How did YOU get into Vanagons?

[Dampcamper]

...that I couldn't afford to keep running as I knew very little mechanical and had to pay somebody else. So I bought a newish '71 Super Beetle and an oldish '57 bus (in 1973). And "The Manual For The Compleat Idiot". Had a friend show me how to adjust valves, started doing everything myself, drove the "respectable" car to work and the not-so one for fun. Moved up to a '63, then a '64 bus (with those plywood platform beds and shag carpet interiors) and when I got a family we went a lot of places in those. Good times.
Eventually got out of the air-cooled vans, bought big old American cars and nearly bankrupted myself trying to keep them running. What a pain. Power everything, yeesh. And they weren't any fun.
In 1990 we needed another car and I found a '71 passenger bus, still have her with just over half-a-million miles on the chassis. A few years ago I went looking for a Westy Vanagon, something to take me into retirement with. I'm partial to diesels (easier for me to keep running) and the KISS philosophy (Keep It Simple, Stupid) so have a yellow "Banana Slug Bus", stock 1.6 liter. She isn't fast, but like the Energizer Bunny she keeps going and going...
It's funny how "old" that '57 bus was - 16 years! - when I got her. And now I'm driving one twice that old. And loving it.

[djkeev]

This is in old thread I stumbled across while searching a topic.

It is interesting to read and many of you have already posted here.

I thought it might be interesting to see what some of the newer members have to say.

My family has been car camping since I was 2 yrs old back in the 1950's.
I grew up setting up tents, breaking camp, rolling up tents, waking up wet after an unexpected night thunderstorm, hanging things to dry, huddling under an old canvas tarp as the skies dumped upon us at the picnic table, sitting in the car to escape the bugs.......
All of that changed for me fairly late in the family camping scene.

My Mom and Dad were camping alone at Acadia Park in Maine. As the Maine coast can be, it was apparently a soggy, wet and dreary trip.

Being wet and miserable my parents made a pre bed trip to the rest room and as they walked along in the rain my Mom saw a VW camper, curtains open, a lantern on the table with the family dry and warm playing a game.

They stopped, my Mom wagged her finger at the VW and said.... "Ralph, we are getting one of those."

And they did.
The first VW camper of many in my life was a 1968 that my Dad purchased in 1970.
I wasn't young then and was pretty well finished with the family camping thing but it clearly made an impression upon me.

Vw's weren't new to the family but Type II's were.

Dave
_________________
Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[shagginwagon83]

I went over to visit my grandparents randomly. In their front yard was this freshly painted ivory Westy. They just got it back from a local trade school teacher spending 2 years doing body+paint. I never knew they owned it. I asked for a tour and fell in love. Towards end they asked me if I like it - I replied yeah I love it! Grandma said "As long as you never sell it - its yours". I feel pretty lucky as a middle child. She even paid for parts for the longest time - new GoWesty exhaust, poptop canvas, gas tank reseal kit - until I finished college.

I think she was 3rd owner? I did carfax on it and it showed they owned it for 10 years and only put 3,000 miles on it. They mainly took it to flea markets and camped overnight at them . She's the type that 'if she wants it she will find it and get it". Oh she also has a 89 Goldwing we keep in our garage.

The van's name is Jo Anne, named after my grandma..
_________________
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram: @joannthevan

[Multiman mv]

I guess I got into Vanagons from a friend in high school back in 1988 who owned a vanagon. Well, not many high school kids I knew could afford a vanagon but this particular friend came upon his van, brand new, straight from the dealer in a somewhat tragic way but in the end, it was justice that prevailed and helped afford my friend a beautiful, white westfalia camper.

One day when my friend Todd was walking home from school, his neighbor, who was a bit older was riding up the street on a moped and started to swerve and taunt Todd and rode toward him at a high rate of speed. He, swerved back and forth and Todd froze and didn’t know which way to go to avoid being run over by the moped. Well, Todd’s neighbor ran right over him, breaking his femur in two places.

Todd endured several surgeries, was in a wheel chair for quite some time and was never able to run at full speed ever again. I believe the incident happened back in 1984 when we were freshman in high school and since Todd was still growing, one leg ended up being longer than the other because of the injury. Any ways, Todd suffered a lot, endured a lot of pain and his family went into debt to pay for his medical care and rehabilitation. Eventually, they settled with the family of what we would call a bully these days. Todd had been harassed by this kid for a long time, even though Todd was one of the coolest kids I knew, talented beyond all belief and just a great guy. The settlement was somewhere up near $400,000 and todd invested most, got his family out of debt and put himself through college. He eventually bought an organic farm in Vermont after some of his investments went wild but before all that, on the day he got his license, he bought himself a brand new Vanagon.

We drove every where in that van, with copious amounts of smoke billowing out of the windows (I’m not condoning such behavior, we were young and not so smart back then.) You could almost smell the van before you could see it come around the corner. I think we went to every Grateful Dead show within a 500 mile radius, camped up in the white mountains and surf trips down to Rhode Island. We drove it far and wide and I’ll never forget the first time Todd let me drive it. That view from the air traffic control like front window, the large steering wheel and the friendly hellos and piece signs from other vanagon drivers on the road were enough to hook me for life. From the day that Todd drove that Van onto the campus, I was hooked. I remember vividly, checking out all of the cabinets and drawers, all the camping equipment, popping the top by the football field with a whole gaggle of us hanging out in every nook and cranny of that van for hours on end. Todd playing guitar and a whole slew of girls hanging around. One of those girls, who I’ve known since first Grade, eventually became my wife, so she too has a long love affair with Vanagons. I remember, the mother of Todd’s senior prom date said to him as he was driving off with her daughter, “wait, doesn’t that thing have a bed in it? You bring her back by 12:00 sharp!”

I have many great memories from high school and that van was in many of them. Ever since those days, I had wanted to own a van. It literally took me 27 years before I could own one for myself. Because of my job, I’ve always needed a truck and a van just wouldn’t cut it. Well, the van is our third vehicle and is one of the most beloved members of our family.

So thank you Todd for being a great guy and for always keeping a great attitude in the face of adversity and for introducing me and my wife to one of the coolest vehicles ever made!

I’m looking forward to reading other stories of how people got introduced to Vanagons. Thanks for reviving this thread.

[B.O.B.Wanders]

Amazing stories. Still working my way up from the beginning of this thread.

Mine is rather ho-hum in comparison, but my first car was a '65 bug "inherited" from my brother-in-law. I learned to drive a stick driving that car around the yard and up the big hill in front of our house. Everywhere I drove with my learner's permit required going up that damn hill with the stop at the top. I got the VW "bug" early and permanently. That bug died a tragic death rolling over several times down a north Georgia highway (long story) and probably ended life Baja'ed by a local motorhead. I will always miss that car.

After going through a worn out Datsun 1200 and an old Impala (not by choice), I bought a '67 bug with miss-matched axles (4 lug/5 lug) and seats welded to the floor and took it with me to Germany on my first tour of duty with Uncle Sam's Green Machine. (In hindsight that was a really ridiculous move, but hey, sometimes you have to learn the hard way.) A few years later as we were preparing to return, it failed the notorious German technical inspection (TUV) for worn tie-rod ends which, unbelievably, could not be sourced in Germany - something about the NA-spec bugs using a different size? I ended up selling it and a not-quite-operational Yamaha 750 motorcycle for $150 a couple of weeks before moving.

A new '84 Jetta, purchased in Germany, followed us back to the states to be followed by a '94 Jetta, an '01 Jetta (totaled), a new beetle (briefly - ugh!) and an '03 Jetta as the Family Car. I supplemented this along the way with a '77 MGB as my DD to hone my mechanical skills which proved to be almost prophetically insightful given my current symbiotic status as "Pilot" for BOB. (Farscape fans will understand)

After having a trailer hitch shoved through the Jetta's radiator, we were without a VW for a few years until the idea of a trip to the left coast for an annual skateboarding event my wife wanted to attend came up. I had always wanted a VW bus, in a very wishful, but general way, but with family and other obligations it had never been a realistic possibility. I half jokingly told my wife it was the perfect opportunity to get a bus and make the Epic Road Trip. To my surprise, she didn't immediately shoot down the idea. Sadly, she broke her ankle and we couldn't attend that year, but that gave me time to find BOB up in Indiana and do some work to get the van ready for the road. I say I found BOB, but I'm wondering if maybe BOB found me?

I had really been thinking of a bay window bus, but after some reading I was sold on the water-cooled Vanagon Westy and found BOB on Autotrader online,. We have since made two round trips from Atlanta to LA and driven the entire Blue Ridge Parkway/Skyline Drive. We tend to travel serendipitously (is that a word?), so a Westy is the perfect vehicle for our style.
_________________
83.5 WBX 2WD Assuan Brown Westy, B.O.B.

"It feels good to be lost in the right direction” - unknown

[Slimvest]

My dad, I guess. He had a '72 and then an '84 when I was younger. I started with a '74 ASI in highschool that I bought for $800, but decided snowboarding was more important and eventually sold it to get a Subaru. Couldn't let the bug go and bought a '67 for $500 in college, but didn't keep it long when my folks asked me how I intended to pay my portion of tuition for the next year. Sold it for $1500.

Stuck with Subarus for a while and then found a '73 for $400 that I drove for a year after wrecking my subaru. Sold it (to yes, get another subaru), only later to get into surfing and quickly realized I needed a van(agon). Heat and "speed" sounded good. Still have the '87 GL I bought in 2004 (but still have a subaru too). It's the only Vanagon I've every owned.
_________________
'87 GL w/ Reimo top (sold Aug '21)

[seans67]

Dad had a Squareback when I was 8-9 yo in Oregon.

In 1981 traveled the Al-Can from Anchorage, AK to Eugene, OR in a ‘74 camper.

My first car at 16 was a 1980 Rabbit, I rallied that car and was hooked on VW since.

Bought my own ‘74 Camper in 1993, drove that thing up and down the AL-Can a few times before parking it in Bellingham, WA for a couple of years. Somebody made it their home and trashed it.

Would always see Syncro vans in the REI Parkin get lot in Anchorage and drooled over them.

In 2006 moved back to AK and had the means to grab an ‘87 Syncro in SLC before the prices got crazy.

Picked up a second ‘87 Wolfsburg that happens to be for sale just down the road.

Love the Vanagon!
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Sean

'71 Squareback '71 Porsche 914 ‘80 Camper '87 Syncro Weekender 1.8T '87 Wolfsburg Weekender '97 Toyota Land Cruiser ‘03 Audi A6 Quattro 3.0 ‘04 Audi A4 Avant Quattro 1.8T ‘05 Audi A4 Quattro 3.0
‘06 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

[bobbyblack]

As a Highs School kid, my girlfriend had driven her step-dad's Datsun too low on oil, and it seized. He had it hauled off, and its replacement was a '70 Beetle. As I was 'the guy', he helped me sort it out, and I loved that Beetle! Well, as things turned out, I kept working on that car, even took the shell off and replaced the entire pans, etc. It was a good thing, and when my GF had enough with the long-distance relationship we were struggling through, she handed me the title and kissed me goodbye. That was mid college, in the '80s.

As a newly single dude, and now a VW nutcase, I heard of a '66 Westy Turret top going for $300, and had the pocket money right then. Snagged it, and ran it for a year while getting the bugs un-kinked. Meanwhile, heard of a '67 Westy Turret top with a blown motor sitting in a farm outbuilding (not a barn mind you) and asked what the guy wanted. Noticing he had a few more VWs lying around, I pitched him a lowball offer of $250 and the '70 Beetle, less the engine, which I would pull and put into the '67 Westy. He went for it. I had that '67 for nearly 30 years. Along all those years, I always had a variety of other VW's but never a Vanagon. That all changed when my now X-wife took the '03 EV Westy in the divorce, and I had to decide what to do with the old VWs to get back to my roots. The '67 was not in good shape. Squirrels had filled it up with nuts, and it smelled of mice. It also had a bunch of memories hanging around in it, quite literally, pictures of me and my now X.

I had been banging around in my KG and trying to teach my kids to drive stick with it, when I realized that the '67 was not really going to be a project I could get behind, and put it up in a classified here in '15, some dumb $'s amount, or willing to trade for a late model Full Westy. An offer came in a couple of days that I figured would be 'good enough' and that fellow came hauling the Vanagon out, and retrieved my '67. He turned out to be just another flipper, but to each their own, I don't have much bad to say on this one. He'd got the '87 at an estate auction, and I don't really think of him as a PO of my Vanagon. The real PO had it for 28 years, and did some fantastic (and awful stuff too) with it in his tenure. To be honest, I am still wondering who got the better deal. At the courthouse, where we went to do the paperwork, the office Gal declared that she needed a 'value' to put on the Vanagon in order to title it over to me. I scratched my head, figured maybe $5K, he scratched his head, maybe $4K and I don't know what the Gal wrote on the paperwork. Anyway, as my first Vanagon, I have only good memories and a long list of things I've done, and places I have gone with my family. I feel a little guilty having given up on the '67, BUT I still have a '65 Deluxe that I could do a build on some time. Or, I guess, the '63 Notch, '74 KG, 83.5 Vanagon... Right now, I am just loving the drive, feel, and the lunch-time naps I can take in the non-salty seasons. It is sad when the salt hist the road, and I have to put her to sleep for the winter.

-bobby
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[jlrftype7]

I started out with a 1968 Westfalia Bus, White, with that Yellow/Mustard interior, for a whopping $900 in the early 80's...
The Rear Brakes blew a wheel cyl. going DOWN a hill the 3rd day I owned it. 4th gear was prone to popping out of gear on the Highway at times until I swapped the Transaxle for a rebuilt. The Top tried to slightly inflate from air sneaking past the seals at highway speeds[ always sounded like we were taking off]
I ran all new brake lines after the Wheel Cyl. failure and replaced brakes as needed.
Got the Water Faucet working again and replaced the Drain valve for the tank. Learned how to do almost everything to it via the already well known How TO Keep Your Volkswagen Alive Book- Bentley Book was my upgrade book once I started getting better with fixing it and my Wife's car.
Climbing steep hills was everything I'd been warned about, along with Sudden Lane Dives from Cross Winds.....
Tried improving the Heat Issue inside the Bus for Winter driving... went so far as to plumb in a 12 volt fan at the rear of the bus where the heater tubes entered the interior, all in a vain attempt to extract the meager heat from my probably worn Heat Exchangers.
I'd already adjusted the cables and controls/Flaps, and added an Aluminum Tube under the Bus to take the place of the rotted heating tube that was original [ added insulation around the Aluminum tube as well
I remember buying G78 tires for some reason, don't know why that sticks in my head, but it was already the usual What Fits the VW safely debate on tires all the way back then...
And THEN I got my first Auto Tech job, and the Shop had an Air Cooled Vanagon as our parts truck... Automatic, and the heat worked a bit better than it ever did in my Camper..... I was impressed with the updates, and then started seeing the Camper model as VW was currently making them back then when they rolled in for service.
WOW, NO MORE drivers view blocked by the cabinet on the R/R like ala Type 2 Camper. HEAT ,, WATER Cooled ENGINE, HEAT[ Did I mention HEAT..]
Still had the tiny tire issue, but still had that Cab Forward Ride over the Front Wheels too[ it's thing, look it up]...
So here I am years later, about to buy my own Vanagon, driving back into the Foray all over again

No real need for a Westfalia, just a decent Tin Top will do fine.
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[JimmyJagged]

MARGARITA'S!
During our driving years in high school, 1980-1982, my best friend would drive his family's 1971 transporter Bus. We went everywhere and had the most fun in that bus. Thus my love for VW busses. His uncle, in his forty's, every year for 20 years would go on a surf/camping trip to Mexico with his HS friends in their VW busses. In 1981 my friend and I went with them. We were in the '71, but 4 of their five had upgraded to Vanagon campers. One evening at dinner, we heard one of the wives running a blender. A blender on a hot isolated Mexican beach? She was making margarita's! All I had for drinks was warm water. Instantly I had Vanagon envy. Any car that could run a margarita blender had to be the coolest car in the world!
35 years later, our family currently has 3 VW vans and I have equipped each one of them with an aux battery system and a large enough inverter to run a blender! In July 2018, at the Blackstar VW campout, we were making margaritas! The neighbor camping next to us came over because he couldn't believe we were making them. Of course, we shared. He now has Vanagon envy because of margaritas!
_________________
Current:
1971 Tin Top Weekender Bus
1973 Squareback
1985 Pop Top Weekender Vanagon (my 19yo son's first car. father/son project)
1985 Pop Top Weekender Vanagon w/ 2.5 Subaru

Past:
1976 Rabbit diesel (my first car). RIP. totaled by drunk driver (not me!)
1973 Pop Top Westfalia Weekender Bus. RIP. Blown engine due to 25yo ignorant of VW maintenance (me).
1986 Vanagon Transporter. RIP. totaled by drunk driver (not me!)
1987 Vanagon Syncro. I never should have sold.

[bokonon42]

In high school back in the 80s when these were new, a friend of a friend stopped to pick a few of us up while we were walking home from school in his (or his parents most likely) Westy. I remember sitting in the back and marveling at how cool and different it all was.

That was it, just that one seed planted 30+ years ago was all it took. Been eyeing them ever since.
_________________
Terry
88 Vanagon Wolfsburg Carat - https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=671319

[82westyrabbit]

Wow I never knew that there was anything else. I got my first one before I had my license and I have had one ever since. John

[jlrftype7]

[Abscate]

I spent my youth chasing too skinny women, then looking for the one who would say

[Zeitgeist 13]

In the very early '90's I visited a local wrecking yard and found a fully complete '82 diesel ASI camper newly arrived in the yard with a hosed engine--purchased for $400. I rebuilt the engine in my then girlfriend's driveway (my first two T3s were rebuilt this way--different GFs and driveways). My memory is fuzzy, but I think I had just sold my '70 Westfalia and still owned my '67 Split at the time (purchased when I was 19). I believe I was gifted my '80 Westfalia about three years later, and then the second GF (my current wife) and I bought a '88 full options GL about two years after that. My current T3 was purchased in '04, after the birth of our second son. My entire adult life has been dominated by ownership or tinkering with Transporters.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[hartung105]

Like many others I suppose, my Dad had one when I was younger. It was an '82 and it seemed like a handy and unique vehicle (except for towing the boat. He had a Chevy Mote Carlo for that). I liked how everyone in town knew who we were when we were driving around. He would go deer hunting with my uncles and cousins in the fall and they would come back with multiple deer tied to the roof. There was also the annual bottle deposit trip where he would take the seats out and fill the van with cases of empty Genny Cream Ale bottles.

He told me if I ever bought one I should get an 80-83 air cooled. I spent about 6 years during/after college finding one in the condition I wanted. Finally came across a yellow '82 Westy in Rhode Island that originated in the south so it wasn't too rusty. My dad sold his van around y2k. It was worth the wait for sure.

[SyncroHead]

The baby made me do it.

Seriously, we had an '84 Rabbit GTI. In early 1988 we had a baby and by mid 1988 we had a new Vanagon Wolfsburg Edition and no more GTI.

Out with one sort of fun, in with another...

Jim Davis
_________________
"A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"

Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org

[tjet]

Hmm, I was looking for another 68-79 Bay Bus (had 3 before), but I was unable to find one that wasn't too beat up for a decent price, so I settled for a super clean syncro for $1500

Back in the day...

[dobryan]

^^^^ I like it.

I started out with a '71 Bay in 1977. Switched to Vanagons in 1999 when cancer took the '71 (and I wanted heat...).
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[shadetreemech]

In early 1990, I had a '69 Squareback, she had an '84 Renault 5 Le Car. She announced we would soon be parents. With hers and mine, we would soon have 4 children. We found an '84 GL with 60K miles, one owner, $6K. Still have that van.

Dan

"It's not what happens to you but how you react that matters"
Epictetus - 50-138 CE
_________________
'84 GL 1.9
'01 Volvo V70 T5
'88 Westy - "MZDRTHY"