UTMC

This is my oddest story about purchasing a vehicle. And it just happened this week.

I bought a Vanagon from my Dad and he STILL doesn't know he sold it to me.

He's not senile (yet). Here's how it worked.

Okay, my Dad has had this 1982 gold and brown VW Vanagon since back when I was in college in 1984. I had the best road trip of my life in it in the summer of 1989. Everytime I would tell him to sell it to me when he wanted to get rid of it, (cause he drives cars about to death before he disposes of them) he would always bitch and moan about how everything was SO expensive to get fixed on a VW.

Now it was getting up in years, it had some cosmetic rust, both rear quarter panels were dented, and it liked to pop out of first gear when he drove it. But I still wanted it, badly. At least the interior is about perfect for having 170K on it.

Two weeks ago he said that the brakes had gone out and he had to drive it to the repair shop using just the E-brake to stop it. The next thing I know, my Dad told the mechanic to junk the faithful VW he has owned for 21 years, just because he got a $820 estimate to completely redo the entire brake system.

*Panic* *Grief* *Despair* Time for action!!

I called his mechanic the next day. Found out what scrapyard it was at, and planned to just get the bench seat out of it for a souvenir. Called the scrapyard to see if they still had it in one piece. He said that I could have the bench seat for nothing. Okay great. But it was NOT enough. How could I abandon such a faithful vehicle? The more I thought more about it, maybe I could buy and somehow salvage the poor beast, if the title wasn't screwed up by that time. I called them later the same morning and they said it was parked to one side and the title was still in my Dad's name. I could buy the whole nine yards for $400. Ouch, thaks Dad.

After I drive almost an hour to get there, I find out that it had been in the line for the crusher, but one of the yard guys said it ran so well, that the manager decided to part it out in the yard. So I bought it, even though the name of the mechanic was scrawled on the title diagonally over several parts (not offically transferred, but if I was going to have to have Dad get new duplicate title because of the slight defacement, well, there goes the whole shootin' match). Had AAA tow it about 50 miles to Midas. Midas gave me a $2400 estimate to not rebuild, but replace everything from about nothing on the ENTIRE baking system. Uhh, I don't think so.

The next morning the title transfer {sweat,sweat,sweat} went REAL smooth, I didn't show them the receipt from the yard, just the title. So NOW it's legal adn temp-tagged.

Surprisingly, from one of the Midas dudes, I got a lead on a guy who has his own shop in NE Dayton, on oak-something street, who lives, eats, and breathes VW's. I call him up and he says for $2400, he'll fix the brakes and follow me around forever to catch any parts that fall off. I further abuse the good graces of my AAA Plus RV membership and have AAA schlep the van there, again for nada from my pockets. Tow #2. I follow the wrecker up there and meet the owner, Norm. Seems a like straight-up guy. Shop is clean, I see a purple Manx style buggy with XKE Lucas tailights, a original bug, burgundy with aftermarket wheels, and assorted other VW paraphenalia scattered about what seems to be a very recently built 4-bay garage. High chain and barbed-wire fence around his lot and about 20-odd VW of various persuaions.
Norm's upfront about what the total value of the bus would be , even if I get all the repairs (estimate pending) plus the bodywork done at a nearby bodyshop up there, 'book value' is only gonna be around $3000. That's not important to me, because hey--I'm on a mission. He can't get to the brake estimate for about a week-10 days, which is fine with me. That place just felt RIGHT.

I can't wait until I get that little u-boat roadworthy and later get the body fixed back up. When we pull into my folk's driveway, Dad's going to about stroke out when he sees it. The junkyard made $400 off of me and to boot, never had it legally in their name because they didn't put it in the yard's name. Can you say title jumping? And I'm out $400 just because Dad refused to sell it to me. The best part is that the title was still in Dad's name and notarized...he sold it to me without ever knowing it!
Dad came up today for my youngest daughter's 4th birthday party, and I had to give him a little grief over not selling it to me. He won't know we've bought it until it's in his driveway, or until we buy a house and he sees it in the garage.

If anyone knows any good Vanagon or VW forums, please share them. Thanks!

I'm a barnstormer, so I get lots of opportunity for adventure. Here's a few highlights of a 30 year career buying stuff from barns and garages.


Podunk South Carolina: A retired motorcycle officer has his former service mount and 2 others. All Guzzi eldo's with cop gear! His girfriend thought that it would be cool to get a Vietnamese pot bellied pig and keep it in the barn because it was soooooo cute and tiny! That was 4 years before I showed up to buy the barnfull of Guzzi's and the velorex sidecar the pig had made its home. Like most animals, the don't stay tiny for long. This fucking thing was 200 lbs minimum and meaner than hell! Complete with tusks! The only thing that saved my ass was it had 4 inch legs and was so fat it couldn't run very fast! $20 at the car wash couldn't get the smell out of the sidecar!

Deliverance, Georgia: I drive forever to a barn near Dahlonega GA not far from the TWO campground. In it was supposedly a couple of britbikes and a Laverda. There were a couple of tatty old 250 BSA's and a 360 Honda. But the guy with the eyepatch that owned this shed had an interesting collection of preserved animal (I think) parts in glass bottles completely lining the wall on one side! Too creepy! He went around back to pee and I hauled ass outa there!

Denver, CO: I'm living in an apt around Yosemite and Hampden. I get a phone call at work from the phone co saying they've fixed the problem with my phone and would I like to buy a bike just like the one on the poster in my dining room? I then realize they are IN my dining room and the poster is of a rare Ducati mark 3 250 single! I bought the bike that afternoon. There was never anything wrong with my phone.

Hollywood SC: A 90 year old guy who used to own a big Triumph Norton BSA dealer had hired an asshole from New York to liquidate most of the goodies on Ebay. This NY guy was coked to the point of paranoia! My friend Mike and I make the trip down there and we introduce ourselves. Coke boy then tells us we can look around the building and yard. There was some mildly interesting stuff but most of the bikes had been rotting in the swampy field for 30 years. We go back in to say thanks but no thanks and cokey pulls a shotgun on us. He's screaming that we've been ripping him off and he's gonna kill us. He then marches us back to my truck and tells us to unload everything out of the bed, which was clearly empty. He then tells us to start cleaning out the other trucks in the parking lot, including the one with the cops in it. He's shackled and hauled off.


This is just the tip of the wierdness! I wonder if could publish this stuff? I've easily got enough for a book.

CLANG ! HONK! TWEET! That's gotta be from the Fablous Furry Freak Brothers, right??

I sold my Yamaha XS650 to an interesting fellow. He lucked out because the bike quit starting the day that the Trading Post ad broke. He got it for $100. Turns out that he delivered appliances for a living. He also showed me his artificial leg! I gues that he had adapted pretty well to it.

A few years later I was selling a '74 GMC beater van and the same guy called me up. My phone number had changed so he didn't recognize it. Wanted to trade me an XS650 for it. He got a little flustered when I i.d.'ed him. I didn't trade...