Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2015 12:24:02 -0400
Reply-To: Theodore Hoekman <thoekman@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Theodore Hoekman <thoekman@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Westy camping in Europe, home now, part 1
In-Reply-To: <55AA5F17.504@cox.net>
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A good friend of mine who has an identical 95 Eurovan Winnebago camper (EVC) to mine did the same thing. Shipped it over, then lived in it and traveled for 3 years all over Europe and UK. They encountered a small number of campers with US/North American plates on them. There were significant hoops to jump through in some jurisdictions, and the papers which made it clear you were going to take the van back to the US. They had Washington State plates, which drew a lot interest/queries. I had a vanagon westy for many years and continue to follow the vanagon mailing list since my daughter now has possession of my vanagon.
Ted
Theodore Hoekman
thoekman@gmail.com
19 York St.
Newbury, ON N0L 1Z0
(519)719-0342
Blog:http://Tedspassivesolarhouse.wordpress.com
On Jul 18, 2015, at 10:13 AM, mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET> wrote:
> We shipped our Westy over and camped in 10 countries. We covered about
> 6,000 miles in 2 months, mostly on secondary roads and smaller. We
> stayed at public and private campgrounds and often took trains or buses
> from them into the cities for tourist activities. The camping was easy
> and the people were friendly. Our Calif plates stood out and people
> gawked at them everywhere we went, at times like we were in a UFO. I
> can't tell you how many times someone saw the front plate and then went
> to the back to see if it matched, then scratching their heads. The only
> other vehicle we saw with US plates was an aircooled Westy, with
> European plates in the normal spots but a couple of old US plates
> screwed onto the back hatch. In the last weeks of our trip we started
> using more high speed roads to cover ground quickly. We probably should
> have done some of that earlier but I wanted to see more real towns and
> not just ones on the major routes. We tried not to drive at all in the
> streets of bigger cities but it happened sometimes.
>
> Depending on where we were there were few if any other T3 models on the
> road but in some places in Germany they were a common sight. Lots of
> camper variations and with as many truck versions as vans, often in
> commercial use. In Italy we were approached daily by people wanting to
> buy ours and this happened in other countries too. Our van is not
> perfect but it looks better than most of the other T3 campers we saw.
> Newer VW camper vans were everywhere at the campgrounds and I stopped at
> a VW dealer to have a quick look at a T6 Westy poptop model.
>
> We had no mechanical issues of any kind. I added air to the tires and
> oil to the engine. We used 1/2 quart every 2000 miles. Coolant level
> stayed steady. I believe the 87 Westy has the original engine since that
> is what the PO told me and the engine serial number is correct for the
> vehicle manufacturing date. The heads are not original though.
>
> We left the van there in storage so we could return and do it some more.
> There is a lot left to see and unusual heat kept us from seeing some
> places we had planned on. I'll be taking a 3 window canvas to install
> next time so heat won't matter as much.
>
>
> Mark
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