I am not sure, but I think Mister LaRue, who shares some outside interests, recruited Mark about a year ago. Mark has been active ever since and a familiar face at our events and meetings; always smiling and joking… just like LaRue. These two worry me (smile). 

Mark grew up in Southwick, MA, home to 2 stop-lights and what he claims to be one of the toughest motocross tracks in the nation. He served 10-years in the U.S. Submarine service as a Sonarman (bleep…. bleep … bleep …) on a newly commissioned Los Angles 688 class (this is Greek to me) Attack Submarine. He arrived to the boat when it was still being built in the Electric Boat shipyard and having been on board at the time of commissioning, he has the privilege of being a “Plankowner” on the USS Groton SSN 694.

He is a semi-professional guitarist and owns 15 guitars and a room full of vintage amplifiers. Having spent years on Beale Street with blues bands from the late Albert King to Blind Mississippi Morris and Brad Webb, he is currently a guitarist with the St. Jude band. Mark is also active in motorcycling; both riding and occasional off-road racing. Then there are those things with little motors in them. No, I’m not talking about Beetles. He’s into 1/32^nd scale slot car racing; so much so, that he has devoted his entire living room to a track with racing on most Wednesday nights. Way cool, Beavis! What else

He loves his first VW, a 1985 Westfalia Vanagon GL in Savannah Beige Metallic paint.

Mark did a lot of research, looking for a comfortable camper, and discovered that these are rare gems in this part of the country. He turned down the first one, owned by “an old hippy lady,” deeming it a $6,000 beater. But hope was not lost. He scooped up LaRue & Evelyn to go with him to check out one in Bartlett with a blown engine. Whoa! At a half a block away, it was a “no brainer.” “Buy it on the spot!” they demanded. Mark tried his hand at negotiating the price down. But he didn’t haggle very hard since the owner only wanted $2500. SOLD!

He picked a Boston Bob 1.9-Liter replacement engine; not cheap, but top of the heap as wasserboxer engines go. The really good news was that there was NO RUST. It was, and is, practically in mint condition; only needing a few chips in the paint touched up. Mark is confident that it is now solid from bumper to bumper, so he gets to concentrate on the little extras that makes life easier; like a CB Radio, a secondary deep cycle battery to run his auxiliary equipment, some fishing rod holders … and the very important, Hula girl. 

Maybe not a “Winnie,” but at least a mini-mini-Winnie, as Mark calls it. He loves the fact it is self-contained; like “pull up, plug up, pop up” … you’re camping… in less time than it takes to heat a pot of coffee. It reminds him of one of those transformers, everything all tucked away and ready to unfold into something really fun. “KA-POO, KA-POW, KA-ZAMMM! It’s… VANS-FORMER!” … with a dual-burner LP cooking appliance, icy-cold refrigerator, humongous 13-gallon freshwater tank, a cleansing reservoir (sink), a pull out brain-recharger (bed) in the rear and another unleashes from the roof. VANS-FORMER! A palace to any man… a cottage to any couple! Oh…whew! Sorry. Got a little involved there for a moment. Anyway…

He soon took first in class at our 2003 show … and then our 50/50 pot. So, we had “Vito” convince him to join our club, since he had our money and trophy. Then he ticked LaRue off by beating him at the show in Mountain View, AR last spring. Better be careful. LaRue & Vito are relatives, you know. Ha!

He has camped in it in the dead of winter; the “lone wolf” in Iuka State Park. While it was triple cold outside, he stayed nice and toasty in his VANS-FORMER. (Is this name going to stick?)

He knows that a Subaru engine conversion would give him more power and probably reliability. But he considers this mini-mini-Winnie a total system. Even stock, he finds some shops scratching their heads. Imagine throwing and engine conversion into the mix. Mark’s main life support? Vanagon mailing lists, forums and his trusted Bentley shop manual, of course.

VANS-FORMER lives! Hey, maybe a bug is not far behind!

Air Bill