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Van Cafe News
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AND THE RAFFLE WINNERS ARE..........
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Tough to say who was luckier - Karen or the caribou. The caribou because Karen stopped in time or Karen because she got a great picture. But then again, it is a toss up to call who would have come out the worse for wear had they collided. Time to check the following list and see how lucky you are?
$100 STORE CREDIT TO THE FOLLOWING 10 LUCKY WINNERS:
**DOUGLAS MOORE - FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS
**MATTHEW ZELEZEN - TELLURIDE, COLORADO
**YUSUKE SUZUKI - LODI, CALIFORNIA
**HIRAM MCDANIELS - LAWRENCEVILLE, GEORGIA
**CHRISTIAN PELLETIER - BERTHIER-SUR-MER, QUEBEC
**LARRY JORGE - FREMONT, CALIFORNIA
**CHRIS CORKINS - ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
**DON CUDSWORTH - SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA
**HIROMU BABASAKI - OHNOJO CITY, JAPAN
**GREG BAXTER - LANGLEY, BRITISH COLUMBIA
AND THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER $500 STORE CREDIT IS:
****STEVE DULTMEIER - BIG OAK FLAT, CALIFORNIA
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JANUARY SPECIAL
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A number of years back, my friend and customer, Kennan Ward told me that his second place dream job was to run a VW shop. As a naturalist, a photographer, a foremost authority on all things wild in Alaska, and a successful business owner with his wife Karen, I would say he has my first place dream job. Now that's not to say that running a VW shop does not come with its glory and rewards, but I opted not to burst his bubble and let him know that he might not find the same rush afforded by his current occupation. Karen and Kennan rely on their trusty Vanagon to reach far corners of the Alaskan wilderness and we certainly don't take our responsibility lightly to keep their ride running, reliable and well stocked with spare parts. I look forward to living vicariously through their experiences - hearing their stories and seeing new pictures each year when they return to the Santa Cruz home base each winter. Of course, each year we generally have the obligatory frantic call on the satellite phone to troubleshoot some typical Vanagon running malady, but we've always kept it rolling . In addition to this month's specials, we want to share some of Kennan and Karen's work with some of our customers. The first 100 customers with orders over $100 this month will receive the awesome calendar pictured here and all of our customers with orders over $40 will receive a glove box note book with one of their pictures on the front for travel notes, car notes, sketches and doodling. We hope that you get as much enjoyment out of their work as we do.
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Oh yeah - the monthly specials. No theme to this months specials - just scanned the site and came up with the following random sample of specials. If you are lucky, your Vanagon won't need anything this month, but if it should, hopefully, it is on the list and will lessen the pain. Of course, you may have preventative maintenance genes in your DNA, so this might be a good time to upgrade a few normal wear and tear items.
**Bilstein shocks $75.00 each (regular price $84.95)
**Clutch master and slave cylinders $45.00 each (regular price $54.95)
**Bosch fuel pump $190.00 (regular price $214.50)
**Bosch rebuilt alternator $100 (regular price $115.00)
**Bosch starter SR401X $130 (regular price $145.00)
**Water pumps $55.00 (regular price $68.50)
**Stainless Steel Coolant pipes 86-91 2wd or 4wd $325.00 (regular price 345.00)
**Radiators $155.00 (regular price $165.00)
**Catalytic Converters $135.00 (regular price $145.00)
As always, we thank you for your continued business and support. We will continue to do our best to earn your business.
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VANAGON RUNNING ISSUES - SOME SUGGESTIONS
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We just want to highlight the fact that we have a number of resources on the site to help you maintain your van. You can view a variety of articles, tech tips, and various links under our "Resources" section listed on the top of the home page. We tend to get many people referencing the "running issues" article so we thought that we would highlight it here. Whether you are experiencing rough running issues or poor fuel economy, we hope that the article will offer you a step by step method to troubleshoot the problem and identify the culprit. Here is a link to the article Vanagon Running Problems
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IT'S ALIVE!! BUT WHY A NEW WEBSITE?
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Why change the website? Frankly, I hate change. I am a creature of habit. I'd rather wear old comfortable shoes, drive an old car, and use old technology. The old site has served us well for 6 years, but we can't ignore the fact that there have been many advances in website design over that period of time. Although familiar, the old site had a tired look and we are enjoying the new modern look (even if it is retro). The old site had become plagued with sporadic glitches in the shopping cart, so we are glad those will be gone. And the new site has simpler and quicker procedures for us to add and link products and content, allowing us to keep it fresher. From the customer's vantage, we have virtually all of the same products and info on the site - it has just been moved around. The only major change is our grouping vehicles into ranges of years and models as opposed to indexing them by individual years. We hope that you will find the new site to your liking and will give it a try. We have done our best to proofread the site and make sure that all parts are linked to their correct categories, but we realize there may be some overlooked, incorrect or missing links. We welcome you to email us with any errors that you may come across so that we can properly fix them.
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