Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 19:16:15 -0800
Reply-To: pedro dos santos <pedrokrusher@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: pedro dos santos <pedrokrusher@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Passenger van to westy pop top conversion?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Hi volks, I'm sorry if you may have seen my message
before, because I have tried to send it twice
yesterday night, So here I go again with some slight
modifications...
Hi Volks
I feel like I have to get involved in this thread,
specially in "the not worth the money" part. Do I know
what I'm talking about?... Yes, the whole shebang
transplant is done on my van. So if you want to hear
the experience from somebody that is very happy with
it, read on.. If you want to whine about, then delete!
First, I have to say that there is only one way of
doing this job and it is the hard way. When it is
gonna be time to sell it (hopefully never!), nobody
wants a half-ass job. Karl Bloss had a hard time
selling his without the top bed...
Which one is the "real" right way? Personnaly i am not
sure, but my bodyshop friend said by cutting at the
window pillars and transplanted from there. I could
not do it this way because the rain gutters from my
donor van were very rusty. No cancer on my van! I did
it by cutting a hole in the roof and transplant
everything, including all the bed stuff. Was it a easy
job? A piece of cake to any bodyshop.
Keep in mind that I am trying to compare same
year/same options/same well cared van. It is not fair
to compare an aircolled 80 vanagon to a 91 full westy.
And of course, here where I live (Montreal,Quebec),
the westys are worth like gold. I could have imported
a multivan from Califormia for cheap. For one I have
talked with people that had done the imports and there
is a lot of work and money involved. And two, I did
not want other peoples problems. You know that it is
better to deal with the devils you know than to deal
with the ones you dont know. I own my van since 1996,
garaged every winter, and done a lot of work on it
myself with the help of my dad.
Ok, the money part. I will tell you guys all the true
about what I have spent on it. Some will find any kind
of excuse to justify that it is not worth it.
OK, of course, I had a dilemma. Sell my loved and
cared 91 vanagon GL with Carat interior for lets say
5000$Can. That is the absolute maximum I could get for
it here in Montreal, Quebec Canada. And buy a 91
multivan for 12000$Can (at the time there was only
that one multivan for sale, today there is another one
and the asking price is 16000$Can. Way overboard
IMHO). We are NOT talking about full westys, then you
would have to calculate all the extra stuff... That I
dont want anyway.
Ok, lets do the math together fellas. I sell my van
for 5000$Can if I am lucky, and then get from my
pocket another 7000$Can???? Am I missing something????
Now the real cost of the transplant. 500$Can for the
pop-top donor cut at the window pillars (300$US bought
from Chris Turner, thanks!). Plus 400$Can (250$US from
busdebot) for a brand new 3 window canvas. Another
100$Can for the pop-top seals. And 2000$Can for the
transplant job done by my friends bodyshop (cost
include cutting, welding, painting van from gutters up
AND paint pop-top fiberglass in matching grey, upper
bed installed as original, etc, etc...). Total cost in
canadian dollars: 3000$Can. How much did I save to
finally have my dream multivan??.... 4000$Can.
So everybody, get to you calculators and tell me that
it is not worth it. :-)))))))))))))))))))))
Ok, what it is worth now with the transplant job? I
have talked to the bodyshop friend and some other
people that have seen my van. They said minimum
10000$Can to be safe. Then more depending on the
actual mechanical state. Is it still worth it........
YES.
Pedro dos Santos
91 vanagon GL + carat int + pop-top transplant
85 ddcab project
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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