I thought I'd share this brief story =
with the
list because the list played a role in saving me from the
precipice....Thank you =
all....
I am a lucky owner of a super clean =
'89 Westy
with 34k original miles.
Bought it a few years ago when it =
had only 27k. It was unbelievable. The camper =
had never
been used, the original blue =
celophane was (and
still is) wrapped tight around the =
stainless
cover for the stove.
The body was perfect, the motor =
strong.
Everything was mechanically perfect. It had all the original reciepts, =
manuals,
floormats, record from date of entry into US,
even an original '89 Vanagon sales brochure from =
the dealer
the guy had bought it from. It was truly a rare
find.
We've really enjoyed it but unfortunately we haven't =
used it
as much as we had hoped, and so when
it came time to purchase another family vehicle for =
around
town, we decided reluctantly we would
sell the Westy. It was hard. Gut wrenching. I =
polished her up
and the Wolfram Grey Metallic sparkled
like new. There is hardly a ding anywhere. I =
contemplated
putting a note to the list =
but started
with my local paper, and at over $20k. The second caller said he'd buy =
it, but
wanted to have it checked by his mechanic about 80 =
miles
away. Knowing that it was mechanically perfect, I =
agreed but
couldn't get it down there for a few days. In those days I kept coming =
back
here, checking the list, and talking to friends, =
my wife,
and eyeing the Westy in its like new state in the garage. How could I do =
this, I
said to myself. How would I ever replace her? Do I =
want to
start over with a 60-70-80+k miler a few years down the road? In the =
end, I
couldn't do it. I felt really bad but I called the guy and said I =
couldn't do
it. He sort of understood, but he knew what he had lost. If he had =
bought it the
day he looked at it, it would be gone and I would be lost.
So I'm glad to be back, in the fold, with my cherry =
'89 Westy.
It was scary. But the list and vanagon.com helped bring me back into the =
excitement I had when I bought my first camper, a '72, then the '80, and =
now the
'89. Whew!! Thanks to everybody!!
billc
'89 Westy
(photos/website avail on request)