It doesn’t matter what two digits have defined my age in adulthood. Certain things and scenarios will often put me in a mental and/or emotional state similar to when I first encountered such stimuli. Part of the beauty of having three siblings in three different states is that when the holidays roll around, I also get to take a mini vacation away from Chicago. (The only downside to this is paying for airfare, which I consider a relatively small price to pay to see everyone.) I pinch myself from time-to-time (and perhaps I should do so more often) that I live in as incredible a metropolis as the Second City, but sometimes a little break from Cook County, Illinois is all that’s needed to return with even more appreciation for the place I call home. Many of us have been in a situation where having spent too much time, unbroken, with a loved one or in the same place can be remedied only by a temporary hiatus.
Thanksgiving has normally been when I get to visit my older brother and his family on the East Coast. What’s interesting is that my three siblings ended up with families I wish I had experienced while we were growing up, with warmth, laughter, humor, and sense of fun that was sorely lacking in our house when I was a kid. Perhaps my siblings had all felt the same way and made their own “corrections” to their own families based on this and as they saw fit. Regardless, I’m usually in my happy place when I go to visit any of them.
My older brother’s teenagers seem uncharacteristically aware and appreciative of all things ’80s, which has often left me dumbfounded in the best way. Last fall, I wondered what firsthand experience my hip, handsome nephew could have had with the music of Donna Summer, outside of my brother’s and sister-in-law’s streaming music service or perhaps watching a rerun of a 2014 episode of “Bob’s Burgers”. (Perhaps it was the Speak & Spell I had bought for him off of eBay when he was in preschool that kicked off his appreciation of the era of his uncles’ and his father’s childhoods.)
This past Thanksgiving Day, all of us hopped into their family minivan to drive to a picturesque park and take a walk next to the beautiful, majestic Potomac River. Of course, I brought my camera, hoping to catch a few candid shots of the family on the sly. I had limited success in that mission. It’s sometimes painful to watch mid-’80s VHS footage my grandfather had taken of me, where I had turned eye-rolling and mean-mugging into art forms, so I can’t pretend I don’t understand.
Now being on the adult side of those exchanges (and may Grandpa rest in peace), I understand that he was merely trying to preserve a way to remember the youth in his extended family as they were in that particular moment in time. Like the young me, though, my brother’s kids weren’t having it either, though I suspect they’ll thank me later for the few decent shots of them that I was able to manage.
I’d say that having teenagers in the house has definitely given my brother an edge in staying on top of current music trends, while I haven’t listened to pop radio in years. What struck me as we played the radio while en route to the park was how so many current songs borrowed heavily from the sonic palette shared with beloved tracks from our ’80s youth. Befitting this mood and upon arrival to our destination at Cabin John Regional Park, this VW Vanagon was waiting for us… in front of a pay phone. (For a source of innocent, generational fun, present a rotary telephone to a youth in your life and ask him or her to make a call.)
I know the model year of this particular example only because of a license plate search. I have ridden in a T3-era Volkswagen Type 2 exactly zero times to the best of my knowledge, though I have ridden in more than a few T2s. The front grille assembly, with its round quad-lights, was not offered from the factory on U.S. models and appears to be a swap from those used by the latter-day South African models. This seems to be a popular trend, and I consider it an aesthetic improvement.
While the exterior modifications to this vehicle would suggest that there may be more changes lurking under the skin, the ’84 Vanagon on your dealer’s lot was powered by a 1.9L four-cylinder with 83 horsepower, which was a 22% increase in power from the prior year. This was for a vehicle that weighed about two tons. Needless to say, I felt much safer riding in my brother’s Honda Odyssey through the hilly, twisty roads of suburban Maryland on the way to and from this park than I would have in the Westy. Also, if we were riding in the older vehicle in the 1980s and it had broken down for any reason while on this afternoon outing, it might have been a long walk to use a phone. Nostalgia can be great fun, but even a pop culture junkie like me can appreciate that many things have improved since the heyday of Atari.
Cabin John, Maryland.
Thursday, November 28, 2019.
Thanksgiving Day.
The grille was us spec, came with the wasserboxer in I believe 83, 80 thru 82 was aircooled, I had an 84 for years, power was a plus, but biggest plus was actually having real heat….I had front and rear, was an improvement….
The grill on the featured Vanagon is indeed an aftermarket South African grill, which as the author mentions, is a very popular upgrade.
I have ridden in one of these exactly once. One of the (too many) times my 85 GTI was in for service, I took the dealer up on its “courtesy van” for a ride to work. I only did it once because the time it took for a route that accommodated multiple riders was more than I was willing to invest in getting to the office, so that was the last time.
I had never paid attention to these but was surprised. I knew that VW was not making air-cooled engines by then, but it had the unmistakable (but muffled) sound of the VWs of my youth. And that is the only thing I remember about the ride.
What a great find – and the payphone in the shot makes the whole thing perfect!
JP, it was the payphone in the foreground that made the lead-off picture a “must get” once we deboarded the Odyssey. Talk about throwback!
Nice piece Joe, and a payphone!
Looks like some young whippersnapper couldn’t figure out how to hang up the receiver properly. 😉
PRNDL, it wasn’t until you pointed it out that I noticed this detail! I can assure you the receiver was not put back like that by one of my brother’s kids! LOL
Our ‘85 Vanagon Westy broke down once, far from any pay phone, in the pre-cellphone era … though even today that location has poor or no signal. It was blazing hot and we had our infant son with us on what was going to be his first camping trip. Fortunately it was the one time in my life when I was really glad there was a Highway Patrol officer right behind us, and he saw the giant cloud of steam from the burst coolant tank, and pulled over and radio’ed for a tow truck.
Very enjoyable post, Joseph. I’ve also never ridden in a Vanagon, but always had an appreciation. One of the things I miss about living in the Metro D.C. area is people love to come and visit you. Here in CT, I can’t get anyone who doesn’t live nearby to come visit, nor can I really blame them.
Adam, thank you so much. And not to sound like the “mutual appreciation society”, but I have also really enjoyed your contributions lately.
Yes – Metro DC is a cool area. I used to take extra time to venture into the city when visiting my relatives for the holidays, but nowadays, I’m content just to spend time with them. If we all happen to venture into DC, then I’m just that much happier.
The son of one of my employees had one of these for a few years. It was serviceable but with the hilly secondary roads here and where he lived, he just needed more OOMPH to haul his family around. The stresses must have proven too much as it seemed to be in the shop too often. He replaced it with a Chrysler minivan, once it became available with the Mitsubishi V6. But he still has a soft spot for the VW, even after a succession of Mopars, now a Pacifica. “It was so CUTE!”
Love how you weave such interesting thoughts into your articles about the ccs you find, Joseph. Always intersting and thought provoking!
Nice van! Looking at the ride height, could it be a Synchro sans badges?
Huey, thank you so much. In the midst of sheltering-in-place, it has been a great catharsis to write for this site. About the Syncro possibility, I don’t know that much about the externally identifiable cues of one, but I was hoping someone else would chime in. There’s still time…
The Syncro has the fuel filler behind the rear wheel opening, vs the front on 2WD versions. But both are on the right side of the van, which your pictures don’t show. If you took any shots of the passenger side they may reveal the answer.
What a nice looking T25. When I had my ‘72 Bus a little over twenty years ago, I briefly drove my friend’s ‘83 T25 Westfalia and sure, it was a little smoother and slightly quieter, but it wasn’t as much fun to drive as my T2. As a result, my preference has always been towards the bay-window bus. With that said, the looks of this one and with different priorities, this example could sway me. Thanks for the story.
….ding!….Numbah Pulease……
Haha! I heard that operator’s accent come through loud and clear! Awesome.
Another great piece from Joseph!
Payphone aside, I havent seen anything with Bell Atlantic on it in decades, landline service in this region has been Verizon for at least the last 20 years.
Ive never driven or ridden in a Vanagon but I have seen what happens to them in collisions and they usually didn’t fare too well.
Dan, I recall you have mentioned you were an accident investigator. An honourable profession, not for the faint of heart.
With this pandemic, and additional downtime, I have been doing some genealogical research for family and friends. Including reviewing archived newspapers from over 40 years ago. I know drunk driving was a big problem, but it’s sobering as I read these old newspapers, and see the volume of news stories of young people killed by alcohol, speed, and non-seatbelt use, well into the 80s. Thankfully, we don’t see these stories with the nearly the same frequency today.
Wow, someone actually read my COALs, lol.
Yes, accident investigations were a big part of my job for many years unfortunately, drunk driving is still a problem. Just this past weekend here locally, a previously convicted drunk driver in a Jeep was going the wrong way on the interstate and hit a sedan head on, killing a 1 year old boy and his grandmother. I don’t know if it was related to the pandemic or not but I know I hate drunk drivers.
“I havent seen anything with Bell Atlantic on it in decades”
Verizon is the successor to the old GTE – General Telephone & Electronics. They had a pretty good presence in northern Indiana, including a regional HQ in Fort Wayne, where my mother worked for a time in the 1970s. I don’t know if they bought any of the Bells or if they took over in areas that the Bells no longer wanted to service.
I just know that I never understood everyone talking about “Bell Telephone” because we never had it where I grew up.
Thanks, Dan. Now that you mention it, I think maybe the “Bell Atlantic” logo on the side may also have been what grabbed me about this particular phone. “Bell”-anything. There are still a few pay phones I’ll see out and about around Chicago (with decreasing frequency), but none of them are branded with logos that I remember from years ago.
Haha, Joseph you’ve unearthed a deep forgotten memory in the Speak & Spell. I got it’s close sibling the Speak & Read one Christmas in the late 80’s. I loved that thing. Having just emerged from the Speak & Spell Youtube rabbit hole, now I know why I’m a good speller!
Great writing and photography as always. This generation of VW vans are well represented here in rural BC, they seem to have surpassed the T2s in representation on the roads in recent years. Just came across an air-cooled T3 yesterday camped in a semi-remote area next to a lake. Pretty nice place to self-isolate.
Nelson, you just made me remember something else! I remember that when I was in the second grade in the early ’80s, I was in a combined 1st & 2nd grade class. In the afternoons, we’d get something like a half-hour to play with an assortment of toys.
There was *one* Speak & Spell among all the students, and then a nice assortment of what could be considered nice toys for the time.
Of course, all of us pounced on the Speak & Spell at first, but later, as the pecking order started to form, I remember some of us just gave up. My cousin had one, though, so I never felt truly deprived of one.
The self-isolation scene you described sounds pretty close to perfect.
I have a very deep seated affection and respect for the T3. It’s one of the all-time great vehicles. It’s hard to beat a box, and one that’s so capable and well built. And is on its way to becoming essentially immortal. Is any other car from the late ’70s and ’80s so widely loved and restored/renovated? The demand for them is very high, and prices are too.
Paul, I haven’t seen that many of them around Chicago, but I did come across this nice one 8 years ago in my neighborhood. I had presumed it was owned by a college student at local Loyola University. I had been hoping to get a few more good shots of it, but that was not meant to be.
here’s one i’ve posted to the Cohort (last summer?), in East Village just northeast of my place. It’s usually chilling somewhere in a general few-block range (it’s right on the side streets i would walk through getting off the bus from work.)
Image not loading. Take 2:
Thank you for another great story Joseph. I always appreciate your pop culture interests and knowledge, and how close you are to your family.
It’s easy to forget today how important pay phones were until the 90s. I spent part of my youth living in a small village in a tourist region, with various lakes and vacation cottages nearby. The village had the only general store with gas pumps, and a pay phone in the immediate area. That pay phone was the life line to home and the outside world for hundreds of cottagers, and it was in very heavy use every summer. If there was ever a fire, or medical emergency, you’d see a car followed by clouds of dust, racing up from the gravel cottage roads to call for fire or ambulance help. These humble booths are an icon of that era.
Thanks, Daniel. I’m sure that after all the dust settles from COVID-19, it will be that much greater to see my extended family (if that’s what’s meant to be).
It sounds like the pay phone you wrote about was, very literally, a lifeline for that community.
“I wondered what firsthand experience my hip, handsome nephew could have had with the music of Donna Summer, outside of my brother’s and sister-in-law’s streaming music service or perhaps watching a rerun of a 2014 episode of “Bob’s Burgers.””
In the weirdest non-CC coincidence, “Dim All the Lights” and the episode you’re referring to had been for some reason playing in my mind for about the past hour, and then of all things I opened CC and clicked on your article!
Dino, the “CC Effect” apparently works in all kinds of ways! Awesome.
And I was just listening to “I Feel Love” a few hours before opening this thread, sounding way too modern to be 43 years old. OTOH, pay phones, especially those in phone booths, seem way too archaic to have been commonplace in the early ’90s.
“I Feel Love” is one of those songs that will probably always sound timeless to me. Groundbreaking record that still sounds modern in 2020 (minus the absence of auto-tune / vocoders).
I remember the first time I heard that as a kid and thinkig how genuinely new and fresh it sounded. A true all time great song!
Thanks for sharing Joseph. While we are all influenced by our past and up bringing, we can choose to do things in our lives in a different manner. Remember the old saying, “It’s never to late to have a happy childhood?”
Nice catch and good story, as always. Had many rides in a white T3 single cab pickup, so a 3 seater, back in the early eighties.
Just came across a nice and rather compact overview of the VW Transporter history on our Autoweek (“Autowake”) website. Production of the T1 started 70 years ago, on March 8, 1950. More than 13 million Transporters (T1 to T6) have been built since, among them 1.3 million T3s.
A nice collection of pictures comes with the article:
https://www.autoweek.nl/autonieuws/artikel/jubilea-70-jaar-volkswagen-transporter/
The latest model is called the Transporter 6.1, picture below.
Brother had a white ’86 Westfalia for about 20 years, he kept it in like new condition. Put a lot of miles on it over the years, I don’t know how many but would guess around 200k.
I know he did head gaskets twice, second time required a cracked head replacement. He also blew the 4 speed manual transmission while towing a U Haul trailer cross country and had it replaced somewhere in the mid west during the trip. He blamed himself for overloading it so badly. His had the slightly more powerful (95 HP) 2.1 engine. I drove it a few times, it had decent power, at least in relatively flat areas.
It was far from trouble free, but he really liked it, was great for camping.
Did you check to see if there was a dime in the return slot? 🙂
That’s a beauty of a bus. It could possibly be a Syncro with the raised height but that could also be just due to the Mercedes wheels (or knockoff MB wheels, they make that design) and larger than stock tires. It’s a not uncommon modification to add those, and even more so on the EuroVan that came next.
I’m surprised the Payphone still has a receiver!
I’m amazed how many Vanagons are still on the road. This vehicle must have a high survival rate, especially considering how low VW’s sales in the US were in the ‘80’s. Although around ten years ago I did get an impression that the Vanagon has a cult like attraction from a co-worker who had a rust free Westfalia.
I like your Speak & Spell story – when my niece was 6 I gave her a DVD of all 17 episodes of “H.R. Pufnstuf” telling her that when I 6-7 years old this was my favorite Saturday morning program and it may help explain me.
Joseph, I’m just glad you’re posting as it means there is somewhere outside the Ukrainian Village and Wicker Park areas. 🙂 Not going downtown every day and not really doing much other than the occasional walk has made this small neighborhood feel really, really large. One more month to go, hopefully.
What doesn’t make sense to me, speaking of your nephew’s 80s obsessions, is the early 90s vibe so many mid 20-year-olds have these days. Sally Jessy Raphael glasses weren’t great the first time around. The early 90s were freakin’ terrible. I had this shirt after the first Bulls championship and it’s only in the last few years I can begrudgingly say it might not be completely terrible.
After looking at it again: nope, still terrible.
I think that shirt is great, in a “I’d wear that to the mall” kind of way – with no irony intended. I have a t-shirt with some airbrushed art that I’ve saved over the years for that same reason.
I hadn’t thought about those SJR glasses for years until you mentioned them. Truly terrible. I’ve been watching DVD’s of Seasons 1 & 2 of “In Living Color” and as much as I adore that show, some of Keenan Ivory Wayans’ shirts in the intros (complete with top button buttoned) I just can’t get behind. Still love the show.
Eighties: yay! Early nineties: Jury’s still out for me. LOL
I think that’s an extremely fair assessment. 🙂
Great find and pics, as usual! The pay phone really makes it. I don’t know if you noticed, but it looks like on the rare occasions when a 2020 person uses the payphone, he doesn’t even know how to properly place the handset back. Perfect!
By the way, it is great to see when subsequent generations can overcome their past familial dysfunction, learning by negative example. I see all too many families that just pass down the same pathologies.
Thanks, Jon. I have to keep it real, though – plenty of dysfunction got passed down (ask my therapist), but the important thing is that some stuff got fixed. The way I see it, issues are just an inevitability of life and of being someone’s else’s offspring.
I can relate to the teenagers and 80s culture. They get it from their parents since my children’s knowledge of 80s music and culture comes from our music and video collection. What’s interesting is that their teachers often don’t recognize 80s music or imagery because they grew up in the 90s.
Back to Westy’s I’ve always been fascinated by the neatly fitted cabinetry in these with storage everywhere and wanted to buy one in the past but good ones are surprisingly expensive compared to used trailer.