Possibility...

[Gypsie]

I have put the vanagon engine to rights and am planning on using it to go camping this season...

But...

I have been flustrated for a while now regarding the wrenchin' and energy and ducats that have been going into the beast and I don't get the street cred (read peace signs, smiles, stories, etc etc) that other bus owners get.

I know I know it's a particulart shade of vanity shining through here. Not particularly proud of it but it's there nonetheless.

I would like to put these energies into fixin' up a rig that will only get more and more 'classy' as the process proceeds.

As well, my lovely wife has said, you should get a bus....???

even my wife, after years of hearing me say the vanagon is "still air cooled", has better stability and handling, and with the knowledge that our current van has a queen sized sleeping area and a bus would be substantially narrower...thinks a bus is cooler...

So, with that said she has given me permission to look for a bus to buy with the intent that we will then sell the vanagon.

So my first 'look see':

'78 2L FI

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electrical zone is a hot mess fer sure but it is in working order. 80k miles?
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pretty clean lines, no under carriage rust, all rust I saw wasn't too far gone. New front end suspension parts (ball joints, bushings, steering box etc.)
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It "runs good" and is currently licensed to 2012. interior camping stuff needs work...

I haven't given it a test drive or really crawled over it with a fine tooth comb (I looked while in work clothes).

Thoughts?

[ruckman101]

Uhm, well, I do my best to acknowledge Vanagon drivers as part of the tribe, but rarely get reciprocal responses. I guess it just catches them off guard.

The Vanagon is a righteous beast, and an air-cooled version is bragging rights. During the recent California wedding excursion that took me to the coast and down to Santa Cruz outside the Bay area, I was amazed at the quantity of Vanagons on the road. They were the predominate VW of the area. Apparently surfer's vehicle of choice.

But if it means carte blanche for the adoption of another project wanting investment, that can be good to, ayep, ayep.


neal

[dtrumbo]

So, with that said she has given me permission to look for a bus to buy with the intent that we will then sell the vanagon.

Seize this moment. Of all the purchases I've made in my life, I have never regretted one that was pre-approved by the missus.

Like Neal, I acknowledge the V-gon's but rarely get the response. Huh. That said, air-cooled or not, the Vanagons strong suit is utility not groovy. There's just something about a VW bus. That's why we're all here.

Rivieras have full-width beds.

Let me know if you find something up this way and need some local eyes.

[hambone]

I think your Vanagon is cool, I think of you when I see it. It's been to a lot of remote places too. Are you going to keep the engine after all that work and insanity? Tons of Vana-vanity, baby!
That bus looks pretty beat. Get something solid or else it will drive you crazy. Bottomless pit.
Are you looking for a certain year?
Last to Know,
-Bob

[Bleyseng]

now you decide you want a bus when you could've had Bookwus's RD...
Yes, find something more solid than the one in the pics as I see lots of rust which is hard to fix....
I keep lookin at Vanagons as my next endevor, maybe a Doka or a Synchro Westy....Saw a nice Doka in Suriname with a 5 cyl diesel for $2550...

[airkooledchris]

I loved my aircooled Vanagon. The full width bed in back, the westy top, the stability and handling improvements and highway prowess - it's the last of the REAL VW experiences, in that you can still pick them up somewhat on the cheap, learn to work on them during ownership and take them freakin anywhere you want.

they don't have that cool factor, in the traditional sense.

but I think anything that brilliantly utilitarian is real beauty.



I miss mine. the grass is always greener ya know. if possible, keep both.
that's the one that's harder to get the OK on from the misses. ;p

[Gypsie]

I think your Vanagon is cool, I think of you when I see it. It's been to a lot of remote places too. Are you going to keep the engine after all that work and insanity? Tons of Vana-vanity, baby!
That bus looks pretty beat. Get something solid or else it will drive you crazy. Bottomless pit.
Are you looking for a certain year?
Last to Know,
-Bob

'Smore impulse right now. I think the missus hasn't considered that the price range she has thought of (under 2k) means that there'll be some fixin' to do. and more money to be poured in. Right now I can load up and head out. There's also a little bug at home that's lookin' fer some love.

Nice to hear the reassurance of the vanagon's flair. Might just have to keep my eyes open for that really sweet deal while I squeeze some more life out of my little silver shuttle.

I have poured a bit of myself into this creature and I do want to enjoy it's offerings.

Utility is why I got a camper to begin with and I am a more function than form guy.

The memories I have already accumulated (from that first day in the field where I found it and nursed it to life and drove it home), then taking it camping a week later without giving it a full mechanical once over and having it crap out, sending the rest of the camping party on without me, getting towed home (I told the tow truck driver to look for a man in a straw hat playing a mandolin) and hastily throwing all the gear I had into the other Vanagon I had at the time and showing up at the camp a couple hours later than everyone else in the caravan... to the back country trek in the dark over creeks and fallen trees trying to find a camp that was on another FS road than I was on...

This rig has been a great teacher, and sure footed steed in the outback.

I think I will put this impulse aside for awhile.

t'anks fer da feedback.

[Kubelwagen]

I'll buy your engine!! :)

[Gypsie]

Vultures, I tell ya

[Amskeptic]

Vanagons are superb road cars with first-class handling.
Colin

[Westy78]

Honestly, I say keep the Vanagon. You know that rig inside and out now which really puts you ahead when something does go wrong. That and the bit of extra room that a Vanagon provides is a bonus with wife and child. Eventually I think I will also go to the "less cool" side and get one.

[Kubelwagen]

I agree. I do love how the Bays look but, the Vanagon just has that much more room. Pretty key if you're looking at camping with kids up here in rainland.

[vistacruzer]

i will show you how sweet a van-o-gone can look i get the euro mags and with the right body work they look nice. for about the same price as a bus. but you will still be driving a van

[Kubelwagen]

I'm happy to say that at a meeting of the Vanagon Faithful over the weekend we were able to steer Gypsie back onto the one true way. He has been purged of these unclean thoughts.

[Sylvester]

I love the look of Vanagons, I almost bought one before Sam, if it hadn't been a teakettle of overheating engine problem I would have bought it. I like the straight lines and the style, and certainly the room of a Vanagon.