Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 23:25:02 -0600
Reply-To: Clifford P Gottschalk <cgotts@JUNO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Clifford P Gottschalk <cgotts@JUNO.COM>
Subject: '85 Vanagon Westfalia for sale (somewhat long)
Content-Type: text/plain
Hello All:
I have been a lurker for almost 5 years on this site and have to
admit I have enjoyed it most of the time. An occasional e-mail war
against a number of the businesses that deal with us on Vanagon stuff -
but as a whole, a fairly good bunch. I have had Westfalia Camper buses
for a number of years and when my dad mentioned that he wanted to sale
his '85 Westfalia - I jumped on it. My dad went over to Germany, with
his wife, and purchased this one brand new from the factory. They drove
it on vacation there and then had it shipped here to the USA, of which it
was put into US specs. Since that time till about 4 years ago, he has
owned it and is quite meticulous about keeping things looking nice.
Something about his German heritage. When he mentioned that he wanted to
perhaps sell it - I couldn't resist. His stuff is like brand new and
since he lives in San Antonio, Texas - there wouldn't be any issues of
rust. So I purchased it from him. Anyway, to make this long story short
- my family is now up to 6 total. When I purchased this bus, I was only
a family of four. I just love this bus, but my wife dreads going camping
with the family. Just getting to crowded and I hate to have to admit
it, but I need something bigger - so I am regretfully listing my
Westfalia Camper bus for sale. Here are some of the details. As stated
above, this is a 1985 Westfalia, beige in color with brown/tan interior,
automatic, factory air conditioning, has a total of 160,000 miles with a
German rebuilt engine at 130,000 miles,
Alpine AM/FM/Cassette Stereo and all systems work great - refrigerator
works in all three modes, the water pump runs water, the front headlights
were converted to the newer ('86-'91) square headlights and grill. The
interior is in mint condition, no rips, tears, or discoloration, just as
nice as new. The exterior has no rust what so ever, clean as new, and
paint is in excellent condition, chrome bumpers straight, doors shut
nicely, smoothly, sliding door closes just perfect. Pop Top in mint
condition - canvas in great shape, no tears, clean, no mildew, just a
beautiful bus all around. Anyone who has seen it says it is the nicest
bus they have ever seen for this age. The engine and transmission run
really well, the antifreeze has been changed every two years with phosp.
free antifreeze. The transmission gets a new oil & filter every two
years, engine every 3,000 miles. I work as a jet mechanic and have
enjoyed this bus very much (guess you can't tell from my e-mail). Now
for the extra's: Included with this bus is a factory 5th seat - the one
everyone is looking for and in excellent condition. It also has a class
two trailer hitch installed and I am also including a German side tent
that interfaces the camper bus. It is the model that stands on its own
and you can drive away from it and then come back and hook up to it. It
is a really nice tent to complement the Camper. The bug net for the rear
door, and the front windshield cover is also included. I just put in a
new NAPA 65 month battery and am also throwing in my Bentley Workshop
manual and a number of extra parts. I am not sure I will include these
items, but if I get what I am asking, I will include these items as well.
I have been planning on converting this bus to a manual transmission
and have acquired almost all the parts to do the swap. I was able to
find a gentleman who was parting out an '85 7 passenger bus and removed
all the necessary parts I needed to do the swap. I have a good running
transmission (I was able to install this transmission into my other
Vanagon - I own two, other one is an '89) and ran it for 2,000 miles - I
didn't want to begin this swap to later find out I had a bad
transmission. So I ran it to be sure it was a good one. I also have all
the shifter stuff, new flywheel, pedal assembly and associated parts,
CV's & drive axles, etc. I also picked up a brown heater deflector for
up front (when you remove the auto shifter assembly, there is a big hole
in the deflector), and also another front carpet for a manual
transmission vehicle with a manual shifter, in the same color as
original. So as you can see, I have almost everything to do this right.
Only thing I am missing is the clutch master cylinder (I was planning on
purchasing it new anyway). There are also a number of other extra spare
parts like AFM, fuel pump, ignition parts, hubcaps, etc. Now for the
price: I have been told from a number of people that my bus is worth at
least $8,000.00 dollars alone. I will sale everything above for
$8900.00. Bus is in very drive-able condition and would not hesitate to
drive it anywhere. I live in Utah, a small town about 65 miles North of
SLC, and when the first sign of snow came, it was put into storage, so
the bus never saw salt laden roads till Spring. I just couldn't bear to
see it get destroyed with the salt around here. It has always been
garaged, by my dad & myself and it is really in excellent condition. I
will be getting some digital pictures of it shortly and if anyone is
interested, drop me a line. I felt I would give you folks a shot first
before I put it on other places. There's alot more to say but don't want
to take any more bandwidth. Thanks again for the fun I have had with
this site and the enjoyment of being a Westfalia Camper Bus owner. Cliff
G.
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
|