Pre-conversion thoughts

Life off the road has plenty of perks, but lately I find myself considering the value of having a flush toilet and hot running water available during the mornings and even through the nights. I consider the value of the warmth that living in a home provides. I even find myself acknowledging the stream of income that provides not only for the basic needs of food and shelter, but also the upgrades and repairs.
During the winter days, while touring the local towns,  delivering heating oil, the very liquid that leads to the warmth and comfort for the homes in the area, I find myself staring out the windows. Sometimes I stare blankly, other times, day dreams fill my mind. In the years past I was able to visualize touring the country. I could see myself behind the wheel and exploring our nation's parks and visiting with my friends. This year however, these dreams are not quite as vivid. They are stifled by the worry of funds and the factor of time.
You see, Wilson is about to undergo a major overhaul. As these words are written, two thousand miles away, a Subaru engine is being rebuilt and readied for transplantation. The Legacy's 5 speed transmission will soon undergo a transformation as well. Subarugears will be installed in the transmission allowing for the final drive to spin in the opposite direction. (This is important because a Subaru has its engine in the front and a Volkswagen has its engine in the back, so when installing both a subaru engine and its transmission in the rear of your van you would end up having 5 gears to go backwards and one to creep forward.) In the shop where the conversion will take place there is also a pile of parts from Rocky Mountain Westy, waiting patiently for our arrival.
All of this is exciting, but there is also a different nervousness and an anxiousness that I haven't had in the past few years. Why am I so worried? Well, the conversion, will take time and patience. I am optimistic that we will tackle the project with all the gumption we can muster, but I also know that the wheels of a project of this magnitude will have to turn slowly and steadily. (Slow and steady is something that I learned as a Vanagon owner for sure.) We must also anticipate that there will be a few hangups even though we are offered telephone support and a how to guide that is provided by the conversion parts supplier. Having thumbed through the booklet a few times but not studying in depth, it seems to be rather straight forward. YouTube has also proven to be another great resource and we have watched several videos on the subject. Since I find learning for me has always been audio-visual, I actually think it's one of the best resources out there.
So, what is my point? Well, I am focused on the process now more so than the result. As the winter makes way for spring I do find myself day dreaming of the time that will be spent behind the wheel. On my way south, I'll be cruising in the slow lane as in years past. The music will be playing and large trucks will drive by my open driver's side window, drowning out the sweet melodies as they do. I'll be smelling the roses and enjoying the moments as they come. Each passing truck might be the last one that passes us while we don't have much choice. When I'm creeping along up the big mountain passes in 3rd gear doing 45, I'm going to savor each climb. There is a joy that comes with the territory, ownership has it's privileges for sure. Have I enjoyed the slow lane? Of course I have! Will I continue to drive in it as I traverse this great land? Of course I will. But knowing I can climb these mountains and keep up with traffic is going to be a game changer. Knowing we can head West to where the speed limit is posted as 80 and not fear for our lives in the Texas panhandle where big rigs will pass you on the shoulder if you're​ in their way, will ease my mind some. Do I prefer the blue roads? Of course I do. Do I enjoy cruising along the blue ridge parkway at 45? Absolutely! Will I continue to do so? Of course. The conversion isn't intended to change my driving style, it's intended to make our travels both safer and more suited to today's highways when taking them is appropriate. I remain in optimism. Vanagon ownership is a labor of love, and I love it. See you on the other side!!

Name this, a blog

I have always named my vehicles. I've even named my bicycle and my backpack. When you spend enough time with your objects, they can end up developing a persona. 

Incidentally, my very first car had a name when I got it. My uncle told me that if I replaced the broken water pump on his old 1984 Nissan Maxima wagon, I could have it. So, I grabbed some tools, bought a new pump and belts and went to his house. The next day, I brought Charlotte, the passion wagon home. After a few weeks of ownership Charlotte was the lucky recipiemt of an incredible makeover. A friend who was repainting his Rx7 had a little extra paint and it didn't take long to convince me to spray some paint on the hood. In retrospect, I actually gave it very little thought at all before we decided to add some character to the passion wagon. A few pieces of masking tape and some newspaper were used to add a giant peace sign to the hood.

Charlotte in her hay day. Look closely and see 69 on the hood.

When Charlotte died, so it goes, a friend in my college dorm sold me his 1982 Chevrolet Caprice. It was huge and the springs were worn. It bounced and swayed as it rolled down the roads. I called it, The Hoopty.

The Hoopty served me well in spite of the broken door handles and leaking gas tank, but its tenure was short lived. After taking a group of folks to see my favorite touring band Phish at the Clifford Ball in 1996 (an epic 2 day festival) and to my first real job, I traded up for a 4 door Oldsmobile. It was a 1984 Delta 88 and my stewardship of this vehicle was also short lived, but we journeyed together to the Great Went. (Another 2 Day Phish festival) Her name was The Great One because she "Went" and I love hockey. Gretzky's number was 99, she was an 88. 

The Great One at the Great Went

It didn't take long for me grow tired of the poor gas mileage associated with V8 engines so, I sold the Great One to a friend for a few hundred bucks and bought a 1982 AMC Spirit. It looked like a Gremlin (the car not the creature) but because of that, I named it Gizmo.  I drove it for about a year before the timing gears blew up and I had to buy another car.So it goes.

Gizmo - look close and you'll see the same 69 again here.

I bought a 1987 Acura Integra. It was Grey and had a manual transmission. It was my first Japanese car so I named it Mr. Miyagi. Bonsai!!!

When the frame rotted out from the harsh NY winters and all the salt on the roads I bought another Integra because I enjoyed the sports car feel and the gas mileage of the 4 cylinder engine. This one was my first white car and since it handled terribly in the snow due to the wide tires it came with, I called it Frosty.

I sold Frosty privately and took the money to purchase my next car. I bought it from a used car dealer in queens. 

Since my winter experience with Frosty was terrible, I was determined to have a good all season vehicle so I bought my first Subaru. It was from the model year 95 and had a broken windshield. The rear hatch had a label that read AWD so I thought I had negotiated a good deal when I paid the salesman just over 2 grand. He had tried to sell me a second parts car to accompany my purchase but I declined. It wasn't until I got home with the vehicle that I actually looked under the car to find out that it had been in an accident and the rear hatch was from the parts car that I didn't buy. This maroon Legacy was only FWD. I named it Thrust after the Decepticon of the same color. 

Suzy in beast mode

Thrust proved to be old reliable and was actually much better in winter conditions than I had expected. I wouldn't have traded up for another car had I not been divorced. I felt that if I were to be back on the "market" I would do better had I a nicer vehicle with lower mileage. Thrust had survived another rear end accident under my ownership and the odometer read 256,735 when I traded it in for a 1996 Legacy Outback wagon with just over 150k on the clock and a new set of head gaskets. 

Suzy handling the terrain

I named the green wagon after one of Phish's songs Suzy Greenberg because she seemed to "walk the streets like she's the queen of the town" and of course she was green. Suzy currently has over 265,000 miles on her and has served as my home away from home. (I actually lived in her for a while after my divorce) She has been off roading, on several long distance adventures along the east coast and has been one of my favorite cars. 

 

When I left to hike the Appalachian Trail, I left Suzy behind and started carrying this big green Gregory Forester pack on my back. The bag holds 77 liters of gear and weighs almost 4 pounds when its empty. I walked over 2000 miles with that monkey on my back. I named him Clyde after the orangutan in the Clint Eastwood film "Any Which Way But Loose." 

My bicycle I purchased for a fair price from a friend after her husband had passed. It has been a trusty steed to me so I figured it needed a good trustworthy horse name. I called it Chastity's Buckle because what good is a Chastity Belt if it doesn't have a sturdy buckle? 

Chaz for short, relaxing in Maine

Lastly, as you know I purchased a 1984 Volkswagen Vanagon in March of 2014. I had dreamt of owning the van for so long and worked hard to earn the necessary funds. I actually named him before I even found him. His sister Suzy and I were driving around and the song Wilson by Phish came on the radio. A lightbulb went off on my head and I saw Tom Hanks and his volleyball companion living on their remote island as the song played. I knew the van was going to be my adventure buddy for many years to come. It had to be... Wilson! 

Wilson enjoying the sunshine off the Blue Ridge Pkwy near Asheville NC

What names have you given to your vehicles? And Why? Please share in the comments section below. 

 

Welcome Home

Meet Wilson

Many moons ago, in the time after I arrived home from an epic adventure on the Appalachian Trail, I yearned for only one thing... more adventure. I had conceived of the idea that having an adventure-mobile would be a step in the right direction, but I had little money, no job, and I had no idea what I was going to do about any of the challenges that lay before me. I was not out on the streets, I was not hungry, and I had a goal. Make enough money to buy the most epic adventure-mobile I had ever seen... a Volkswagen Vanagon. Not just any Vanagon either... a Westfalia camper conversion! 

Eventually fate led me to a job, which led me to another, and finally I was in a position to start saving some money. I spent hours reading posts on internet forums, and I spent months looking for a van that would suit my needs. I learned from the forums that a person shouldn't buy a Vanagon from someone who didn't own and love the van. I learned that it was not wise to use PayPal for the purchase, and I learned not to buy a van off of eBay. The posts that I read said that I shouldn't buy a van that I didn't personally inspect and that I shouldn't pay to have it shipped unless I was able to oversee the initial loading of the truck, because shipping a Vanagon could cause damage to the van while it was in transit if it is loaded improperly. I tried to follow these rules. I really did. I tried to find a van that was local to me in the great state of New York. The main problem I had with local (within a 300 mile radius) was that the vans had seen the winter conditions and the road salt of the northeast, so rust was an issue.    

I did find a really nice blue air-cooled van one day while I was riding my bicycle across NY during the summer of 2013. It was up in the Catskill mountains on the side of the road with a "For Sale" sign in the window. I took down the phone number, looked over the van while I was there and I was actually impressed with it. It had under 100,000 miles on the odometer. The paint was in good condition, there weren't any major dents or scratches, and the little sign on the window stated that it passed NY state inspection and also had an under-the-seat gas heater. The sticker price was a firm $8,000. It was a little over my budget, but maybe I could borrow some money if I had to. The real kicker for me was that it was air-cooled. The way I saw this project was that I wanted to convert the van to a Subaru engine, and the conversion from air-cooled to water-cooled on top of converting from a Volkswagen to a Subaru power plant would really just be extra work. I just felt unsure about it. I called the owner anyway and discussed the van at length with him. He was a very nice man and he did love his van. He actually felt that if he sold it he would like the new owner to keep it original. I didn't think I would be able to do that and eventually, I told him that if I came up with the money I would give him a call back, but at the time I had only $3,000 saved.  

Fast forward to January of 2014. I was eagerly searching... maybe almost frantically searching for a road-worthy Vanagon on the internet with the intent on paying between 5 and 7 thousand dollars. I searched on thesamba.com and I checked Craigslist postings and even looked at eBay a few times but always came up short. The clock was ticking. If I was going to have a road-ready Vanagon by May, when my seasonal job let me out, I would need it soon if I was going to have enough time to go through it and repair any of the systems or parts that required attention.  

Then one day it happened. I saw a beautiful looking cream colored van that was relatively rust free for sale out in Utah for sale on eBay. It was an 1984 water-cooled Westy. The sticker price was $5,995. I called the gentleman and was a little impatient when I talked with him. I was very excited and didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. The man was very nice and sent me more photos of the van and he even went to the van and started "it" so I could hear "it" run. I mean, just because a fella says he is starting the van doesn't make it so. Anyway, I asked if there were other people who had bought vehicles from him in the past that I could maybe talk to about their experience to make sure that I wasn't going to send my money to a man on the internet for a vehicle that I had no way of inspecting, and trust that this man would send me the title and eventually ship me the van.  

The man sent me some contact information for a man who he had sold a Porsche 914 to. I played phone tag with the buyer for about a week before we actually connected. He sent me a few photos of his Porsche and told me that the seller had actually put him up for the night when he went out to Utah to inspect the car and to load it onto a truck for shipping it home to Colorado. His story checked out, so I figured that I would give the fella from Utah a call back and send him some money. I was very excited! When I called him, he told me that he regretted to inform me that he had already sold the van to a buyer in Texas. Shit! 

I spent a few weeks in despair but continued the search. Then one evening, after I got home from work, my phone rang. It was the seller from Utah. Initially I thought that maybe the deal he made with Texas had fell through, but he told me that it went well. However, he did notice another van that was similar to the one he sold was for sale on eBay out of Colorado. The only difference was that the van he saw had air conditioning and the one he sold did not. I thanked him for the lead and checked out the ad.  

When I called the seller in Colorado, he said a few things that I didn't want to hear. The title was not in his name. He bought it from an Estate Sale - he had a very salesman-like attitude. I asked if he could send me photos and videos and if he could send me a photo of the title. He did all of those things. Then I asked my friends on the internet if anyone lived in Colorado Springs who might be able to do me a favor and check out a Vanagon that I was interested in buying.  

A man that I had met on the Appalachian Trail responded and said that he could check it out for me. I didn't know him very well, but figured that if the seller was willing to meet a local fella to show the vehicle, then it might not be too shady of a deal. He obliged my requests, but something still didn't sit exactly right with me. I was kind of nervous to wire $6,000 of my hard-earned cash to a man I will never meet, and hope that the van would get loaded on a shipping truck and the title would be quickly mailed to me.  

I decided that I would use PayPal in order to add a layer of some kind of protection for myself. I'm not 100% sure it would have helped much after hearing bad stories from other PayPal users but it helped me sleep a little better. The seller said that if I was going to use PayPal he was going to ask that I pay more to cover some of the fees associated with its use. I agreed to send $6,200 in exchange for a title.  

Then I looked into shipping. I tried U ship and I also searched the internet for shipping companies and got a few quotes. Eventually I found a shipping company based out of Colorado. They told me they could get the van on one of their open transport trucks sometime during the next week. They asked me to pay about $1000 and would accept cash on delivery. I had to fill out some paper work for them and fax it over to their office, and they asked for pick-up and delivery addresses and contact information for the person or persons who would be at either place. Everything was falling into place.  

Later that week, while I was at work, my phone rang. The shipping company was trying to pick up the van, but there was no answer at the pick-up location and the shipper wasn't answering his phone. I was talking with the dispatcher of the shipping company when he asked who was supposed to ship the van. I told him the fellas name and he said, "That guy owes us money." My heart skipped a beat. I wasn't sure what they were insinuating, but I was suddenly very nervous. The next 20 minutes lasted a lifetime. I had a vision of a man dressed in a short sleeved dress shirt and a crooked tie carrying a briefcase full of my money and driving down the road in "my" van. I tried calling the seller and there was no answer. I tried again... no answer. Finally, the seller answered, loaded the van on the truck and it was on its way to me! SIGH! Whew... that was close.  

When the van arrived I couldn't contain my joy. The driver pulled the van up the driveway, I payed him and I helped him back his truck up so he could get headed back in the right direction. I wasn't sure how well the van would ride. I had never driven one before. It didn't have any plates on it. The roads were covered in salt and snow and slush, the exhaust was broken, but I didn't care. I sat in the drivers seat with a giant smile on my face. My family watched as I turned the key. It fired right up. I found reverse and away I went. Up the street and back, then up another street and back again. It was incredibly fun to drive. It was loud, it was dented a little, there were pieces missing and broken, there were a few places where the clear coat was peeling, but it was mine! I was in love.  

I pulled back up the driveway. Everyone was outside cheering. There were a few people who wanted to go for a ride, but it was dark, I didn't know anything about the fluids, the condition of the brakes, the condition of the tires or pretty much anything at all in the grand scheme of things. Common sense told me to park the van, so I did. Inside there was an ice cream cake on the kitchen counter, waiting to be eaten. 

Home!!

Love him, dents and all. 
 

The next day he was sitting outside in the driveway. He was happy to be here.  Look at that smile!   


Sometimes you can do things pretty much all wrong, and it still turns out just right!