Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 13:35:26 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: rear seat swap
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well...........replacing a Westy ( with kitchen removed ) with a Carat or
passenger van won't really cut it, for many that is.....
since the pop top is an advantage.......if nothing else, for the increased
headroom ......and increased upper storage room if you remove the upper bed
cushions......
so there IS a lot to loose, in my opinion, going to a non-pop top vanagon
of any sort, compared to one with a pop top ......
and the combo of pop top and no kitchen ............that also gives you the
most interior volume that any regular vanagon can have, not counting
high-roof ones, adventurewagons etc.
There's also the factor.....many times, that someone has put thousands
....of dollars or hours dialing in their vanagon 'just so' ......
and moving to another van largely looses all that investment, or can. Or
cause a lot of work swapping the thing over.
Then there's the factor of just being attached to the Westy .......great
memories of trips.........etc. , something that just can not be replace by
another vanagon .....even though on paper it might be twice as good as the
old one.
I've also seen this occur a number of times .......I ended up with some
cool car .....or van .......just loved it ........brought it back to live
from near dead........did dozens of things to it , got great fun out of it
........and then, a similar but newer one came along ..........every time I
switched to the newer model.........
'somehow' it just was not the same as my first one. Cars tend to grow in
wieght and features as the model years go by ..........there can be nice
simplicty , even a 'rawness' to earlier models that later ones don't have.
Sure they might have this or that better...........but where there is some
emotion involved with the old van ............or lots done to it
etc...........sure, sometimes a newer one is a step forward, but sometimes
it may not be too. Considering the fact that the old one is all registered,
paid for , may have passed a smog check, is insured .......all that
..........all that is stuff you don't have to do over again .....if you
don't get a newer model.
I do think it's smarter to keep Westy's intact ........absolutely, but I
could understand someone wanting to turn theirs into a weekender too.
Besides, the westy kitchen stuff can be used quite effectively to improve
other vanagons.
anyway ........what fun we get to play with these beauties !
Anybody want to buy a 1979 Mercedes 4.5 liter V-8 engine to put in their
vanagon ? it comes with a 1978 450 SLC 4 seat sports car attached to
it.....through the car is for free........just buy the engine, very
reasonable price.
scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Wilford" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 3:58 AM
Subject: Re: rear seat swap
> Warren, why don't you just buy another Vanagon (passenger). You should
> be able to pick up one pretty cheaply. The Westys are so desirable that
> it is ashamed to rip the camping equipment out of one that is actually
> in decent shape. You could sell your Westy, then find a really nice
> passenger or Carat Vanagon for less money and just put the money
> difference in your pocket for future repairs, etc. Just an idea. I
> have never done this type of conversion before. Everyone I deal with
> wants to do the opposite of what you want to do (put camping stuff in
> their passenger van). Just my opinion. It is your van and you can do
> whatever you want with it.
>
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16
> www.vanagain.com
>
>
> Warren Lail wrote:
>> I found a rear seat from an 87 GL that I would like to install in my
>> 88 Westy. I plan to pull my kitchen stuff and essentially have a
>> weekender (need more room for the wife and the two dogs, and I always
>> cook outside anyway and I always take along a cooler). However, I
>> noticed that the rear heater is different; in my Westy it is under a
>> wooden box - in the GL it is in the center. Does anyone know if I
>> will require any special modifications to pull this off? Has anyone
>> done this before?
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>>
>> Warren in Santa Fe
>> 88 Westy "Billy Bones"
>>
>>
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