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Detroit, 4:38 AM
Sat Nov 7
21 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/06/09
[www.vw.co.za] #vwgolf
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Original owner was paid $2500 on a 10-year-old bus. Okay, not bad when you consider depreciation. We don't know what kind of shape it was in when stolen, but probably not fabulous - it was stolen from a repair shop after all. But dang - the restorer is getting it in the shorts. It sucks that he's getting screwed mightily on a vehicle that's been twisting in the wind since the 70s. You'd think they'd have caught up to it by now - I mean, c'mon. How many times has it been registered? How many times has it been sold? If it hadn't been for the brighter spotlight of getting tagged by DHS, Allstate might never have heard about it, and still wouldn't care.
Allstate has the opportunity to make an absolute PR bonanza out of this, but I'm betting they're going to go for the money instead. #vwbus
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I mean, they are able to determine now, 35 years after the fact, that it's the vehicle that got stolen from thus-and-such and Allstate paid out on it. So we know there's a record trail on this thing that is still cohesive from one end to the other. But nobody's antenna has gone up in all the time since then? Nobody's?
The current owner is responsible for the soundness of the title, but if the report he gets back doesn't have any flags - or he doesn't do a title search - it's still assumed that he's made the necessary investigations. It's a risk you take, placing faith in the previous owner that the provenance is legit. Allstate is getting a helluva deal on this, and has a lot of room to generate some warm fuzzies. #vwbus
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EDIT: I confess to a huge amount of ignorance as to how these systems interconnect, as well, but is it necessarily the case that a VIN that had been reported stolen and was still in police databases would have been flagged...where? At the DMV? How does one even go about validating a VIN? Is there a national-level database that used-car purchasers can search? I mean, there's clearly one that ICE has access to, but is it publicly available/interconnected with all state systems?
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The VIN was only introduced in 1981. #vwbus
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Lookit that! For the past at least 15 years, you've been able to see moon surface-style orange peel at this distance...OEM, no less.
I know it's restored, but still. #vwbus
11/06/09
Just saw a great Dutch movie, 'Eldorado', about a guy who imports big American iron to Yurp, and a road trip he makes. If you can handle a brief, gratuitous full frontal old Alain Delon... #vwbus
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What sells for $10K here is worth half again as much there. #vwbus
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You obviously have never seen the British Car Show Wheeler Dealers where some fat f*** named Mike Brewer buys up near-classic cars and hands it over the Edd China to fix and restore to sell on for a crackin' profit.
In the VW Bus episode, before he was forced to get a 80's VW Van and turn it into a campervan, he lamented at the fact that unrestored rustbucket examples easily tipped the meter at 4,000 pounds. #vwbus
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Small, light, roomy as hell, and ultra simple. The diesel version, while painfully slow and loud, came with its own built-in smokescreen capability and got like 50 MPG. Plus, it needed no anti-theft system. Who'd bother...and you'd be able to catch 'em on foot.
Nowadays, 2,000 lbs. is just the add-on crap in a small car.
"But where are my 43 air bags and my dual 9" DVD monitors?"
Sigh. #vwgolf
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I hope the last ones are all GTi-s #vwgolf
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I wonder what the differences are between these and the ones that rolled out of the factory in PA back in the day. (aside from the whole steering wheel thing) #vwgolf
11/06/09
@Tiberiuswise: Notice how the grille is slightly leaned back from vertical on the pictured car, like on the Mark II Golf. All original Mk. I Golfs/Rabbits had strictly vertical grilles. The US-made version got rectangular headlights, wraparound front signal lights, wide taillights, and an interior that was color-coordinated to hell and back. #vwgolf
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Also, the wheels look pushed out a little on the black one in the post. I'm tempted to think some suspension and other engineering refinements were made. #vwgolf
11/06/09
@Tiberiuswise: I'm sure that there were some minor engineering changes for US production. Also, the wraparound turn signals and wide taillights were only on the 1981 and later cars. The '79-'80 Rabbits had more Euro-like front end and rear lights, though still with rectangular headlights. #vwgolf
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