Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 21:25:50 -0400
Reply-To: mike <mayfly95@PAONLINE.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: mike <mayfly95@PAONLINE.COM>
Subject: Re: To buy or not to buy...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
She (he) will require maintenance, either by you if you enjoy the
rapture of knowing your vehicle intimately like some of us do OR a
competent mechanic whom feels the same way which BTW some of our list
members prefer.
You already know how a westy feels and the karma drawn from driving one,
this is not your normal everyday commuter. However with proper
maintenance it can be as my 87 is.
As far as reliability goes, if you have lived (suffered???) thru an 81,
a water-cooled 2.1L will be a pleasant improvement, IMHO.
I miss my 78 loaf, I couldn't drive it anywhere without the stupidest
grin on my face, especially in a suit freezing or sweating my butt off.
But I wouldn't trade my old 87 Wolf or my 87 Westy for a showroom
condition A/C bus after owning one of these.
I am looking for a 59-67 spliitie tho....
besides, we are always here for moral support when the heads start to
leak.
mike
87 westy
"Penberthy, Thomas" wrote:
>
> I used to own a '81 Westy named Steve. I bought him for $4200 in Eugene, OR
> in 1990, drove him 40k miles, rebuilt the engine, replaced the starter
> (twice), the alternator, the clutch, the brakes, and countless tail lights.
> In 1996, I returned Steve to Eugene, hung a For Sale sign on him, and was
> paid $4200 for the keys.
>
> There were things I loved about driving Steve. Tired? Pull over, pop the
> top, take a nap. Hungry? Send the passenger to the back to whip up a snack!
> Need to haul a load of rocks, some plywood, a whole bunch of really tall
> plants, and some 10' fence posts? No problem!
>
> There were things I hated about driving Steve. That time when the starter
> went out in Fort Rock, Oregon when I was 1/2 way up a windy, rutted dirt
> road in the middle of absolute nowhere (I had to pop start it in reverse
> backing down said road). The time when the alternator failed in slow-mo 3/4
> of the way to Friday Harbor, WA at 11:30 at night while moving all of my
> friend Kirk's stuff to his new home (slept in van crammed between boxes,
> unstrapped bike from roof, rode to Napa, bought new brushes, replaced).
> Being stopped twice the week I was in Canada for tail light outage (same
> tail light - I replaced it immediately after each stop).
>
> But now.
>
> Now I'm 31. I have a partner. We have a dog. We have a Zodiac boat with
> outboard. We like to travel. We like to eat and drink and sleep while
> travelling. My Honda Civic station wagon (never broken down in 250k miles,
> not even once) is inches from being too small for all of our crap.
>
> Yesterday I heard about an 86 camper Synchro with all options for sale.
>
> It CALLS to me.
>
> Here are my questions, to which I'd like some objective answers.
>
> 1. Is there a chance that an 86 vanagon with 120k miles (engine done at 80k)
> will be more reliable than my last one?
> 2. If I don't want to endlessly tinker with my car, if I just want it to
> *work*, is this the right car for me?
>
> I know that by posting this entreaty to the vanagon list that there's a
> degree of bias built in, but I figure you folks don't want a vanagon to go
> to the wrong home, right?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Tom
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