Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 18:28:22 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: any words of wisdom for a virgin to the world of westy's?
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTikVvnQUjiBzHh_ydJoHtlINTn4XVkQlqodlJlXp@mail.gmail.com>
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Where is this "avoid round headlights" stuff coming from? The round
headlights are doubtlessly the better of the Vanagon's two versions,
if indeed headlights are the issue. It they are not the issue, but are
merely a convenient way of roughly dating a vanagon into earlier and
later models, I'm not so sure about that either.
The Vanagon is a platform for a lot of variations (campers, "pickups,"
diesels, gas, work trucks, show cars, daily drivers, restored,
ready-to-restore, parts cars, sunroof, and more), that is something
that endears them to their various owners. To say one year is
necessarily better than another, well, it all depends on what you are
looking for. In general, you will get what you pay for and that has
little do do with the age of a vehicle that is going to be almost 20
years old at the least. There are certainly no years I could think
that would qualify for a "don't buy" list except the first two
aircooled years, and I actually think that in the hands of people who
know what they are doing, those could be reliable and rewarding too.
GoWesty makes a big deal out of how slow the diesel is and how most
people wouldn't want one. But as an example of my point, go over to
the Yahoo! diesel-vanagon list and see how many of the 750 members you
could talk into giving theirs up.
Jim
On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 6:15 PM, Peter K <bybike@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am looking at getting my first westy, and have spent the past couple of
> weeks looking through gowesty and thesamba to see what knowledge i can
> glean... along with reading all the the info here for the past week or so.
>
> i'm not a mechanic, although i'm good with simple machines (i love bicycles,
> and am looking for a westy to keep my bikes company : ) I work with
> computers, and don't love them... 'nuf said. So after a couple of weeks of
> reading, I think I'm on that page "are you a eurovan guy or is a vanagon in
> your future"... and as much as I appreciate the creature comforts of the
> eurovan, I think it's a vanagon. So... now what?
> I'm up in Canada (Toronto), and importing one from the States seems like a
> lot of added effort. Most of the ones I see up here are out on the west
> coast, which means I need to ask and assess remotely or spend a lot on
> airfare to visit. I do get the "avoid round headlights" level of info I have
> (so '86 or later), I don't know enough to be able to assess what leaks or
> malfunctioning parts are the ones that will have big $$$ signs attached. And
> rust... well, where is it really bad and if I see it I should stop dreaming
> vs just an indicator of some body work and paint?
>
> I'm sure everyone here has gone through the newbie thoughts when they first
> got the westy bug... help?
>
> --
> /Peter K
>> You can find me at http://studiofstop.com
>
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