Date:         Tue, 5 Oct 1999 13:21:08 EDT
Reply-To:     ThingGuy@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Lashley <ThingGuy@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Back from Germany - No more Westfalia Campers
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

My wife and I are back from our business trip/vacation to Germany.  We got in
late Friday, and I'm still catching up on business and sorting through the
100 pounds of catalogs and brochures I brought back with me.

I took at least a dozen rolls of film and around 150 additional digital
images.  It may take me a while to get these up on the web.  I'll sort out
the best to post.

I had an interesting meeting with a rep from Westfalia.  She says that there
will never ever again be a Westfalia camper available in North America.  She
wouldn't say why, but there is more to the story that I don't know.  I
reminded her that we currently have a Westfalia Weekender available through
the VW dealer.  I went over the Westfalia Accessory catalog with her, and to
tell you the truth, most items in the catalog I already offer on my web site,
and source through different suppliers.

VWOA had decided not to offer any of the Westfalia accessories here in N.
America.  I'm looking into getting permission from VW to import these
directly, as VW has sole rights to the items, even though they don't offer
them.

My wife and I traveled around Germany for 2 weeks in a '99 Westfalia
California camper.  This is a poptop camper on the short wheel base T4 with
TDI motor and 5 speed.  I was truly amazed that this diesel motor has the
driving characteristics of my 5 cylinder T4 gas engine.  I was able to keep
up with traffic and we got fantastic mileage as well.  This at least doubles
the mileage of my '93 EV.

I took her out on the Autobahn and only felt comfortable with a top speed of
140 kph, which is a little over 90 mph.  I think there was more room there,
but I didn't feel the camper handled well over that speed.

I don't know a lot about the Westfalia T4s that were offered in North America
in the past, so I can't compare.  Truth is, any T4 is pretty rare around here
(St. Louis).

What I can tell you is that this camper had a VW option furnace/heater,
diesel powered and mounted under the floor behind the driver's seat.  There
was a long cabinet against the driver side wall that held the refrigerator,
stove, sink and storage.

The frig was interesting as it was a top load compressor unit that was
labeled" Made by Westfalia for the Dometic Corporation, (don't remember the
city) Indiana".

I wonder if they got that label a little mixed up.

The unit worked great.  It ran off of shore power or off the spare battery.
We kept it running all the time and the battery power never dropped below 12
volts, even when parked all night without shore power.

The diesel heater worked great.  We used it only a couple of nights.  All the
electrical functions are controlled by a central panel above the front seats.
 I powered the heater on and kept turning down the temperature, but ended up
turning the heater off as it would get too hot.

The gas stove was a Westfalia labeled double burner unit connected to the
sink.  The gas bottle was mounted in a sealed cabinet in the rear of the T4
and along with the water tank, was accessible by opening the rear hatch.   In
my opinion, this is a great setup.  The water tank was over on the passenger
side and had a swing out/up spout for filling it up (very nice)  There was
also a gray water tank under the camper with a drain valve in the bottom of
one of the cabinets.

All in all, the camper was nice.  The beds however were very uncomfortable.
I ended up taking the top mattress down and laying it over the lower bed to
offer just a little more comfort.  I expressed this to the Westfalia rep, who
my wife said looked very offended by it.  She did ask how we liked the camper.

This is getting really long so I will try and rap it up.  The next post I'll
talk about the VW dealer and all the T4 accessories they have that are not
available in N. America.

Steve Lashley
'66 Westy
'74 Campmobile
'93 EV MV
<A HREF="http://eurocampers.com/">http://EuroCampers.com</A>
Importing German Side Tents, Carver Propane Heaters and other Accessories for
Bus, Vanagon and EuroVan