transmission started popping out of 4th gear. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong, but it quickly became aparent that the transmission was defective. I brought it back to the transmission shop and reported the problem. They test-drove and admitted that the transmission was no good. They said that they would try to locate another one for me, but I told them that I would really prefer a refund. The guy didn't want to go that route, but he reluctantly agreed. I drove off with my money and a bad transmission.

At this point the end of the Summer was fast approaching, and I had to decide what I was going do. I actually considered using a bungee cord to hold the shift lever in 4th gear to get the hour-and-a-half to college. But before it was tiem to leave town, the engine developed a serious warm-start problem. It would crank and crank and crank, and just not want to start. By then I'd had enough. I had to admit that the vehicle just wasn't going to work out. I drove it out to a nearby junk yard that I knew to have a number of VWs lying around. They gave me $100 and I washed my hands of it for good.

By this time I'd only had the vehicle for only a few short weeks. It was the first automotive relationship that I considered to be a failure, but I knew it was a problem with the particular van I bought and not with VW vans in general. I had every intention of owning another one some day.

Previous | Done | Next