Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 23:55:35 -0500
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: True Grit---
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
My Westy out front must mean I buy Vanagons.
I normally have two Westies in the drive, my personal unit and one I'm
restoring so they think I'll but theirs and they try to sell them to me.
I've turned down every Waser Boxer that was offered to me and one was an
89 Wolfsburg that was a beauty, I turned it down at $800.00 and the guy
that bought it got it for $650.00.
I didn't even give it a good look see but externally and the interior was
very nice, showing about 88K on the speedo.
I know I could have parted it out for a profit but my neighborhood is
250K homes and I'm just not going to crap on my neighbors by parting out
a van from my home.
The problem is that:
#1) I'm way,way upside down in my 83 Air Cooled Westy.
#2) The Wolfsburg was just a 7 person hauler, not much demand in Texas.
#3) I'm sitting on enough parts to restore about any 80-83 Air Cooled
Westy that comes my way.
#4) I know that the Waser Boxer engine requires expert rebuilding and I
don't have the equipment or experience to do a rebuild.
#5) Just generally speaking the Vanagons are just not popular in Texas
and have "Zip 0" resale value.
Certainly there will be Waser Boxer Vanagon owners in Texas that will
disagree but I just speak from what I see. The first thing I get from a
Waser Boxer seller is several price reductions immediately.
I've never had to discount one of my restored Westies. Course I don't try
to make a killing on them either.
Stan
On Tue, 28 May 2002 00:05:00 -0400 jhlauterbach <jhlauterbach@MSN.COM>
writes:
> Stan, you are most correct. When I bought my '84 in May '97, I paid
> $500 +
> 30 sales tax. I have spent over $5K over the past 5 years getting
> it in
> shape, and I still have a paint job to do. Of course, I have driven
> it
> to/from work most of the time that I have had the van.
>
> John Lauterbach
> Macon, GA
> '84 7-passenger
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stan Wilder" <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 11:31 PM
> Subject: Re: True Grit---
>
>
> > It was not my intention to strike fear in the hearts of every
> Vanagon and
> > Westy owner with my statement about spending your purchase price
> again
> > within a year of buying your vehicle.
> > I've never purchased an Air Cooled Vanagon and Westy from a list
> member
> > and most of the people that sell the vans are just members of the
> general
> > public and are not list members.
> > I've found that the sellers have just reached their maximum level
> of
> > endurance for keeping their vehicle running.
> > In many cases of Westies I've purchased to resurrect or Vanagons
> I
> > purchased for an economical parts source the vehicles have had
> extensive
> > and expensive repairs and maintenance done on them by local and
> even
> > authorized VW dealers.
> > I find one new head or often a VW Factory rebuilt engine and all
> kinds of
> > signs of recent new fuel pumps, ignition systems, brakes and every
> other
> > potential repair.
> > The glove box often has a good supply of repair tickets and parts
> > receipts.
> > Along with the stack of receipts I find many potential reasons for
> the
> > engine failure, this list is lengthy but I'll list a few; Engine
> Seal
> > Missing, Muffler Heat Shield Missing, Dropped Valve Seats,
> Hammered out
> > Valve seats, leaking cylinders, over tightened lifters, jumpers on
> the
> > full throttle switch, massive vacuum leaks everywhere, wrong spark
> wires
> > and wrong spark plugs, running Automatic Transmission Oil with the
> engine
> > oil to quieten lifters, running 10/30 motor oil..
> > Since I don't pay retail on these dead units it is very easy to
> double my
> > investment very quickly if I have to buy new parts to bring them
> back to
> > a safe dependable vehicle.
> > I quickly doubled my investment on my 83 Westy after I bought it
> in 1995.
> > I'm guilty of driving it like a normal car, pushing the speed,
> > overworking the engine and just in general making those miles
> without
> > really knowing anything about the proper care and maintenance.
> > After I blew #3 cylinder and bought a new set of heads in 1996 I
> started
> > getting a little smarter and started taking care of the little
> things
> > before they *stopped me in my tracks*,
> > I managed to get 140K out of the existing, recently rebuilt engine
> after
> > the above repairs over a periods of four years. I nearly wore out
> the
> > roads to the lakes and 500 miles a weekend was never a problem. I
> managed
> > to log a lot of miles going to Vicksburg MS and lots of trips to
> Houston
> > from Dallas.
> > I require myself to say this ......... If I had known how a really
> good
> > rebuilt engine would improve the vehicle, I'd have installed one
> the day
> > after I bought the Westy.
> > I suffered through about five years with just marginal performance
> and a
> > fair amount of tinkering trying to peak out a marginal engine.
> >
> > Stan Wilder
> > 83 Air Cooled Westfalia
> >
> > ________________________________________________________________
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>
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