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From: inc@fluke.UUCP (Gary Benson)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Front vent windows on a VW Rabbit
Message-ID: <325@tpvax.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Jul-84 13:48:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: tpvax.325
Posted: Tue Jul 24 13:48:35 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Jul-84 06:47:52 EDT
References: <336@nbs-amrf.UUCP>
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Everett, WA
Lines: 66

It seems that Don Libes has just learned "the VW lesson" - I am happy to
report that my only VW in 20 years of car ownership didn't cost me as much
money, but certainly was as expensive in terms of wear and tear on my psyche.

I bought a '61 Beetle in 65, and just about every weekend wound up fixing
the most inane things imaginable: fuse holders, weird little plastic things
under the hood, odometer, you name it -- if it was hard to get to and
required a special tool to fix, it broke on that son-of-a b*tch.

One day, while returning a friend's stereo the day after a party, I was
backing in to the apartment complex. To get close to his apartment, I was
backing very slowly (less than 2 miles per hour, I'd say) between two brick
pillars. There was just the tiniest noise, indicating that I had scraped on
one side. I went forward, readjusted, then successfully backed in. When I
went to look at the scrape, imagine my surprise at seeing the entire rear
wheel well destroyed! It was hanging on by two (of about 13 original) bolts,
and was a total waste!

Well, it wasn't hard to find a replacement (seems v-dubs get junked out
quite a bit). It was the wrong color, but I figured I'd paint it later.
Well, some of the places for the 13 screws were damaged, so I had to drill a
few new holes. For safety's sake, I drilled them as close as possible to the
originals, but you know what? That wasn't safe enough, because as I was
drilling one of them, smoke started coming out of the drill hole! Now what
on EARTH? I asked myself. Smoke kept coming -  I knew it had to be
electrical, but before I got the back seat out and located the correct tool
to disconnect the &*^&*^^% battery, the smoke had stopped. I began
investigating, and discovered that my half-inch variance in drilling
location had permitted me to drill directly into the main cable connecting
the dash and the engine compartment. Well, I spliced all the wires, and
finally completed the completed the sheet-metal job. What originally looked
like about an hour's job turned into half a Saturday.

This is the same car (sic) that turned it's engine into shrapnel exactly
half-way between Denver and Cheyenne, necessitating an expensive, unplanned
for towing job, an expensive, unplanned-for stay while a replacement was
installed, and an abrupt stop to what had been a vacation trip. The
replacement engine worked pretty well for nearly 600 miles, when it nearly
killed me -- seems the accelerator linkage decided to get sticky when I was
in the middle of passing a truck. An oncoming car was going too fast for me
to complete the pass, so I was going to just fade back in behind it, but
that's when the engine stuck wide open!! I was able to free it by reaching
between my legs and jiggling the pedal and linkage, but to this day, I
remember with a LOT of fear how I almost died near Omaha while "My Cup
Runneth Over With Love" played on the radio.

This is the same car that just stopped running one cold winter day in
Wisconsin. When it was towed in, the service station found that the battery
had frozen! Right in the middle of driving! Great place for a battery, isn't
it? Under the back seat, where it is guaranteed to never receive any heat!
(What little there was in that model -- and I had the optional heater
addition!)

For shlokky design, weird materials choices, difficult servicing, and 
all-around pain-in-the-assitude, I nominate the VW. Your experience with the
window just tells me they haven't changed a bit, and confirms my resolve not
only to not recommend VW to anyone, but also to relate my experiences
whenever the topic comes up. I will never own another of their products.

Give me a Toyota any day -- I'll pay for quality!!



-- 
Gary Benson		{ihnp4!uw-beaver}{sb1!allegra}{ssc-vax} 
John Fluke Mfg. Co.	{decvax!microsoft}{ucbvax!lbl-csam}{sun}  !fluke!inc
Everett, WA, 98206 USA     *- ALL INPUTS GLADLY MULTIPLEXED -*