Date:         Tue, 20 Nov 2001 12:19:37 -0800
Reply-To:     Perry Pillard <ppillard@MACROMEDIA.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Perry Pillard <ppillard@MACROMEDIA.COM>
Subject:      New to the vanagon world...
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Hey Gang,
    Not long back I purchased an '83 Rabbit, with a stock 1.6L turbo diesel.  Man, am I impressed with it!  Economy, performance, reliability all wrapped up in a neat little bundle.  The more I work on the engine, the more I like it, and this started me to thinkin' that maybe I should convert all our family vehicles to diesels.  I like the idea that I can work on them and keep the auto mechanics greedy fingers out of my pocket.  I also like the idea of 'bio-diesel', and will likely start expirimenting with that.
    Well, now I'm in the market to buy a vanagon for my wife to double as both her daily driver and the family camping rig.  I want it to have a 1.9L turbo diesel (I know they're rare!).  And I want to customize the interior to be able to tote our two children around town and still have the creature comforts of a Westy.  Is this do-able?  I found an '82 Vanagon with the engine I want for $3500.  The engine is only 10K miles old, and the van is in great shape.  I'm still talking to the owner to get all the details about it.  He seems to be quite a decent fellow, and I have a good feeling about buying from him.   A big drawback is that I'm Dallas and he's in Conneticut, which means I would have to fly out there and drive it back, without even the courtesy of a test drive!
    Here's a link with all the info he's given me so far: http://www.geocities.com/keyframer/vanagon/index.html <http://www.geocities.com/keyframer/vanagon/index.html> ,  I'd really appreciate if you would look it over and tell me what you think.
    What's the likelyhood of the air conditioning still working in this van?  I'm in Dallas, and a/c is a requirement for a soccer mom!  If it doesn't work, how hard is it to work on?  What about installing some aftermarket a/c system?  Any thoughts on that?
    I've been doin' quite a bit of researchin' and have learned a lot about Vanagon's, Westy's and Syncro's.  But I would really appreciate any tips you could give me about what to look for, buying expiriences you've had, and anything else you think I ought to know.  Thanks in advance!

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Pillard
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