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trihartsfield
Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2010
Posts: 398
Location: Sheridan, MT
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 Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 11:02 am Post subject: New Westalia (Americas) |
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Anyone know how they obtained the name?
https://westfalia-americas.com/
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1971 Transporter-SOLD
1982 Westy Will grow up into a TDI |
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vanagonjr
Samba Member
Joined: October 07, 2010
Posts: 3521
Location: Dartmouth, Mass.
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Shonandb
Samba Member
Joined: January 12, 2019
Posts: 1675
Location: Vancouver, BC
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 11:08 am Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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From the website:
In 2019, Roadtrek proudly became part of Group Rapido LLC, a pioneer in the RV industry known for its innovative spirit since Constant Rousseau’s invention of a canvas folding caravan in 1961. This partnership brings Roadtrek, the manufacturer of the Westfalia brand in North America, into a lineage of excellence. Sharing a passion for customer satisfaction, top-notch quality, and meticulous attention to detail, Roadtrek and Rapido are united in their mission to elevate your travel experience.
Westfalia continues to symbolize adventure and freedom worldwide and now, produced in Ontario, Canada by Roadtrek Inc., Westfalia makes its must-anticipated return to the North America market with the launch of the 2024 Westfalia Wave.
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76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
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trihartsfield
Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2010
Posts: 398
Location: Sheridan, MT
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 11:13 am Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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So was that name ever copyrighted by VW?
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1971 Transporter-SOLD
1982 Westy Will grow up into a TDI |
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Zeitgeist 13
Samba Member
Joined: March 05, 2009
Posts: 12142
Location: Port Manteau
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 11:28 am Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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VW owned neither Karmann nor Ghia, yet still produced the Karmann Ghia.
Roadtrek seems like a legit outfit to produce a rig with the Westfalia nametag. My dad has an '09 Roadtrek SS Agile and its pretty sweet, relative to other North American produced RVs.
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Casey--
'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik? |
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kamzcab86
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 26, 2008
Posts: 8167
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:10 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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| trihartsfield wrote: |
| So was that name ever copyrighted by VW? |
There was no name to copyright/trademark. Westfalia GmbH was a subcontractor of Volkswagen; Westfalia, the company, did the camper builds for Volkswagen. Westfalia stamped their name on their creations, just as Karmann GmbH did on the VW Beetle Cabriolets, Golf Cabriolets, Sciroccos, Corrados, etc.
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~Kamz 
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
 1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子 |
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tdivan82 
Samba Member
Joined: September 17, 2023
Posts: 220
Location: Virginia
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:16 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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How did Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. "obtain" the name from Volkswagen AG? Locally incorporated subsidiary of a multinational company. Same thing here.
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- George
'82 Westy TDI
Last edited by tdivan82 on Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:17 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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kourt
Samba Member
Joined: August 13, 2013
Posts: 2143
Location: Austin, TX
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:16 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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Westfalia is and has always been a separate company, and was not a VW owned entity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfalia-Werke
They were a vehicle conversion subcontractor for VW, fitting campers from bodies supplied by VW.
This looks like a very wise branding development on behalf of Roadtrek for the North America market.
kourt |
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MsTaboo
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2006
Posts: 4394
Location: East Kootenay, British Columbia
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:17 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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| trihartsfield wrote: |
| So was that name ever copyrighted by VW? |
No, VW never owned Westfalia - they just subcontracted the camper conversion from Westfalia-Werke in Rheda-Wiedenbrück who became the official suppliers of the interiors.
However there were other companies who also made camper conversions, they just weren't linked directly to VW.
(Kourt beat me to it!)
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Currently:
'90 Syncro Westy 3 knob w/Zetec
The information age has morphed into the age of disinformation and willful ignorance. Agnotology!
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vanis13
Samba Member
Joined: August 15, 2010
Posts: 4022
Location: ABQ NM USA.... Except when not
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:45 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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Puke!
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace
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jimf909
Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014
Posts: 7915
Location: WA/ID
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 12:47 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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| kourt wrote: |
This looks like a very wise branding development on behalf of Roadtrek for the North America market.
kourt |
Bingo. Winnebago recognized that Winnebago was the wrong brand name for the kids who wanted to buy a Revel Sprinter so they largely divorced the Revel from Winnebago. The Westfalia brand, with its reflections of cool old VWs, hits the bullseye for a company that wants to attract fresh eyes.
Airstream and Sportsmobile are two older RV brands that have cachet for younger buyers. Many other brands are your parent's lousy old RV.
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- Jim
| Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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kamzcab86
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 26, 2008
Posts: 8167
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 1:19 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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| MsTaboo wrote: |
| (Kourt beat me to it!) |
Apparently, my posts are invisible.
_________________
~Kamz
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子 |
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Xevin
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2014
Posts: 8251
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 2:22 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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Keep on Busin'
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!  |
| Clatter wrote: |
| Damn that Xevin... |
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Kdj
Samba Member
Joined: January 28, 2017
Posts: 211
Location: Naptown
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 4:49 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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| Too bad the built that on the Promaster chassis. For that money personally I would want a sprinter chassis. Think I’ll stick to trying to modifying my vanagon |
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trihartsfield
Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2010
Posts: 398
Location: Sheridan, MT
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 7:07 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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| Kdj wrote: |
| Too bad the built that on the Promaster chassis. For that money personally I would want a sprinter chassis. Think I’ll stick to trying to modifying my vanagon |
I don’t know that much about those chassis. What is the difference?
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1971 Transporter-SOLD
1982 Westy Will grow up into a TDI |
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dieseltdi
Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2006
Posts: 663
Location: Grapevine, Texas
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 8:30 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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Well for one they are front wheel drive with solid rear axles. I don't think they come in a 4wd version. I also think they are ugly as sin from both the front and the back, but that is just me. Others may think differently. I just think that the design team really didn't spend much time on the aesthetics of the vehicle. It has exposed hinges goofy front lights. JMTCW
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Currently:
1982 Vanagon Westy TDI conversion with Coast Mt. Hightop
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV
2015 Golf Sportwagen S TDI
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jimf909
Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014
Posts: 7915
Location: WA/ID
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| Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2024 10:44 pm Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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| trihartsfield wrote: |
| Kdj wrote: |
| Too bad the built that on the Promaster chassis. For that money personally I would want a sprinter chassis. Think I’ll stick to trying to modifying my vanagon |
I don’t know that much about those chassis. What is the difference? |
The Promaster is exclusively FWD and has this (below) remarkably low rear axle. It's primarily designed for pavement. The Sprinter is offered in 4WD and the aftermarket crowd is offering all kinds of suspension mods. Lots of RVs are built on both chassis marketed to different customers although there is some overlap.
_________________
- Jim
| Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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vanis13
Samba Member
Joined: August 15, 2010
Posts: 4022
Location: ABQ NM USA.... Except when not
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| Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 12:50 am Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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| jimf909 wrote: |
| trihartsfield wrote: |
| Kdj wrote: |
| Too bad the built that on the Promaster chassis. For that money personally I would want a sprinter chassis. Think I’ll stick to trying to modifying my vanagon |
I don’t know that much about those chassis. What is the difference? |
The Promaster is exclusively FWD and has this (below) remarkably low rear axle. It's primarily designed for pavement. The Sprinter is offered in 4WD and the aftermarket crowd is offering all kinds of suspension mods. Lots of RVs are built on both chassis marketed to different customers although there is some overlap.
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YIKES! that's worse than my stock Subaru oil pan!
These vehicles come with a 2yr road rescue warranty...guess they really mean ROAD rescue.
_________________
83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace
www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make |
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Xevin
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2014
Posts: 8251
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| Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 5:19 am Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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Many people don’t know the Promasters Italian roots. It’s a Ducato which is the base for 2/3s of all European RVs. My sister has one and they are fantastic for the road warrior. I believe more advantages than a Sprinter. One of them being cost to maintain. They do have a “crash sensor” that’s been known to stall out the van in off road terrain leaving people stranded because they didn’t know about the sensitivity of the sensor or read the owners manual how to reset the sensor.
Sprinters are better off road.
Wikipedia-
“The Fiat Ducato cargo van design has been adopted and is sold as the Ram ProMaster in North American markets, filling the gap created when Daimler ended production of the Dodge Sprinter in 2008. The goal was to increase truck sales "from today's 280,000 to 415,000 by 2014.”
The Toyota Pro Ace Max and other brands are rebadged Ducato’s as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Ducato
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Keep on Busin'
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
| Clatter wrote: |
| Damn that Xevin... |
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
| I respect Xevin and he's a turd |
| SGKent wrote: |
| My God! Xevin and I 100% agree |
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tdivan82
Samba Member
Joined: September 17, 2023
Posts: 220
Location: Virginia
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| Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2024 6:32 am Post subject: Re: New Westalia (Americas) |
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Sprinter electrical system also lends itself better to camper / RV conversion, with factory blocks under the seat for getting ignition signal, and high-amp 12v connection, amongst other things. Way more factory options as well, if you order new. I too would choose Sprinter every time over the Promaster for a camper or RV, no question. With the high output diesel engine and 4wd please. 
Promaster is good for urban tradesman, and package delivery. I think it's also only available with a gasser engine, at least for the US market. No thanks.
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- George
'82 Westy TDI |
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