Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2016 20:48:04 -0700
Reply-To: David McNeely <davmcneely40@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David McNeely <davmcneely40@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: '91 westy with 60k mi....$9 grand. on CL
In-Reply-To: <0de201d1e207$1ffb33e0$5ff19ba0$@busdepot.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
The link now lists it at $9K, I guess after the glowing report by a person
who had not seen the vehicle saying it was under priced.
On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 2:47 PM, The Bus Depot <vanagon@busdepot.com> wrote:
> > only 60k orig mi, and manual tranny.. cant believe nobody hasnt bought
> > this yet..
> >
> > http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/5687519353.html
>
>
> The fellow was willing to meet me 1/2 hour from my house so I gave it a
> look. It does appear to legitimately have been in the family since new; two
> generations were in the van when it pulled up and they seemed genuinely
> sorry to be letting it go. That being said, this Westy looks like it's
> been
> "let go" for a long time already. The odometer doesn't work, so the 60k
> miles is not verifiable. He said it stopped working shortly after the last
> inspection, about 9 months ago, and estimated mid to upper 60's. The
> inspection sticker was faded but it appeared to read a few hundred miles
> less than the odometer shows now, which would be consistent with a recent
> odometer failure, but to be honest I have seen Westies with 200k miles that
> didn't look half as rough as this one. The steering rack leaks. The trans
> grinds badly going into 3rd gear. The engine seems to be in good shape from
> a cursory look - no valve clatter, peppy on the highway, no oil or coolant
> leaks that I could see and the temp gauge hovers at around 40% from the
> bottom - but the oil light flashes constantly. He said it's done that for
> years. There is a faint coolant smell that seems to be coming from the rear
> heater core. The sliding door has about 3/4 inch thick Bondo that is
> cracking and it has been partially repainted the wrong color; not sure if
> the door could be saved. There is a minor dent in the passenger side front
> door and a crack in the front bumper. The paint is in very bad shape, no
> way it would buff out and look nice. However the body is very solid; I
> noticed no significant rust anywhere. The interior is filthy but had no
> major damage that I noticed. The front table and leg, the rear hatch
> screen,
> and the front curtain are missing. The A/C does not blow cold. The poptop
> canvas is shot. The sink pump and stove didn't work but I don't know if it
> had propane or water in it. He has no repair records for the vehicle, and
> said a buddy of his did any work it needed for cash. (Looked more to me
> like
> it just never got serviced.)
>
> It looks like you could clean this Westy up and drive it as it is with
> minimal work, until the steering rack gets worse or the trans finally gives
> out, but it wouldn't be pretty to look at. If you were on a budget, had a
> good used trans and did the work yourself, you could end up with a decent
> Westy with a low initial outlay and do the rest over time. But my overall
> impression was that once you gave this Westy everything necessary to bring
> it to say 8 out of 10 condition, you could probably have paid about the
> same
> for one that didn't need all the work in the first place. He was willing to
> go down to $7k cash-in-hand, which he said was his bottom price, but I
> passed. I have a friend who is kind of looking for one but I didn't think
> this one was worth pursuing even for $7k. Too bad.
>
> Ron Salmon
> The Bus Depot, Inc.
> www.busdepot.com
>
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