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dumptdeluxe
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2004
Posts: 141
Location: 253 PNW
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 Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 5:12 pm Post subject: What kind of camper is it? 1985 Tintop |
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To start, I have been reading these forums for 3 straight days and my eyeballs are bugging out! If this info is available somewhere else, I need a direction, not to be told to use the search button...please inform me so I can keep on keepin' on. I have 17 open Samba tabs and am starting to lose my mind!
I have a 1985 Vanagon tintop. It seems to be very stock in every regard except the interior. We have a closet right behind the driver seat and a side-facing jump seat behind it. The jump seat has a storage cubby under it. There is a table mount in the floor for a removable post. Then a rear seat that folds into the bed.
All the cabinetry and seatwork looks original, but I've never seen a setup like it in almost 30 years doing VWs. Anyone know what this is? If it is a custom job, whoever originally did it was very good.
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'65 Notch S
'85 Vanagon GL
'16 Tiguan TSi |
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dumptdeluxe
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2004
Posts: 141
Location: 253 PNW
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 5:15 pm Post subject: Re: What kind of camper is it? 1985 Tintop |
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What style rear bed seat is this? Two Z brackets off center and wooden stands on either end. Also has a pull strap made of OG material on the back of the seat as opposed to integrated plastic handle.
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'65 Notch S
'85 Vanagon GL
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dumptdeluxe
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2004
Posts: 141
Location: 253 PNW
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 5:18 pm Post subject: Re: What kind of camper is it? 1985 Tintop |
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There's a "W" on the cabinet hardware:
Stock curtains?
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'85 Vanagon GL
'16 Tiguan TSi |
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dumptdeluxe
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2004
Posts: 141
Location: 253 PNW
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: What kind of camper is it? 1985 Tintop |
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Door tag shows it left the factory incomplete, so someone must've built it. I believe it was done by a company of some sort as it has an RVIA plaque riveted to the tailgate. Serial number on plaque was untraceable according to the data guy at RVIA.
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'85 Vanagon GL
'16 Tiguan TSi |
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termuehlen 
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2012
Posts: 993
Location: Redwood City
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 5:53 pm Post subject: Re: What kind of camper is it? 1985 Tintop |
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Looks like an ASI interior. Search “ASI interior” and you will see some similar interior components.
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1988 Westfalia automatic Subaru OBD1
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termuehlen
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dumptdeluxe
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Joined: July 24, 2004
Posts: 141
Location: 253 PNW
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 7:20 pm Post subject: Re: What kind of camper is it? 1985 Tintop |
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I think you're onto something there, jump seat looks similar though in a different layout. And the panel below rear seat looks the same. Thanks for the direction! I can obsess on ASI now!
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D Clymer
Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2005
Posts: 2978
Location: Issaquah, WA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 8:00 pm Post subject: Re: What kind of camper is it? 1985 Tintop |
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It's a Riviera camper built by Automotive Services Incorporated (ASI) in Vancouver, Washington.
1985 was the final year they built those, and that interior is unique to the 1985 model. Most of them have the elevating roof, but maybe that one was ordered without it.
In the earlier years, ASI was building them from regular passenger vans and discarding the parts of the interior they didn't use. But for 1985, they ordered "Conversion wagons" from VW which had a minimal interior. That van started life that way. That's why the build label says incomplete vehicle manufactured...
It's always possible someone stripped the interior from an ASI elevating roof model and put it in a tin-top. But the fact that it is built into a factory conversion wagon and has the right year of ASI interior for the year of van suggests it was built by them.
I've always had a soft spot for ASI Vanagons - partly because they were built right here in Washington, and partially because they're unique. It's always nice to hear someone else discovering the virtues of them. |
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dumptdeluxe
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2004
Posts: 141
Location: 253 PNW
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| Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 11:39 pm Post subject: Re: What kind of camper is it? 1985 Tintop |
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Wow, thanks for all the info! This is what I suspected, but having an expert opinion helps. Is the ASI plate located somewhere funky? I saw others that appeared to be in a door jamb...
The van was originally sold at a Chicago VW dealership, but was shipped to Portland first from the factory. This all makes sense now.
After hours of image scouring, I only saw one other van with the closet behind driver's seat. However, it was in a bay window Rivie. Mine seems to be odd without the sink and all. I wonder what that setup was named?
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