Date:         Sat, 11 Jan 1997 10:03:19 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         VWnut@smus.bc.ca
Subject:      Re: Vanagon high-roof sighting

> Hey all,
> Today while driving by the local VW dealer I saw a Vanagon sitting in the
> lot apparently awaiting servicing.  Why anyone would take it to the dealer
> is beyond me, but that's another story :) .  This Vanagon was an air-cooled
> model and had a non-Westfalia camper coversion.  It had a white fiberglas
> roof similar to the roof on David Schwarze's Safare camper, with the
> sliding windows on the sides of the high-roof.  The camper was beige and
> the roof was white, looked like it added a couple feet to the van.  Anyone
> know what company made this type of conversion for Vanagons?  Could it have
> been a Safare?  
> 
> I've not seen this one around town before, thought it was kinda interesting
> :)

There are several early 80s Vanagons around here like that, made by 
GetAway Vans. I test drove an '82 diesel model which was a tad 
slow. I mainly wanted to look at the diesel engine bay, since I had 
never seen one up close. The ones I've seen have lots of storage 
(front & rear areas of the top), but NO sleeping area up top, which 
is a poor design IMHO. Also, the rest of the van used Westy cabinets, 
stove, fridge, etc, with the upper cabinets made to match, albeit 
of different materials.

Shawn & Janis Wright
'88 Westy (336k) '85 Jetta TD (363k)
VWnut@smus.bc.ca (swright@smus.bc.ca)
http://www.islandnet.com/~swright/vw.html