Date:         Thu, 23 Nov 2000 11:12:58 +0100
Reply-To:     Robin Oomkes <robin.oomkes@SWIFT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robin Oomkes <robin.oomkes@SWIFT.COM>
Organization: S.W.I.F.T. sc
Subject:      Re: volvo(volkswagen)5cyl (LT)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Andrew Grebneff wrote:

> The VW LT was a crude box on wheels, utterly lacking any charisma. It was
> front-engine, rear-drive, and larger than an Econoline. It used as standard
> the old SOHC 2.0 Audi 100 engine. There was one in town here, converted
> into a camper.

There was a wonderful Westfalia version of the LT, called 'Sven Hedin' (after
the Swedish explorer). How does a Westy with six seats, two huge beds, and a hot
water shower sound to you? It had an incredibly high roof; it measured 3.0 m (10
ft) from the ground. In its last years of production (89-92) it was sold as
'Florida'. Only downside as a camper was the engine sitting between the front
seats, making it noisy and tricky to crawl to the living space. No swivel seats
either, because of this. The dinette had a nice feature: you could either have 2
benches facing each other, with a table inbetween, or you could remove the
table, flip around the forward bench, and have two forward facing benches behind
each other (like on a bus). Or you could turn the whole thing into a bed. You
can get your hands on an 80s Sven Hedin in Germany for $4000 (tatty gas) to
$10000 (very nice diesel).

The LT may have been crude, but the engines designed for it have had interesting
careers 'outside the box': the 2.0 liter gas engine was subsequently used by
Porsche in the 924, and the 2.4 liter turbo and non-turbo straight 6 diesel has
powered all sorts of Volvos.

> I'm not sure, but it would not surprise me at all to find it was an MAN
> design (back then VW and MAN were selling versions of the same light
> trucks; I believe VW owned MAN even back then, though I've heard recently
> that VW NOW intends taking it over).

M.A.N. is an independent company, but they did work together on VW on light
trucks. I don't know who originally designed the LT. The M.A.N. versions were
quite rare here in NL and in Germany, but the VW LT was common as muck. I've
seen the story about VW trying to buy M.A.N., but what I heard was that they
were fended off by M.A.N.'s shareholders.

It's interesting to note that the current VW LT (post-'93?) is a slightly
re-engineered (and uglier) version of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van. It is
built by VW though in the Hannover plant.

> Our European members should be able to give better info.

This European member has done his best!

Robin
90 Vanagon Westfalia Atlantic TD
The Netherlands