Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:03:12 EDT
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Sightings in real life and not
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In a message dated 18/10/2007 12:19:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
I had a visit from a customer driving a 89 Westy Joker Turbo Diesel last
week. It was the first time I have seen a Joker in real life and it was
pretty cool. For those of you who may not know what one of these is they
are a permanently raised hightop like an Adventurewagen except made by
Westfalia and only sold in Europe. The interior in his looked very
similar to the interior of a normal poptop Westy with a few exceptions.
There was a factory cabinet near the sliding door that looks like a seat
and can be used as a seat. It is supposed to contain a chemical toilet.
The van also had a factory installed furnace and grew water tank. On the
Westy instrument panel where you normally flip that tiny switch to see
your water level, battery condition, and fridge light status there was
another small switch below the normal one. He told me this was for a
heater that heated the propane if the temperatures got really low (so
many degrees below zero). Also the propane tank was bigger than what we
would see here in the states. All of the windows in the camper area were
double pane plastic (similar to what a factory Westy skylight looks
like). It is supposed to give you a higher insulation factor for camping
but just like the factory skylights these windows go bad with age. I
would much rather have the glass ones myself.
There are quite a few of these around the Quebec ~ Ontario scene as Ralf &
RV Westfalia are importing them now for over two ~ three years. There were
three or four of them at Westies @ Watkins. AND they are not all as the one
you saw and described Ken. Westfalia made many different versions, with
different interiors, etc. One now belongs to my bud Cory who will be travelling
with it to Zamora for my daughters wedding in December > _Busesinzamora : Buses
in Zamora 2007_ (http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/Busesinzamora/) .
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
_Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
- Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2007
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