Again with the rain. ‘Tis a fine soft day so, as my people across the water might say. This filthy weather (and the English) is why the smart Micks risked the long coffin-ship trip to America. How much worse could it be? they thought. At least they got a chance to dry out a bit before they croaked. Well, their clothes did, anyway.
What a guy wants on a day like this is a road trip, and wouldn’t you know that the Germans have been hiding my dream vehicle from me. Dan Neil, the only reason I can think of for reading the Los Angeles Times, drove the 2010 VW California during a recent visit to the Black Forest, and the only news more depressing than the price of the updated Westfalia camper (upwards of $50K) is its availability (not in California or anywhere else on this side of the Big Ditch).
Writes Neil:
Did you go to Humboldt State? Did you vote for McGovern twice (once as a write-in candidate)? Did you stop following the Grateful Dead because they became too corporate? Brace yourself. This is the Westy of your dreams: a state-of-the-art camper van with a gas stove, running water, an electrically deployed pop top, a fold-down double bed, rotating front captain’s chairs and a staggering number of reading lights, climate outlets, cabinets, storage bins and convenience features, and all of it executed with the kind of aerospace precision one might associate with Piaggio corporate jets.
For a guy who on the road used to nap under a leaky topper in an ’83 Toyota truck and today drives a Subaru Forester only rarely, this is the Holy Swiss Army Grail of multipurpose vehicles. Small and fuel-efficient enough for a daily driver, capacious enough to live in for short stretches when one’s hometown weather can no longer be borne, the VW California would be my Rocinante — if only its diesel engine met U.S. emissions standards.
Well, there’s Herself to consider, too. I proposed the purchase of an iPhone today and I’m still picking pieces of my piece-of-shit Samsung cell phone out of my left ear.
Mad Blog Media 
You had it backwards Patrick. Lead with the car, then settle for the iPhone.
Patrick,
I would like an iPhone. I use a Palm Treo 755p for work. It’s good, but I’ve seen the iPhones that my friends have. The iPhones are just so far beyond any other phone I’ve seen. Totally amazing.
If I were still a bike racer, that van would be freaking awesome. I would probably sell all my shit and live out of my van. Just go from race to race. Second thought, I’d take up surfing. I’d still live out of the van, but I’d surf instead of bike race. Now if they just make the iPhone waterproof.
Total change of subject, our fair governor just vetoed a bill that would require vehicle operators to leave a three-foot gap between themselves and any vulnerable people (cyclists, joggers, etc…) when passing. He said we already had enough laws on the books to protect cyclists. Really?
Yep, Dan Neil is the best thing the LATimes has to offer. I used to like Steve Lopez, but then he went all Hollywood on us.
Does today’s Nevada City race reek of a set-up, or what?
I think you’re wasting your time on the door for the basement shitter. My experience was that the cats got within five feet, took a whiff, turned tail and left me alone. If you’ve got a fragrant dump going on, who needs a door to keep visitors at bay???
I have a feeling that driving off the lot in your new Westy would be the last truly enjoyable trip you’d have in it. After the initial euphoria wore off, the discovery of each new feature, and its associated price tage, would only serve as a reminder of how much fun you used to have in the one you got for, say, $800 with 150,000 miles on it.
I never owned a micro-bus but have taken many a memorable trip in one. The coldest I’ve been in my life was on a trip home for the holidays back in college, from NYC to Baltimore. I should have clued in when the driver showed up in an outfit you usually only see on the Lambert Field grounds crew, complete with bunny boots and ski goggles. I’m pretty damn sure the bus we were in didn’t have a windshield, and despite a max speed of around 54 mph, by the time we hit New Jersey I was already buried deep in the bag, wrapped up in the remnants of carpeting that I have ripped up from the floor. If my buddy could have juiced just two more mph out of that mobile walk-in freezer, I would have started a fire back there.
The van is pretty nice, but here’s how the thought process went when we tried to justify a westphalica:
1. we’ve got a tent and stove so we can get the van w/o the pop-up option.
2. we’ve both had VW’s and got tired of fixing them, so we can camp out of a better van.
3. the tent and stove fit in the car so we can do without the van part too.
Wake up, people! The Auto Age is over: $67 per barrel of oil in the midst of an economic meltdown. Lusting after a diesel-powered $50K weekend toy is soooo 2006 …
I think Bret Wade’s advice is very astute for today’s times!
My bride still craves an R/V. I crave paying off the rest of the mortgage.
Man, oh man, the reading comprehension of some people:
“if only its diesel engine met U.S. emissions standards.”
To summarize: Pat’s wanton lust for something he can’t get on this side of the “Big Ditch” is sort of like wanting an iFone…when you have a perfectly usable POS cell phone anyway. That would be: nearly impossible to get.
But if you know the ‘right people’ I’m sure you could be driving one with a fry grease burner for an engine. But that’s just speculation on my part….just like Patrick’s.