Date:         Sun, 23 Apr 2000 09:57:42 -0400
Reply-To:     Donald Baxter <onanov@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Donald Baxter <onanov@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      1985 Vanagon GL FOR SALE in Atlanta GA
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

I think my Vanagon days are over. 

I make the decision with a heavy heart, but I have recently acquired a used 1996 VW Passat GLX Wagon with 21,000 miles.  I couldn't resist it.

Anyway, I live in an apartment now, it's hard to give the Vanagon the attention it needs in this environment.  I don't need two cars.  I'm posting it for sale her on the list and nowhere else.

The van now has 218,000 miles.  At 142,000 I had a new VW remanufactured engine installed and I've found this engine to be as reliable as any engine in any car I've ever had.  The engine was installed in March 1996.  I have performed synthetic oil changes and filter changes using OEM Bosch filters at 5,000 mile intervals.  There is a K&N air filter installed.  All of the engine compartment fuel lines have been replaced.  The engine has Bosch 4-prong platinum plugs installed.  Many parts of the cooling system have been replaced over the years including all new heater hoses, new radiator, new rear heater heat exchanger, new expansion tank, new bleeder valve fitting (large hose junction in the back) and several other minor hoses. In 1996 new shocks were installed.  In 1997 I had remanufactured axles installed.

The van also has a TRANSPORTER badge installed in place of the VANAGON GL nameplate.

The van consistently gets an honest 19 MPG in combination urban/highway driving and has gotten as high as 23 MPG on long highway trips.  The van suffers from occasional erratic idle and always has--it never seems to get any worse.

The air conditioning functions probably as well as it ever did in any '85 Vanagon.  I had a new compressor installed in Summer 1995 and a new valve installed a couple of years ago.  The system is tight and leak free.  The windows have an additional tint applied.

in late '97 I had a new set of Bridgestone RD603s installed, my second set.  I really like these tires and the first set lasted a good 45,000 miles.  These have been on for 26,000 miles now.

Physically the van is sound.  Cosmetically, the interior is almost perfect, it's clean, it rattles very little.  I've added insulation in body cavities and my mechanic says it's the quietest Vanagon he's ever driven.  Exterior is average, with a few bumps here and there--nothing major. Both front and rear bumper are perfect--the rear bumper is new (aftermarket).  The interior color is blue and the exterior is silver.  There is a very small area of rust in one corner of a back window--no rust elsewhere at all.  One of the neighbor kids drilled wooden match slivers into the door locks--I've been able to fix all of the cylinders but the driver door.  That cylinder will probably have to be removed to get the sliver out.

The van has a Sony stereo (removable faceplate) with Kenwood door speakers.

___________________



I'm sure there's a lot I'm leaving out here even with this rambing message.  I'm not in a huge hurry to part with it and I would love to sell it to someone on the West Coast so I could drive it across country before it gets really hot (the engine will cool--my problem is that I won't). 
 
I'm asking $3000 (firm, plus my transportation costs back to Atlanta) for a van that's ready for cosmetic restoration.  I can't think of anything it really need right now aside from an oil change if it hits 210,000 miles before I sell it.  I'll even put a new alternator on (I put an aftermarket remanufactured one on and they seem to last two years with lifetime warranties--they give me a bit of advance notice that they're failing and I just take the thing back and pop a new free one on).

I will take some pics of it this week and post to the net.  E-mail if interested.

Donald Baxter
Atlanta, Georgia

[text/html]