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Date:         Tue, 1 Apr 2008 18:25:45 -0700
Reply-To:     aatransaxle <daryl@AATRANSAXLE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         aatransaxle <daryl@AATRANSAXLE.COM>
Subject:      Re: This GoWesty is really starting to annoy me....
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
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True story and not to inflame (too much)..I had a local to me guy who was down there buying a van and they said.."Oh by the way it needs a transmission rebuild..." He says wait a minute..you didn't tell me that before..whats wrong with it..The GW guy said "Oh its dirty..." The guy jsut about fell on the floor, excused himself and called me to ask if they were for real...I said . .get what you originally talked about and run don't walk and get back home...IF it breaks down the road, deal with it...that was 2 yrs ago or so... Gotts to give them credit...They do know how to make a buck. Daryl of AA Transaxle (425) 788-4070 aatransaxle.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "BJ Feddish" <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 11:11 AM Subject: Re: This GoWesty is really starting to annoy me....

> Sorry but things have just moved past me allot farther than I noticed. It > does not seem that long ago that I was in Craig's position (who wrote "so > it > turns out i like vanagons.....") out there on the weekend replacing one > burnt engine with another used one. I did the exact same thing in college, > I > had to sell my car stereo to pay for a used beetle engine. I also had to > go > remove it myself in VA. Fast forward to the 80's and I purchased a '72 > Helsinki Westfalia for $400 with a blown engine. $1,500 later I was on > the > road. In 1996 I got my present 1983 Westy as a daily driver. My mechanic > had just rebuilt the engine, new paint, new coolant pipes, AC, etc. He > charged me $3,500 plus I gave him my old engineless '84 GL. I drove that > van back in forth to work for years. All in all the point of driving VW's > were twofold, the first one was that they were cheap and second they have > some magic power over you that for some people just cant shake. I have > hundreds of pictures from camping over the last 20 years and I don't see > myself ever kicking the VW camper habit. I love this thing. Probably > about > 7 years ago I was taking a route to a clients site that required lots of > highway merges. The 1.9 could not handle it. I decided on a 3rd car at the > time. I purchased a Subaru Legacy. I still drove the '83 around town and > it > has always been my pickup truck. What I really hadn't been noticing was > the > disappearance of all the VW vans around here. Back in '96 there were still > plenty of Vanagons around here and even bay windows. During that whole > time > my van has been, and still is, a partial daily driver and our camper. Now > it's probably 1 of 3 in my town. I guess I have not been paying as much > attention as I should. Nobody are driving these things to work anymore (OK > a > few), they are storing them in their garage and bringing them out for a > camping trip. Somewhere over the last 12 years it went from $3,500 for a > new engine, paint, etc. to $25,000+ and I wasn't paying attention. > > > I have no doubt that GoWesty sells a good van. I have also never heard a > complaint from one of their customers. It's just that I feel they charge > way above and beyond the restoration cost of the vehicle. If it came time > for me to buy a restored van or restore the one I have I would not have > them > do it. This is just a matter of opinion. I feel I can get the same quality > job for les money somewhere else. I also find it humorous that they buy > these vans super cheap and tell me it would not be in my best interest to > just buy it from them as-is. They ALL "need" to be restored. They also > play > the game where they "sell" you the van for say $5,000 then add the > restoration costs later. The game here is to keep the buyer from paying > sales tax on the completed vehicle. That can burn you down the road. > Sorry, > I can't jump on the "More power to ya!" bandwagon of charging high prices > just because you can. Nobody on this list seems to be yelling "Yeah > Exxon! > You made $40 billion this quarter in profits, way to go!". Sorry, this is > my > opinion and I'm not backing down from it. > > It's too bad that hippie chick can't buy your van for $1,500. If things > had > continued on the way they were going she could have bought mine for > $1,500. > I paid $3,500 for it back in '96, figure it'd be worth $1,500 today. Nope, > according to Berhards up in Allentown I can get $7,000 for my van now > which > seems ridiculous. Like I said, I never look at what my van is worth and > get > excited. The reason is I always plan on having a VW Van so the current > prices are what I'd have to PAY to buy a new one. . Astronomically rising > prices does not help me in that category. I just find it sad that these > vans are now becoming more of a collector's item and a toy for the rich > than > what they were meant to be. Luckily prices for parts, part in fact to > places > like Bus Depot, etc. have dropped dramatically over the last 12 years. > > And I'm still dreaming VW will build another camper. That would be great > that when I buy another camper in 10 years it would be something > relatively > recent even if used. > > Bryan


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