Date:         Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:51:24 -0700
Reply-To:     Jon Brown <jbrown510@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jon Brown <jbrown510@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Low Mileage Syncro Westy for $6,000?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I can't beleive how often and how many times we all have to have this
conversation about the "value" of our vanagons...

I'm bothered by the ranting, complaining and outright slandering of Poptop
Heaven.  I know NOTHING about them, other than having noticed them off the
freeway one day driving in that area.  (funny how a vanagon anywhere catches
out eyes, isn't it).  Regardless they OBVIOUSLY do a good bussiness as they
sell a lot of vanagons and euorvans and I have yet to notice a single
complaint here or elsewhere from any of there actual customers.

Ranting/Complaining/slandering them because they didn't offer you enough for
your highly customized vans is, IMHO, rude and inappropriate.  1) you didn't
want to sell your van anyway.  2) They didn't offer to buy your van directly
anyway, they said they had a BUYER willing to pay $6k.  That means they have
a buyer that said "if you can get me a syncro westy for $6k I'll buy it".
That's the rality of who thier list of buyers is.  3) If they were buying it
themselves they are still only going to offer what they feel they can buy it
for and collect some fair profit for in resale after "cleaning it up". Given
the number of vans they sell I trust they have a good handle on what that
typically is.  Further, they are certinally going to be somewhat
conservative on anything they make an offer on sight unseen.

Yes, perhaps someone would pay 15k for your highly modififed van, but who is
that customer and does Poptop Heaven have them as a customer base?  Probably
not.  Poptop Heaven would have to pay 12k? 15k? 20k? for your van and then
have to sit on it for a year waiting for the "right" customer to come along
and pay for all the mods...  that's not thier bussiness.   You can't fault a
bussiness for running thier bussiness as they see most fit!

Put your van up on ebay if you want to sell it and sell it to the highest
bidder in the country...  then let us all know what you get for it.

The other thing everyone ought to rememember is this.  The people that LOVE
this highly modified vans....  have them.  When I bought my syncro westy it
was stock with a blown motor...  I knew I wanted an engine conversion, but
it wasn't until AFTER getting it that I starting adding awnings, a
decoupler, SA Brakes, etc... etc....  finding someone to BUY a customized
van for "accumulated value" is much harder than finding someone to buy a
stock van that they'll later slowly turn into thier own little 20k dollar
project.