Date:         Sat, 11 May 96 14:52:55 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Unusal Vanagon version - anyone else see this before? <long>

On Sat, 11 May 1996 13:11:07 -0500 <Ryan75@aol.com> said:
>Carat that appears to be designed as a businessman's express, ...
>alloy wheels with 13 holes around the perimeter.
>-Six bucket seats in 2 x 2 x 2 arrangement, middle pair swivel 180 degrees
>-folding table mounted to sidewall with light (different from US Carat or
>-mouldings around windows that include swiveling ball type lights (and light
>-molded armrests for rear seats; they start in the luggage area and flow all
>  I'm curious to know if this version ever went into production, how many
>were made over what time period, and if these interior parts might be
>available somehow (outside of the US, I assume).

i have three pictures of what i think is the same van: it has license plate
'H-SE 5496' on the front and these captions to the picures:

VW Caravelle Carat: Der Top-Bus im VW-Programm hebt sich auch au:sserlich
   von den anderen Caravelle-Varianten ab.

Carat-Innrenraum: Vier Einzelsitze, Ablageschra:nkchen, Tisch und hochwertige
Verkleidungen schaffen eine noble Atmospha:re.

Standesgema:sses Extra fu:r den Carat: Eine Klimaanlage sorgt fu:r
angenehme Innentemperaturen.

these are in a chapter entitled: 1983 - Edel-Bus und Caravelle.

as best i can figure out from the german text of the chapter, it was a
"program" car ... based on a "study" done in 1979 ("Traveler-Jet"???).

however, there was a company named Dehler who made aftermarket conversions
that looked a lot like this on the inside (but had even MORE body styling
additions on the outside) ... very expensive (they were/are a custom yacht
building company) ... like 100,000DM each. :(

also Oettinger made some custom jobs that resembled the interior. again,
very expensive (and with a custom-built six-cylinder wasser-boxer engine
of their own (?) design).


joel