Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 23:57:11 -0400
Reply-To: Stephen Steele <steeles@HORIZONVIEW.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Steele <steeles@HORIZONVIEW.NET>
Subject: '87 Westy FS in NE Ohio
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
A co-member of Central Ohio Westies has been looking for one for me in his
locale. I'll post a copy of my report to him on the subject van.
The owner says.."FS '87 Westy GL, Auto, AC, excellent shape, new engine at
90k, 133 K now, middle seat added, kitchen in like-new condition...$7900".
I say, "It sounds just like what I'm looking for...we'll drive up."
This is "How not to sell your van"... report follows:
We drove to New Philly after church. This will probably be our last longish
trip before the baby arrives. I talked to the owner again this morning,
before leaving, verifying that it was all that I thought he had previously
told me. "Excellent mechanical shape with no body damage and no rust." says
he.
.... Four hours later (3 driving plus stops) ...
When we pulled in I looked into the open garage before I got out of our
car....I could see rough caulking completely around the entire pop top and
luggage rack seals (bummer).
The positives were a very good interior with slight wear. The engine ran
well and shifted fine. The AC was typical for a Westy.
The pop top screen was patched, with more holes throughout; the canvas was
dirty from air/road leaks because of the above caulking. Shutting the doors
on the van caused the pop top to lift/flair because of the bad seal. He had
installed a middle seat after removing the kitchen equipment. He hadn't
bothered to retrieve the stove/fridge for our inspection; for that matter he
didn't even bother to remove any of his junk from the van.
The exterior was scratched and touched up to the point that some areas
looked like a roadmap! A large dent in the rear hatch was caused by his
Hobie Cat shifting forward on its trailer. All four bumper caps were cracked
and hanging crooked. Both bumpers were dented. But the worst was that the
bra covered damage from a deer strike resulting in a broken/missing lower
radiator grill; the area between the two grills was straightened with a ball
peen and nothing else done to it but cover it with the bra, bare metal and
all. Severe bumper seam cancer was evident and there was a two inch patch
starting on the passenger's side windshield wiper area.
During a quick test drive and another crawl underneath I found a leaking
right head gasket, transmission seal leaks and a broken, dry left CV joint
and boot. The underside of the engine was completely rusted and showed no
sign of any maintenance. The Purolator oil filter was ancient. The valve
covers looked like they wouldn't hold up for another season. ( In
reflection, I will opine that the engine wasn't replaced at 90K...maybe the
heads were...there is no way that that engine had only 43K on it!) Passenger
car tires caused the van to heal in tight turning. Rear brakes clattered on
hard stop.
When we arrived back I told him that it wasn't the van that I was looking
for. He then asked me to critique the van. I hesitated but thought, " What
the heck this guy just let me drive three hours"... so... I began by telling
him, "The asking price is in line for a van in excellent shape...this one is
not". Beside the above, I told him he needed to remove the shifter housing
and clean it up so the grit and grind didn't scare away most potential
buyers. The radiator fan was noisy. Oh yeh... before we started to look at
it he told me the "only two things" that he knew weren't working...a bad
driver's side window switch (it was the regulator not the switch) and the
front heater switch was bad, not the motor, just the switch. I asked him if
he had tried switching the working rear heater fan switch with the front one
to insure it was just the switch...I might as well have been speaking
Swahili. BTW he is a teacher and tennis coach.
All told, the guy let us drive 3 hours each way based on his
misrepresentation of an excellent condition van, asking the price for it and
not preparing or knowing his own van that he has owned for twelve years.
--
Stephen
Chillicothe OH