Did the studs break off? or did the lugs come loose? I thought about your van today when we got a shipment of tires in today with a few sizes you may be interested in.

Yup, when I got out and saw the rotor I was shocked. All 5 lugs were shorn off. These rotors have the lugs pressed in them when they are purchased so the replacement had the lugs in it.

As soon as we can do this I'm ready, I hate looking at the ripped up fender

First off, Congratulations on the nats award!
Bummer about the accident. I have never seen that happen before. Glad you are okay and only minor damage to the van. And it looks like she will be all fixed up before ya know it.

I had a similar bad experience with an rented RV in 2006. I pulled behind my friend into an small truckstop and didn't saw the big hole in the road. I pushed a little bit to get the street cleared for the traffic, and Bum, I hit with the left rear wheels the hole. The rig moved down and touched the ground just at the corner of the hole, which caused a little dent to the sidewall of the RV. I was lucky, that the mechanic at El Monte calculated the repair-cost at 50 $.

Those potholes suck Goose, btw, love that van of yours. Always wanted to find one in good shape but whenever I do they are too pricey for me right now.

Thanks Galaxy! it was nice to win especially among such a nice group of vans.

Yep, they are pricey over here, too.

Most of the Panelvanagons are worn out, because they where used as workhorse. At that time, as I bought my first Multivan (similar to the weekender in the US) it was really uncommon for private persons to drive such a car. Nothing to compare with the US. Old micro-bus and bus where used as camper (mostly by Hippies), but the Vanagon was to new at that time. And first in 1985, they introduced the Multivan, which was a little bit more than the normal person carrying vanagons, which mostly where used by hotels and so.

My luck with the Highway-Bully was, that the first german owner was a fan of the Truck-scene over here and had an aircooled bus before. He bought the Highway from Belgium back (it was only one year old), repainted it and used it from 1989 until around 2000 only for the truck-shows. Than another owner used it as cargo-van, until I was able to get the Highway in 2003. And with a price of 3,800 € is was pricey for a panel-van, but the overall condition was really good (only minor rust, airbrush on both sides, custom-fit driver compartment and an rebuild engine with low miles on it), so I'm still thinking it was a good deal.

I'm trying to bring it appearance back to the time of the first german owner, and a new silly idea is to make a trip through the US in 2012. But that's pricey, shipping to the US and back will be around 4,000 € plus all the money for driving from Los Angeles via Chiloquin, OR to the 40th nats and than further to the harbour at the east-coast for shipping back-

no prob brian, ill check out my schedule and we'll find a time to get at it.

not to bad glad nothin worse happin..van did look sweet in person!

So, ever since the Nats I had a very bad rattle at idle. Finally figured out that it wasn't a heat shield, or a/c fan, or anything like that but actually the power steering pump. So, went ahead and replaced all of it and did a little painting to clean it up. It's the first pretty parts in the engine bay. It has begun!