TheSamba.com :: View topic - Should I trade my reliable sedan for a restored 1971 Westfalia?

Wed Aug 14, 2024 5:14 pm

EDIT: pics in reply below

It sounds crazy, but I have a 2013 Jetta with 180k miles and an offer to trade for a 1971 Westfalia with 50k, which in its restored state is worth considerably more, probably about double, than my Jetta. The owner urgently needs a car for his son.

For context, I am a poor student with limited cash and mechanical knowledge. However, I don’t have anywhere to be, could bike wherever I need to, and I believe that I could learn quickly how to maintain this bus. I also have good reason to believe that it has been meticulously restored and maintained - it is in immaculate cosmetic condition.

So, how dumb would I be to do this trade? Or could it be the adventure of a lifetime?

I appreciate any and all opinions.

Mods please let me know if this is the wrong place to post.

Wed Aug 14, 2024 5:18 pm

Welcome!
If you really don't have to count on it for daily transportation it's an interesting trade, how about some pics of this bus?, not everyone has the same definition of "restored" and "excellent condition".

Wed Aug 14, 2024 5:19 pm

Nothing is more expensive than stubbornness and a free bus.

Except now you have a bus and no car when the bus breaks down.

Can you sell the bus instantly for cash and buy another Jetta plus a sizable savings? That would be my move.

If you have ten grand set aside for immediate repairs, get it insured and take a road trip. Then what’s the worst that could happen, you have a cool chicken coop when the engine seizes on the interstate?

Pictures would be cool so we can point out the flaws and take your rose colored glasses off for ya.
Robbie

Wed Aug 14, 2024 5:44 pm

Sounds like a pretty good trade to me. When I finished University in 1990, I had a 1978 Honda Civic and was $30k in debt but I bought a 1973 VW Panel Bus for $1500 and somehow managed to spend the next 2.5 years (30k miles) travelling around North America and learned how to wrench on and keep the Bus running along the way.

Wed Aug 14, 2024 5:58 pm

busdaddy wrote: Welcome!
If you really don't have to count on it for daily transportation it's an interesting trade, how about some pics of this bus?, not everyone has the same definition of "restored" and "excellent condition".

Thanks all for the replies. I am certainly considering it. If it weren’t in good condition it would be a hard no, but from what I know about the owner (car guy) and the pictures below, I might have to go for it. As was said also, I could end up selling it for more than my Jetta is worth. But if it breaks down, it wouldn’t be optimal. I can get where I need to go by bike but it wouldn’t be ideal.
Pics below.

Wed Aug 14, 2024 6:15 pm

I guarantee you that this bus has far more than 50,000 miles on it.

That gaping hole in the rear panel suggests that it’s pretty rusty beneath the bright paint, in fact, it’s hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like it’s missing most of the outer rocker, you definitely need to have someone with experience do a thorough once over before committing to it.

That exhaust system looks suspiciously like it was cobbled together from shit on the shelf at an Autozone.

This is not a “restored” bus, this appears to be a poor attempt at polishing a turd.

But hey! Good news is that with limited money & mechanical skills, you’re far more likely to diagnose & fix a bus on the side of the road than the 2013 Jetta.

Wed Aug 14, 2024 7:21 pm

TDCTDI wrote: I guarantee you that this bus has far more than 50,000 miles on it.

That gaping hole in the rear panel suggests that it’s pretty rusty beneath the bright paint, in fact, it’s hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like it’s missing most of the outer rocker, you definitely need to have someone with experience do a thorough once over before committing to it.

That exhaust system looks suspiciously like it was cobbled together from shit on the shelf at an Autozone.

This is not a “restored” bus, this appears to be a poor attempt at polishing a turd.

But hey! Good news is that with limited money & mechanical skills, you’re far more likely to diagnose & fix a bus on the side of the road than the 2013 Jetta.

Thanks for the honest advice lol. I wouldn’t have spotted that. Anyone else care to chime in for or against me sacrificing my lovely Jetta?

Wed Aug 14, 2024 7:49 pm

I think there's a pretty good correlation between the people who think this is a good idea and the people that have no clue how much work and money it takes to maintain a vintage car as a daily driver.

That's before you get into repair of a fifty-year-old economy van when, not if, it breaks.

That's before you consider the safety and absolute lack thereof. I mean shit, the thing doesn't even have a back bumper.

I thought this question was a joke at first… It took me four years and almost $10k to get my bus from "fully restored" to "I can drive it across the country without hesitation." And that was doing 95% of the labor myself.

Robbie

Wed Aug 14, 2024 9:37 pm

But what is a 10+ year old Jetta with 180K on the clock worth?

I’d flip that bus and buy a better car.

Funny,
I’ve met two people in the last couple of weeks that sold reliable newer cars and bought 50-year old VWs as daily drivers.
They had no prayer.
If they had access to a well-equipped shop,
Or knowledge,
Or a lot of money,
Or were willing to dedicate a ton of work and time,
They would be fine.

But,
If you don’t know anyone with a shop,
Don’t know anything,
Don’t have money,
Don’t have a lot of ambition and time to work hard,
You’re not going to succeed.
That bus will quit, then it will rot.
It will be dead -and- ugly. Worth very little.

You can have only a bunch of money.
Nothing else, and be fine.

You can have only a shop - if it’s, say, your Dad’s..

I have seen people with only time, ambition, hard work and effort succeed.
They educated themselves and did whatever it took, making mistakes and spending all weekend greasy only to fail at a task many times.

Brother,
Don’t you think for -one- minute you have ANY idea how much of that is needed.
Those car shows on TV are fake. Reality TV is an oxymoron.

So,
Yeah,
We all started somewhere.
If rocking an old VW bus is your thing.
You can do it.
But it better be your thing, my man.
Your main thing…
It do NOT come easy.

It’ll only be something you do casually for just a very little while.
Otherwise it’ll be the same sad story evryone else tells about these things.

Wed Aug 14, 2024 9:54 pm

Usually,
Most often,
When a guy spends his time and money making paint and interior nice,
He’s burned out and broke by the time he gets to the mechanical stuff you don’t see.

So a bus that ‘looks really nice’ is far more likely to be a mechanical nightmare than one that is shabby and honest about its age.

I vote “Lipstick Pig”.

Thu Aug 15, 2024 3:29 am

2012 jetta bought used,with 16k miles on it in 2013, now with 248k miles on it. AC is toast, we replaced some fuel injection thing years ago (have the part, don't remember wtf it was) and tires, oil changes, brakes have been the major maintenance items. Driving the thing till it dies.

79 bus, bought used in 2010 with 104k miles on it. Engine overheated on way home, 0 oil preassure. Bought used engine for 400, paid about 1k to swap engines, make exhaust work as I had no clue at the time. Flogged that for 20k miles (there were a set of used heads swapped in at some point)till it overheated, had 0 oil pressure. Sensing a trend here??
Hauled out origional engine, disassemble, rebuild. Parts like 3500, machine shop a few hundred, and about 6 months of barn weekends to get it back in and bus running. Wife started calling herself a VW widow.
Now at 155k, temp. Gauge installed, no flogging allowed. Oil changes, tune ups, steady as we go.

There is no effing way I'd trade a 180k jetta for that bus. If it's such a great bus the owner should give it to his kid.

Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:27 am

Clatter wrote: I vote “Lipstick Pig”.
Me too, I'm really impressed by how they didn't even patch some of the holes before applying the shiny, a whole new low.

Thu Aug 15, 2024 11:02 am

I lent my 20 year old 150000 mile daily to my daughter, and keep the bus as my "daily" .. But I still own that daily driver as it is still quite good.

But I am 61, I do have a reasonable salary here in the UK, I work from home most days, my house is paid off, so when something big breaks I can afford it .

- like blowing up a stock 1600 T1 engine is £3500 new engine plus a weekend of my time - front suspension beam breaking £1000 new parts . Burning out a piston and replacing a head on a T1 engine £600 parts. A set of new tyres £400, a new wheel when the tyre place wrecked it £150 ., heated windscreen £400 (upgraded cracked screen) and so on. And all of these have happened in the last 20k miles on my bus.
My bus was a 48000 mile bus back in 2010.. its now a 155000 mile bus ..

If I were unable to afford it my bus would have become somebody elses £3000 project many times over in the last 13 years .

So I would say - get somebody knowledgable to give the bus a look over, but realistically the fact the guy wants your Jetta says something - he wont give the bus to his son but thinks the Jetta will last some years ... and for less outlay than the bus ..

Thu Aug 15, 2024 3:27 pm

Hey everyone, thank you all for the thoughtful consideration of my question (and roasts of the bus).

I have reached the conclusion that I will make the prudent decision to drive my Jetta into the ground instead of taking on what could be a monstrous project.

Although the romanticism of the idea of having an ol' bus is appealing, I know that it will fall to the wayside with school, work, and my other hobbies.

Maybe after I graduate.

Best to all!

Thu Aug 15, 2024 6:38 pm

Wise decision, it could have almost worked with the right bus, but that one has alot of hidden surprises that you just don't need at this point in your life.

Thu Aug 15, 2024 6:47 pm

samabbott06 wrote:
Maybe after I graduate.
good call. study hard, work hard, and develop a good career that will support expensive time-consuming hobbies such as vintage air-cooled vw buses.

oh, and pick a patient spouse.

good luck.

Fri Aug 16, 2024 3:47 am

samabbott06 wrote: EDIT: pics in reply below

It sounds crazy, but I have a 2013 Jetta with 180k miles and an offer to trade for a 1971 Westfalia with 50k, which in its restored state is worth considerably more, probably about double, than my Jetta. The owner urgently needs a car for his son.

For context, I am a poor student with limited cash and mechanical knowledge. However, I don’t have anywhere to be, could bike wherever I need to, and I believe that I could learn quickly how to maintain this bus. I also have good reason to believe that it has been meticulously restored and maintained - it is in immaculate cosmetic condition.

So, how dumb would I be to do this trade? Or could it be the adventure of a lifetime?

I appreciate any and all opinions.

Mods please let me know if this is the wrong place to post.

You would not be dumb to do it because you are a student

There are loads of busses out there, and $1000 lets you get anything in the 48 back to your home. Get out of school, get 50k in retirement before 30, then come back to toy ownership. Your reliable car is needed for that plan

Old guy who has won Lotto three times, not a strategy