Good deal???

[louis-123]

ok iam looking to buy a vanagon
and ive found some1 selling a 78 vanagon(not a camper edition)
the guy told me theres a few perforation on the body but its in a overall not that bad shape..he says the mecanic is a-1 and transmission is also a-1 and thw van have 160 000km on it..
he told me it needs a new clucht (the one in it is slipping over 50 km/h)
and the vans also needs new brake but he says he have a brand new brake kit and 4 tires with 6000km on them
theres also no central bench(he didnt have it when it bought it)but its a 5 place legal vans...

so i want to know if its a good deal for 3000$ canadian(2,249.54 USD)
i could do the brake with my dad help but id have to go see a mecanic for the clucht...i havent seen the vans yet but i should go see it in 2 weeks...i know that at this price it probably need some inside work but iam ready to work on it has a project for the summer...

[indika]

I dont think so..
I'm looking at a westy '82 camper the guy is asking 3500.00 cdn. ontario certified. 170K Km, body in excellent shape, need new paint. engine rebuilt 20k ago.
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automatic timesheets

[louis-123]

ok,well thats an 82
iam looking at the older (round shape model)and they are hard to find here...anyway its the cheapest in those years i could find in quebec...if u know anyway place where i should check tell me

[Randy in Maine]

As you have realized by now the value of a Vanagon (80+) or a Baywindow (68-79) is really determined by the lack of rust and the body quality. It can be kind of labor intensive and expensive to do bodywork. Much more than replacing an engine or even a transmission. We all want a nice body though so they are worth more.

Here are a couple of links (really more for Westies but a lot of it works for Vanagons and passenger buses as well). I am sure there a lot more out there, but these are the ones I have on my links.

http://www.busdepot.com/links.jsp#GUIDE

http://www.gowesty.com/campermodeloverview.html

http://homepage.mac.com/ratwell/BuyingGuide.html

At least it will give you something to read for a while.

[louis-123]

ok so from what i understand from these site is that rust is my biggest enemy!
like i said i havent seen the truck yet so i cant say anything about that saw a small picture of it but not enough to see any rust(lol)
so in the opinion where are the worst spot for rust,i know that its really hard to get a rust free bus here since its winter 5 months ayear(lol...)only way would be to be very lucky(like my parents they got this nice vanagon with practilly no rust(havent run in winter,well except this winter but we got an anti rust treatement...))anyway i wouldnt mind doing some body work,this truck will probably sit in my backyard for a month or 2(heck maybe for the whole summer,cuz i want to make it all nice before it gets on the road..)so ill be working on it
and ill try to rent a paintbrush place where i could paint it myself,so i would repare or "patch" the rust....
so like i was saying where should i look when ill go see it for the worst rust spot?

[Methanolab]

I would agree. Bodywork is the pits unless you are really good at it and have a lot of experience. It is easy to patch a hole or a dent, and with a lot of effort you can even shape it right and maybe even get it to look un-repaired. But unless you are meticulous in you procedures, know what you are doing (get a good body work book and read it before doing anything), and very experienced. It will crack, look like crap, and/or rust out again in a year. The worst spots are structural areas, seams, door bottoms, door sills, and under window/windshield trim. Basically all rust sucks except surface rust and a nice little hole in a flat panel that you can get to both sides of with no other rust anywhere. If you want it to be beautiful and have it for a long time I would wait, if you want a summer project that is a great learning experience. Go for it.
--Chris