Meet Morrison...1985 Westfalia

[Amskeptic]

wow! nice find! now time to gut the wasserleaker and put aircooled motor back into it ;)

Ha!...I'm a permanent convert now!...I am a big fan of how a Vanagon behaves on the road. And talk about comfort!

Mr PC,
Did you leave my contact info for the new owner of the '72, or this website address?
Colin

[Ryno]

wow! nice find! now time to gut the wasserleaker and put aircooled motor back into it ;)

Ha!...I'm a permanent convert now!...I am a big fan of how a Vanagon behaves on the road. And talk about comfort!

Mr PC,
Did you leave my contact info for the new owner of the '72, or this website address?
Colin

I did indeed. He didn't seem like the internet type though. He's right up the road from me though, so it's still in my line of vision.

I have nothing but love for all VW's. However, it would be a stretch to see me in another air-cooled bus. A real issue for me here in the Midwest is the availability of parts. At least with Vgon's you have folks like GoWesty and Van-Cafe who are catering to the Vgon crowd with decent part selection and the used stuff seems to be available and within reason.

Seeing as how we love camping, a Vanagon Westfalia was the right choice for our family. The whole crew can fit comfortably along with the gear.

We'll be camping with Morrison locally tonight for the goofiest party of the year, along with a number of other buses vgon's and beetles.

Tomorrow, is clunky CV repair day. I received two brand new axle shafts yesterday from one of my Chinese suppliers that I purchase other products from for my day job. The quality appears to be OK in just looking at them. I will post some photos and a little write-up of the install.

[yondermtn]

Nice one!
Where'd you find it, any known history on the vehicle?

The Vanagons are looking more and more appealing since the arrival of our son. One with an automatic so my wife can share driving duties would probably be the most practical for us, but I have a hard time even thinking about letting go of our '77.

[dtrumbo]

I'm glad you enjoy your Vanagon. I had a Vanagon for a short time so I at least have a smattering of actual experience. I understand the kid thing... I've got three. Enough said. However, what I want you to do is report back in a year and tell us how many times perfect strangers came up to you at a gas station or wherever and commented on how cool your bus... er Vanagon is. Like a lot of things in the 80's, the Vanagons lost their soul.

[Ryno]

However, what I want you to do is report back in a year and tell us how many times perfect strangers came up to you at a gas station or wherever and commented on how cool your bus... er Vanagon is. Like a lot of things in the 80's, the Vanagons lost their soul.

I would ask you to consider my location. Regionally speaking, Vgon Westy's are somewhat scarce. I've already been quizzed at a couple of gas stations and the auto parts store.

My old Riviera attracted lots of people, my Kombi did too. I get it though, bays are sweet and I considered a late bay Westy in our search, but a good complete example in decent shape does not exist here for under 10K. This Westy was substantially more affordable.

The soul comment?...Well, that is your opinion. I think it's more about the experience itself rather than what you drive.

[Ryno]

Nice one!
Where'd you find it, any known history on the vehicle?

The Vanagons are looking more and more appealing since the arrival of our son. One with an automatic so my wife can share driving duties would probably be the most practical for us, but I have a hard time even thinking about letting go of our '77.

I found it on Craigslist. It has been in Wisconsin it's entire life and has been well cared for and maintained. We are the third owner. It also came with the fifth captains chair that slides in on rails, it's pretty sweet.

If you really wanted to get a feel for a Vgon Chris, you are welcome to come drive it anytime.

By the way, Congrats on the Baby!!

[Lanval]

At the risk of turning this into an unnecessary dogfight, I offer this in a spirited defense of the vanagon:

1. To Colin I say that the vanagon is the product of the same engineers who gave us the earlier VW vans. Though it did indeed change some aspects of the engineering, I won't allow you the paradox of claiming that the VW engineers were somehow possessed of supernatural insight when designing the previous iteration, but succumbed to evil when working on the VW. It's what they saw fit as a natural development of vehicle, and while some of their choices have not stood the test of time as well as others, don't forget that marvel that is tooling up the hill I live on at 60 mph. Not in your van; not even on its best day.

2. To Dtrumbo I say that you are right if you mean the iconic and appealing image of the earlier rounded van, but! That is not the soul alone, I'm afraid. Countless people have asked me to look inside, and peer around eagerly as I explain all that the vanagon offers. They are stunned and engaged; it is more modern and comfortable than the older vans, and the camping interior is well-designed, convenient and fun. I teach at a private high school full of rich Chinese kids. They drive 40-50K Mercedes (at 16 yrs old!) and to a one, both girls and boys think I have the coolest car in the parking lot, bar none. They always want to ride in it, and I've had to break up more than one argument about who gets to sit in back with the table, drinks and tunes. It has soul my friend, plenty of soul. Of beauty? We may not speak so loudly, but it is a rear-engine boxer motor that beats with the heart of a Stuttgart tiger, it is a VW and... it. has. soul.

[dtrumbo]

Hey guys. I'm sorry. I'm not sure what dark mood I was experiencing yesterday, but the comment I made... well, I shouldn't have. I agree, as was pointed out, the 'soul' is the experience, not the medium. Again, I apologize. Enjoy your vehicles, whatever they may be and savor the journeys they facilitate.

[Amskeptic]

At the risk of turning this into an unnecessary dogfight, I offer this in a spirited defense of the vanagon:

1. To Colin I say that the vanagon is the product of the same engineers who gave us the earlier VW vans. Though it did indeed change some aspects of the engineering, I won't allow you the paradox of claiming that the VW engineers were somehow possessed of supernatural insight when designing the previous iteration, but succumbed to evil when working on the VW. don't forget that marvel that is tooling up the hill I live on at 60 mph. Not in your van; not even on its best day.

2. To Dtrumbo I say that you are right if you mean the iconic and appealing image of the earlier rounded van, but! That is not the soul alone, I'm afraid. Countless people have asked me to look inside, and peer around eagerly as I explain all that the vanagon offers. They are stunned and engaged; it is more modern and comfortable than the older vans, and the camping interior is well-designed, convenient and fun. it is a VW and... it. has. soul.

Dogfight?

I owned a brand new '89 GL and loved it for 110,000 miles, it was a superb road machine with brilliant handling and gorgeous visibility. Vanagons have plenty of irritating plasticky trashy compromises of cheep that no early Bay will ever beset you with, ever.

Just the voice of experience . . .

You KNOW I love driving your Vanagon and get all agitated about buying another one, you heard me say this is the Pinnacle of Van Design. Design!
It is also a representative, however, of Volkswagen's precipitous decline in quality and their growing mid-Eighties indifference to engineering elegance.

I think dtrumbo is exactly right-on in the intangibility of the soul of earlier VWs. They were closer to the genius that spawned them (Porsche) and the genius that made them remarkably crafted (Nordhoff).
That they were slow did not escape my notice . . .

[Lanval]

Of course, I stick by my "brutalist" assignation for the exterior design. I confess I've never liked any of the boxy, square-lined vehicles of the early 80s. With all due respect to Lee Iacocca, the Chrysler cars of the early 80s were a vomitous line of cheap, boxy auto-conomy crap that did indeed lack soul.

I Look forward to the many happy reports of camping and family goodness associated with Morrison ~ I trust Spanish Caravan plays from time-to-time...

[Ryno]

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Hard right turns would produce a clunk. My fix from last week lasted only about 500 miles before the CV joint at the transmission was barking at me again. So today, I packed a new assembly with CV grease and installed it. This afternoon we took Grady and Mo up to Burlington to help some friends put their bus back together and no more clunky clunk with the new axle. Messy job, but everything is smooth again.

The quality seemed to be good on the Chinese CV assembly I received, we will let time make that call though. The joints themselves were nice and tight and the boots were different than on other China axles I've used. It also came with some new bolts and a gasket that I have never seen used on VW's, so I left that off. Anyhow, no more clunk and strange vibration through the whole car. Nice and smooth.

[yondermtn]

If you really wanted to get a feel for a Vgon Chris, you are welcome to come drive it anytime.

By the way, Congrats on the Baby!!

Thank you! Baby is doing great, but camping and VWs have taken a backseat, at least for now.

I'd love to get up your way and get a closer look at the Vanagon and show the wife that it's a better move than a minivan towing a popup Maybe in the fall. In the meantime, I'm following your progress and adventures here and on Morrison's fb page.

[Ryno]

If you really wanted to get a feel for a Vgon Chris, you are welcome to come drive it anytime.

By the way, Congrats on the Baby!!

Thank you! Baby is doing great, but camping and VWs have taken a backseat, at least for now.

I'd love to get up your way and get a closer look at the Vanagon and show the wife that it's a better move than a minivan towing a popup Maybe in the fall. In the meantime, I'm following your progress and adventures here and on Morrison's fb page.

Now that our little dude is almost 2, we are camping every chance we get from now till the snow flies. He LOVES hanging out and camping in Morrison.

We discussed the pop-up camper thing too, just couldn't have a one dimensional camper.

A bus or a Vanagon just have so many other useful aspects. One of my local bus friends told me: "You wouldn't take a pop-up to the beach or out cruising garage sales would you?"

[yondermtn]

Welp, I guess I just joined this movement. Couldn't pass this one up.
I'll start a new thread later with more details and of course more pics.

[Ryno]

Welp, I guess I just joined this movement. Couldn't pass this one up.
I'll start a new thread later with more details and of course more pics.

Nice!