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Any good stories on how you obtained your Vanagon?
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zippyslug31
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

peaceful warrior wrote:
the Waste Management driver on my route left me a WM notice ... "do you want to buy my 87 Vanagon Weekender?"


Sure hope his route was small... that'd be a lot of notes to leave on all his customer's trash cans! Shocked
_________________
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'80 westy
current:
'90 syncro westy 2.5L subi, triple knob, 16" wheels.
'84 sunroof van, 2.1L motor.
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peaceful warrior
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

zippyslug31 wrote:
peaceful warrior wrote:
the Waste Management driver on my route left me a WM notice ... "do you want to buy my 87 Vanagon Weekender?"


Sure hope his route was small... that'd be a lot of notes to leave on all his customer's trash cans! Shocked


LMAO! No, he only did for me! Laughing Laughing Your comment is cracking me up so much my stomach hurts from laughing.
_________________
"Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Albert Einstein
"Notchboy" says "Man up!"
"Tram" says " My bus is bigger than your bus."
66 13W Deluxe, 68 Westfalia, 87 Syncro.
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zippyslug31
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My story has always felt like fate to me...

In the late-90's, I had an 1980 westy and loved it, but by the time I got it she was very long in the tooth so after only a couple years I had to sell off the non-running hulk. After that I went through a phase with other "solutions" for my outdoor adventures: home-made conversion van, beat up trail head cars, econo cars packed with a tent and camp stove... nothing ever worked as well as my old westy.

In 2003, after some soul searching, I finally decided to buy another westy, but this time a more "modern" version as compared to my old '80. After watching the ads for a while, one day I was shocked to see a full westy syncro pop up on fleabay. The details indicated that it was a pretty sweet rig with both rear and front lockers, big tires, the real deal! Quickly dreaming of how I could pull off the logistics - drive from Portland to San Francisco with a car dolly to bring it home - I blast an emailed off to the seller asking him some questions about the van. I never got a reply. A day goes by and the auction was taken down early. I was bummed and just knew I missed out on a rare opportunity and wondered if the seller decided not to sell.

A month later I find a reseller out of Denver with a small collection of vans for sale. His prices were typical resale amounts (high) and he didn't have exactly what I wanted, but after talking with him he convinced me enough to fly out there to check out the vans he had for sale. He tells me "I have a lot of vans to look at; I guarantee you'll find one you love". Figured I'd settle for something 'good enough' and drive it back home to PDX.
So I fly out there and checked out his inventory focusing on the ones I had singled out from his website. A couple were pretty interesting; but many were older than I wanted or flat out too expensive (fully restored). While test driving one of the vans and convincing myself that I could live with it, he makes the off comment that its too bad I wasn't coming out a month from now. I ask why. "Oh, I just got this '90 in the other day, but it's not ready to sell yet. I need to fix a couple of things and want to repaint it before I put it on the market.... the thing hasn't even been cleaned up yet." I really had my heart set on the later model vans and figured I might find one that he didn't put any work into as being a little more affordable. So out of curiosity I asked if I could see it. Reluctantly he takes me out to his back lot and in the corner is the same freaking van I saw on fleabay a month prior! I ask him how much he would sell it for. "Oh, that's a later model syncro westy and when I slap a new coat of paint on it......" STOP. I say "don't paint it; I'll take it as-is". I could see the pained look on his face since we both knew he could sell it for some pretty big money and pocket a nice profit, but he was also a little obligated to sell me something... especially after flying there. Partly due to being a cool guy and partly since he didn't do anything other than truck it from SFO to DEN, he decided to just do a quick flip and pocket enough for an small profit.

After doing the deal, I left Denver in Friday rush hour on my long drive home in the syncro that I had "lost" one month prior.
_________________
previous:
'80 westy
current:
'90 syncro westy 2.5L subi, triple knob, 16" wheels.
'84 sunroof van, 2.1L motor.
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zippyslug31
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

peaceful warrior wrote:
zippyslug31 wrote:
peaceful warrior wrote:
the Waste Management driver on my route left me a WM notice ... "do you want to buy my 87 Vanagon Weekender?"


Sure hope his route was small... that'd be a lot of notes to leave on all his customer's trash cans! Shocked


LMAO! No, he only did for me! Laughing Laughing Your comment is cracking me up so much my stomach hurts from laughing.


Wink
_________________
previous:
'80 westy
current:
'90 syncro westy 2.5L subi, triple knob, 16" wheels.
'84 sunroof van, 2.1L motor.
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Team WorldTour
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Zippi-
Awesome mate. Just plain awesome.
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peaceful warrior
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 6:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My Syncro story is good enough to post here.
I was a member of the PPVWC and drove up for the club Christmas Party in 2009, the first I had attended, in my Suburban 4x4. My wife and I checked into the hotel in Colorado Springs, and then drove over to Uwe's for the dinner party. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a Syncro with a for sale sign on it. First thing I asked when I walked in was who had the Syncro for sale. It turns out one of the club members was driving it and selling it for his boss. We went for a drive and then I asked the price. $2900. I offered $2500 for it and he called his boss who agreed to the price. We met the next morning for breakfast at our hotel restaurant and finalized the deal. I drove it home in a blinding snow storm with my wife driving the Suburban. Guess which one handled La Veta Pass better? Wink
I will never sell this one.
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_________________
"Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Albert Einstein
"Notchboy" says "Man up!"
"Tram" says " My bus is bigger than your bus."
66 13W Deluxe, 68 Westfalia, 87 Syncro.
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peaceful warrior
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess my 89 Westy find is too.
In the summer of 2010, my wife and I drove to Santa Fe to look at 4 more Westy's as we wanted one for our planned 3 week trip to CA. in 2011. Every single one we looked at was a POS and way over priced. I was disappointed and really getting ready to give up for a time.
When we got back to Taos, we decided to go do some grocery shopping. The Organic food store we go to is on the North side of town and we live in the South side. Not wanting to drive the main drag, I took a back road and I had not driven in a few months. As I drove down about a mile, I noticed a Westy sitting in the front yard of a ranch. I pulled in and took photos of it, had a peak inside as it was unlocked (go figure). I wrote the number down to call them later. I was too excited, so I called while driving to the store. I left a message.
I did not hear back for a week, so I called again and got the seller. He told me it was his parents Westy. They drove it once every year to Cabo and back. They had both recently passed away so it was up for sale. Bad news was his sister was considering keeping it for her son. They lived in CA. He said that if anything changed he would call me back. Well, he did 3 weeks later. His sister decided not to keep it, so I asked if we could meet and I could drive it. It ran great but had some minor issues. They were asking $5000 obo and I offered them $3500. Accepted and the deal was done.
The day I bought it.
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Now.
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_________________
"Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Albert Einstein
"Notchboy" says "Man up!"
"Tram" says " My bus is bigger than your bus."
66 13W Deluxe, 68 Westfalia, 87 Syncro.
TOOB Member #15
Brian
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peaceful warrior
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is awesome Zippy. Too bad you didn't come thru Taos and make me laugh my azz off in person. Wink
_________________
"Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Albert Einstein
"Notchboy" says "Man up!"
"Tram" says " My bus is bigger than your bus."
66 13W Deluxe, 68 Westfalia, 87 Syncro.
TOOB Member #15
Brian
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S4VAGE
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 10:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

:Our Westy:

Lightning struck.

Gus appeared.

Got in, drove off.

<band played>


:Our Vanagon:

Got it from the salvation army. Ginger is a rescue.
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y-did-i-doit
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello to ALL of you fine Samba members...! - New member here, but have been lurking for over a year now... Now that I'm a member, I feel "empowered", at some level, and I have you all to thank. Smile

(Warning: Long Post)

October 22nd, 2011 - 7:11AM

There was an estate sale in our neighborhood, about 2 blocks from our house. The signs had been posted for a few days on various phone poles and sign posts in the area. I decided to check it out, while letting the ms. sleep in. I arrived to find people crawling all over stuff out in the yard, and proceeded to join them. After taking a broad-viewed assessment of what was there, I was sipping my coffee, having a morning lean on the nearest vertical surface, as the executor of the estate was announcing that EVERYTHING is for sale. "Go into the house, check all of the rooms, everything in the garage, in the basement... EVERYTHING is for sale". Someone yelled back to him asking if that Volkswagon van was for sale.

Background: About 100 years ago, I owned a 1960 camper van. It was a rusted mess on the lower quarter panels, but I naively drove it around, and ultimately rebuilt a 1600 dual port engine, threw it in this bus, and drove it to Newfoundland CA one summer. Had a blast. Owned several other beetles back in those days, tinkered with them all, and eventually grew out of "that phase of my life", after a drunk driver crushed my last LOVELY 1972 Beetle (that I was going to keep FOREVER). Always loved VWs, but never really looked back. Always thought to myself "Self, you should get a 'project VW' sometime later in life...". - So now back to Oct. 22nd, 2011...

"Is that VW Van for sale?", I heard over the hazy morning noise in my head. VW van? WHAT vw van? - Oh, it was the one I was leaning on...!

I had seen this 1980 Westfalia thing sitting in this guy's driveway for years, and never gave it a second thought. But here I was, leaning on it, and discovering that it was for sale! Me, and about 5 other guys all turned our attention to this creature. My 100-year-old instincts kicked in, and I immediately crawled under this thing (while the other guys began looking at the interior...)

Wow... no rust underneath...! - Even undercoated! And where some of the undercoating had chipped away, I saw factory paint! Wow!

Crawled out from under it and went to see the odometer... 62184 miles.

The interior was in good shape... wrong tires, poptop was moldy, seals there were a total mess, and some surface rust under a few windows. The van had obviously been sitting there for some time. But in general, it was in solid shape. But wait, I'm not here to buy a Westfalia! - I'm not here to get myself into ANOTHER project... So I had some fun chat with the other 5 guys about personal VW histories, looked around a bit more, and went home.

The wife rolls over in bed and mumbles to me "Anything interesting at that sale?" - "Nah... I saw a few storage bins of Legos..." - "Legos!" she yells as she's jumping out of bed. "How much were they?" "$5 per bin." I replied. With that, she was dressed and running out the door. "Do you realize how much Legos cost? Our son would LOVE extra Legos!"... So off we went, back to the sale.

She got one $5 bin of Legos before the local "Lego Collector Guy" had a chance to buy them all, and she was happy. She asked "Is there anything else here of interest?" I chuckled to myself, and, thinking that she'd just shrug it off, pointed to the Westfalia and said "That's for sale."

Now, I expected to hear "Yea, we need THAT like we need an extra hole in our heads." - But... she walked up to it, took a look inside the camper, and said "Wow, we could camp in this thing!". - I chuckled, rolled my eyes, and said that we are NOT going to buy this thing... I have WAY too much 'other stuff' going on in my life to take on THIS project...

So we went home. My son got the bin of Legos (13-yrs-old, future engineer-type kid), was thrilled, and asked if there was anything else 'cool' there. We laughed and said yes, there's a VW van there... - The discussion then turned to historical accounts of my past VW lives... And he decided he wanted to see this thing. He quickly pulled himself together, saying that HE wanted to buy it. I told him that there were several interested parties there, and that they will likely sell it for $3-to-4000.00, etc... but he still insisted that HE was going to buy it. So I said "Tell the guy that you're my son (the guy would remember me as the guy wearing the headscarf), and that YOU will offer him $500 for it." On to his bike he hopped, and off he rode.

Now, I figured that there was NO WAY that the estate executor would sell that thing to a 13-year-old, for $500.00. Just. NO. WAY.

10 minutes later, my son returned on his bike, big smile on his face, and said the words I will never forget... "He sold it to me, for $500.00!".

And the rest, as you all know, is an obsessive/compulsive/love/hate/painful/expensive relationship history. Wink

To make a LONG story short, we took deliver of the vehicle on Dec. 23rd, 2011 (the estate had some hoops to jump through before the title could be transferred), and by Jan. 21st 2012, it had passed MD State Inspection, and was ON THE ROAD.

And, I want to thank you ALL here @ TheSamba for your spirits, knowledge, wisdom, humor, and companionship through this tribulation called Westy ownership. Smile

The story continues... Wink

Pictures of how it sat, the day we bought it:

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Jake de Villiers
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

y-did-i-doit wrote:
Hello to ALL of you fine Samba members...! - New member here, but have been lurking for over a year now... Now that I'm a member, I feel "empowered", at some level, and I have you all to thank. Smile

(Warning: Long Post)

October 22nd, 2011 - 7:11AM

There was an estate sale in our neighborhood, about 2 blocks from our house. The signs had been posted for a few days on various phone poles and sign posts in the area. I decided to check it out, while letting the ms. sleep in. I arrived to find people crawling all over stuff out in the yard, and proceeded to join them. After taking a broad-viewed assessment of what was there, I was sipping my coffee, having a morning lean on the nearest vertical surface, as the executor of the estate was announcing that EVERYTHING is for sale. "Go into the house, check all of the rooms, everything in the garage, in the basement... EVERYTHING is for sale". Someone yelled back to him asking if that Volkswagon van was for sale.

Background: About 100 years ago, I owned a 1960 camper van. It was a rusted mess on the lower quarter panels, but I naively drove it around, and ultimately rebuilt a 1600 dual port engine, threw it in this bus, and drove it to Newfoundland CA one summer. Had a blast. Owned several other beetles back in those days, tinkered with them all, and eventually grew out of "that phase of my life", after a drunk driver crushed my last LOVELY 1972 Beetle (that I was going to keep FOREVER). Always loved VWs, but never really looked back. Always thought to myself "Self, you should get a 'project VW' sometime later in life...". - So now back to Oct. 22nd, 2011...

"Is that VW Van for sale?", I heard over the hazy morning noise in my head. VW van? WHAT vw van? - Oh, it was the one I was leaning on...!

I had seen this 1980 Westfalia thing sitting in this guy's driveway for years, and never gave it a second thought. But here I was, leaning on it, and discovering that it was for sale! Me, and about 5 other guys all turned our attention to this creature. My 100-year-old instincts kicked in, and I immediately crawled under this thing (while the other guys began looking at the interior...)

Wow... no rust underneath...! - Even undercoated! And where some of the undercoating had chipped away, I saw factory paint! Wow!

Crawled out from under it and went to see the odometer... 62184 miles.

The interior was in good shape... wrong tires, poptop was moldy, seals there were a total mess, and some surface rust under a few windows. The van had obviously been sitting there for some time. But in general, it was in solid shape. But wait, I'm not here to buy a Westfalia! - I'm not here to get myself into ANOTHER project... So I had some fun chat with the other 5 guys about personal VW histories, looked around a bit more, and went home.

The wife rolls over in bed and mumbles to me "Anything interesting at that sale?" - "Nah... I saw a few storage bins of Legos..." - "Legos!" she yells as she's jumping out of bed. "How much were they?" "$5 per bin." I replied. With that, she was dressed and running out the door. "Do you realize how much Legos cost? Our son would LOVE extra Legos!"... So off we went, back to the sale.

She got one $5 bin of Legos before the local "Lego Collector Guy" had a chance to buy them all, and she was happy. She asked "Is there anything else here of interest?" I chuckled to myself, and, thinking that she'd just shrug it off, pointed to the Westfalia and said "That's for sale."

Now, I expected to hear "Yea, we need THAT like we need an extra hole in our heads." - But... she walked up to it, took a look inside the camper, and said "Wow, we could camp in this thing!". - I chuckled, rolled my eyes, and said that we are NOT going to buy this thing... I have WAY too much 'other stuff' going on in my life to take on THIS project...

So we went home. My son got the bin of Legos (13-yrs-old, future engineer-type kid), was thrilled, and asked if there was anything else 'cool' there. We laughed and said yes, there's a VW van there... - The discussion then turned to historical accounts of my past VW lives... And he decided he wanted to see this thing. He quickly pulled himself together, saying that HE wanted to buy it. I told him that there were several interested parties there, and that they will likely sell it for $3-to-4000.00, etc... but he still insisted that HE was going to buy it. So I said "Tell the guy that you're my son (the guy would remember me as the guy wearing the headscarf), and that YOU will offer him $500 for it." On to his bike he hopped, and off he rode.

Now, I figured that there was NO WAY that the estate executor would sell that thing to a 13-year-old, for $500.00. Just. NO. WAY.

10 minutes later, my son returned on his bike, big smile on his face, and said the words I will never forget... "He sold it to me, for $500.00!".

And the rest, as you all know, is an obsessive/compulsive/love/hate/painful/expensive relationship history. Wink

To make a LONG story short, we took deliver of the vehicle on Dec. 23rd, 2011 (the estate had some hoops to jump through before the title could be transferred), and by Jan. 21st 2012, it had passed MD State Inspection, and was ON THE ROAD.

And, I want to thank you ALL here @ TheSamba for your spirits, knowledge, wisdom, humor, and companionship through this tribulation called Westy ownership. Smile

The story continues... Wink

Pictures of how it sat, the day we bought it:


WOW! That's the best Vanagon acquisition story I've ever heard! Give your boy a hug from all of us! Wink
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zippyslug31
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yup, I agree... good story. Your son is the next generation holding the torch.
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previous:
'80 westy
current:
'90 syncro westy 2.5L subi, triple knob, 16" wheels.
'84 sunroof van, 2.1L motor.
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joseph928
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:23 am    Post subject: first new van Reply with quote

Blue Bay Bus Let's start out , I had lot's of vans in the 60 and 70. Then it was time to grow up get married have kids. Well 15 years later we live in Flagstaff AZ. and are seeing friends in Denver. Now son is 15, and my friend has an 1980 westy the son sees it and said wow I would love to have it. Dad you had one it high school and college. Well yes, ok let's look at it. Now the son has a sales pitch, dad these are safe good on gas we can work on it together. OK I think to my self all that and you can't even do a donut in the school parking lot in the snow! Well we bought it towed it back to AZ. Well I never new what went on in that van in the school parking lot tell 10 years later. Turns out that van was famous at Flag high. Let's just say after a year I had to have my own, well an 82 diesel and then to many more. The best story about the 80 is one day the wife was cleaning out the van and in the ice box she found some pot, well she took it out and put in a note that said you need to see your mom about this. Well back in the van in the forest 3 friends open the door, oh shit. They still talk about that time. and that was 14 years ago. Let's just say he turned out OK is an Engineer in Taiwan now! Very Happy
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1987 syncro westy tin top sun roof , GW2.3, rear locker, decoupler, Gary Lee tire rack & winch mount, lift, south african grill, big brakes , rhein alloy ,15 BFG AT, Fiamma 10 foot awning ,140 watt rear 85 watt front solar , mppt, truckfridge, automatic fire extinguishing system, tencent oil cooler, And a RMW SS exhaust! - 1971 bug convertible 1776 engine- 2010 Subaru turbo - 1993 Toyota 4x4 truck - 1999 Harley 95 CI, big bore, Andrews cams . Also 80-84- vans. Stock 65 sunroof bug.
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greenraVR6
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My van story isn't all that interesting but it turned out to be a great deal for me. I responded to a CL ad that said "vanagon - $500" and that was about it. No pic, no details, no nothing. So I show up and find a very clean '88 gl with fiberglass bumpers, a straight body, and dirty interior but not trashed either. The owner tells me it was a daily driver that overheated and has been sitting ever since. I end up buying it for $500 and have it towed to a buddies place where I let it sit another 6 months.

Got motivated to work on it so I throw the basic tune up parts at it, fill the low coolant system and bleed it. Van fires right up and purrs without any hesitation btw (even before the tune up). And thats that. The coolant light randomly flashes and not once has the van overheated or had any major problems in almost 9 months of driving it. Thing runs and drives great Very Happy

So it turns out my $500 blown motor vanagon was just low on coolant and maybe fried the sensor in the coolant bottle...
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Team WorldTour
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

D'OH! Shocked
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WV2ZZZ25ZFH094138(x)/ WV2YB0257LH057308(x)/ WV2ZZZ25ZLG113270/
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SL12572
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got a good story on how I got my donor Westy van (to do my poptop conversion to my Syncro)

On a drive back from California for work to Washington in my Syncro and have been up for over 24 hrs ( I was tired) my alternator gave out at about 8:00 at night. Stopped at the only gas station, which the attendants were very helpful.

A local guy shows up in a little pickup and is obviously intoxicated...a little slur to his speech, he mumbles that he used to work at an alternator shop. We yard out the alternator and he was able to stretch out the brushes to get em working again. SWEET! I thought I was dead in the water...

As he was working on my van, he mumbles...yeah I have one of these vans in my yard, but a camper one...Of course I ask...ya wanna sell it!? He said sure...and I will take no more than $300 for it!...I said sold, but wanted to make sure he was sober before signing the deal.

To make a long story short, I ended up towing the Complete diesel westy home to Washington...
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LordHuron95
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Joined: April 20, 2021
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:55 am    Post subject: Re: Any good stories on how you obtained your Vanagon? Reply with quote

Back in HighSchool, my friend's daily was an old 1980 AC'ed. The year out of HS, she visited town and we met up and at some point I asked about the van. She told me that since she left for college and took a more reliable car to school, it has just been sitting in front of her parent's house since it was actually her dad's. When I took her home to drop her off, I asked her dad about it. He said, "I was gonna donate it and get a tax write off. You have (The same amount of $$$) you can have it.

I told him I was definitely interested, I just wanted to check with my folks about keeping it there. Step mom laughed and said no. Dad however asked why. I explained the situation and we picked it up that day. (Dad had to drive it home since I hadn't learned manual yet Embarassed )

It mostly sat for years until I finally finished school and I have done lots of work getting it road worthy. The PO (And to a lesser degree) the PPO, kept a little notebook with work they did to it. Mileage, oil consumption, clutch rework date, etc.
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Franklinstower
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Any good stories on how you obtained your Vanagon? Reply with quote

My story is the exact opposite of a good story - The owners were killed in a head on accident in Montana when a truck lost control on a frozen highway (not in the van obviously). The daughter (heir) didn't know how to drive a stick, so she put the van up for sale on Craigslist for $4k. After receiving a 100 emails in the first few hours, she was overwhelmed and cancelled the post. 6 months later she posted it again, this time raising the price to $4,400 hoping to reduce the number of responses...I happen to be one of the first 3 to respond and first one to make it to her house. I bought it on the spot. When I came to pick it up, she told me the story about it being her mom's and shed was killed in the accident. I asked her if her mom had a name for the Westy so I could honor her by keeping the same name with her permission - she said her mom called it Vanna White...So to this day, the family still calls her Vanna White.
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djkeev
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 1:57 pm    Post subject: Re: Any good stories on how you obtained your Vanagon? Reply with quote

A few years after my Brother drove away in my 86 "weekender" to the West Coast, a local forum member said.......
"Dave, You NEED a Van."

Come and get my tintop.

At first I was inclined to say no. I was headed into a Ford Transit Connect.
But my Wife smacked me beside the head and said "what are you stupid?! Go get that Van."

It was offered free and without strings.
I gave him $500 just because and then proceeded to invest THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of $$$'s into making it road worthy.

I quietly thank him daily for the gift.

It is now my daily driver work Van.
It is No beauty but a true worker!

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

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

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16CVs Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:42 pm    Post subject: Re: Any good stories on how you obtained your Vanagon? Reply with quote

Like may of you here I love buying pieces of shit cars. I'm buying one Friday. On to the story.

I get a call from a friend of mine that at a local shop has a trashed Tin Top Syncro with Subaru engine pulled and Trans an absolute mess, Body had some window rust and some rusty seams as as well as a trashed interior, cut wheel wells and shot gun shells in the battery box. Perfect I said , I'll send a tow truck for it.

I gathered parts and pulled favors and put a Westy lid on it and a Westy interior as well as paint and interior. Van is now respectable and my wife will ride in it.

7 Years go by and I'm doing a glass for a guy with a 53 Chevy and he casually says he used to own a Vanagon, yea we've all heard the story. So the story continues and he starts saying how he had a Tin Top with a Subaru in and got tired of replacing the trans and sold it to a local shop. After a few pointed questions turns out this guy was the previous owner. He could not believe it was the same van. The only thing that had convinced him were the labels on the locker panel of which he had put a Front locker and a Decoupler.

Small world. Almost every car I have ever bought for myself has come home in multiple boxes. I always buy my wife a nice late model Un molested dependable car, But me the crappier they are the more I like them.

Stacy
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