Took Delivery Today on the BlueSprinter

[bluesprinter]

First, thanks to those who have expressed admiration for the bluesprinter. Aside from the wind/handling issue, I'm quite happy with it after the 12-day "shakedown cruise." (My daughter-in-law stepped into it and said, "This is like a boat." !!)

Second, to answer 1974VWSportsmobile's questions. I ordered the Sprinter from a dealer a few miles from home. I ordered it in January, with the options and colors and trim that I wanted. It arrived in April (earlier than expected), I had the audio/nav/backup camera system installed, drove it a bit locally to get accustomed to it, and then at the end of June drove it to Huntington (and returned home in a rental car). A month later, I drove back (in the rental car (cheaper than two one-way rentals)) and picked up the Blue Sprinter. Your white Sprinter must have been in the building when I arrived on Aug. 1 (as I'm guessing that if you picked it up on Aug 12, they brought it into the shop in mid July). I'm trying to remember what I saw there; the day was a busy one (and what I'm remembering is the purple/burgundy/chartreuse Sprinter sitting outside in the lot, as that's the only one of that color I've ever seen).

[1974VWSportsmobile]

Hi BlueSprinter,
We looked at the process of buying a Sprinter at the MB dealer here in Omaha but Indiana already had one on site that was going to be their demo and had a penthouse in it then they got too busy to proceed. It looked to speed up our process a little so we opted for that. If we had bought direct would maybe gone for silver but we do like the white too. And our 1974 SMB is white, so...
Ours was on the floor by about July 25 so was likely in the back when you were there. I'll bet a dollar that yours is the silhouette up by the front door in this July 27 photo Nancy sent.
BTW, since you had yours pre-build for a while, did you notice any wind shear issues w/o SMB contents? Our low-roof PH RB was a dream to drive back to Omaha. Virtually no buffeting from semis, etc. Very stable. A couple rattles that appeared but ironing them out as we go.
Michael B.

[bluesprinter]

That could be mine in what could be called the "finishing bay" (the one by the street, where they take the vans for the final details). The shapes in the silhouettes don't quite match what I'm expecting in terms of the cabinets on the passenger side and the toll tag on the windshield, but the picture is dark. Timing-wise, it almost surely is mine.
As for wind. When i did the local driving pre-build, there wasn't much wind to speak of, and most of the driving was on local roads. And the limited access highway has a 55 mph limit. On the drive to Huntington, there was some wind, but not much. What I noticed more was the noise (which pretty much disappeared once the insulation, carpet, etc was installed).
Then I headed west, and once I got past Oklahoma City (and pretty much all the way back), I encountered winds. Strong winds. I started this thread on the topic: http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/vie...php?f=4&t=7552. I am now waiting for a windy day (and some free time) to test out the effect of the Airtabs I installed the other day.