Interesting story of the DOKA listed on ebay..link below

[Petervw]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volkswagen-Bus-Vana...687wt_1182 ...Enjoy

[Mickyfin]

For that money, and low mileage, I would want the darn Carat alloy wheel center caps too!

[MKIII and Sons]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1339891
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broke.status

[dhaavers]

Somebody cut & paste that story - it is too good to risk having it disappear!
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[campism]

The unique circumstances surrounding the vehicle you are looking at
makes it one of the rarest Four Wheel Drive VW's that exists.

While it was built to be driven in the roughest terrains, perhaps it may end up
in a museum or private collection~

It is a 1991 Volkswagen Syncro DOKA TriStar with 29 Original Miles~

You can read the story below or skip right to the pretty pictures at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111279735495692359267/1991SyncroDokaTriStarWith48OriginalKilometers

Legend from the factory has it that there were only 1500 TriStars ever
built. This was between 1988 and 1991. 1000 of them were 2 Wheel
Drive. Only about 500 were 4 Wheel Drive. Of those 500 4x4's, less
than 120 were 1991's. While most DOKA's stayed in Europe, a few made
their way across the Oceans. One was even special ordered and sent to
Australia, and 19 of them made it to North America.

Well, 18 actually, and here is the story...
In mid 1990 a Canadian mining company contacted VW Germany with their
needs for an off road mining work vehicle and the logical choice for
the terrain they were working in was the Syncro platform. The DOKA fit
the bill because not only was it 4x4, it could haul both cargo and 4-5
people comfortably at the same time. The mining company signed a
promissory note and 19 of the DOKA's were ordered for the operation.
As the story goes, 19 were shipped, but only 18 made it. Now either
#19 fell off the train transport, or #19 caught fire once it arrived.
Both stories are out there. I bet it was both. It fell off the train,
bounced twice, and caught fire. Either way, there went about 6% of the
existing North American DOKA's.

Now these weren't just DOKA Syncros, but they were the Limited Edition
TriStars. Luxury.
This meant they would have the extra door for passengers on the
drivers side that neither the DOKA 2WD or the DOKA 4WD standards had.
As well, only the TriStar had the following options that made it an
even more comfortable and utilitarian ride:
Heated drivers seat
Rear passenger heat
Sliding windows in rear passenger doors
Front seats with arm rests
Grey door to door carpet front, rear and all the way into the storage
bay instead of standard rubber matting
Light grey cloth interior front and rear
Interior "Oh Scheisse!" handles with integral map reading lights
Illuminated vanity mirror on passenger side
Padded dash cover
Heated rear window
Door storage pockets
Map pockets on back of front seats
Additional body insulation for cold weather
Power windows
Rear differential lock
Twin rectangular headlights
Wheel arch trim
And, oh yeah, cup holders


On with the story...So during the time the vehicles were making their
way across the ocean, the mining company that ordered them came into
some hard times and went belly up. Well VW Canada took those 18 units
and spread them across the country to sell at their VW dealerships
with 1 of them landing at the Toronto location.

Here is where it gets personal. Our little DOKA landed in the hands of
Karl at the Toronto VW Store. Karl knew a fellow that was really into
VW's and collecting cars and motorcycles in general. Freddy was his
name. Still is. So Karl gave Freddy a call and told him what had just
arrived. Freddy popped over to look at it. Freddy had never seen one,
but he knew it was a rare bird and purchased it that day. That was
back in the Fall of 1991.

Fast forward to Spring of 2012. Freddy is a few years older now and
decides it's time to thin his collection. Somehow he finds us online
and puts in a call to Chris at the office. Freddy tells him he has a
rare old VW truck that he wants to sell. Chris texts me a few details
since I am the Syncro guy to see what I think. I am in South America
at the time but I tell him it sounds interesting. We had never had a
DOKA Syncro. Then a second text arrives that says "Good news is it
only has 48,000 KM's on it, but forget it cause the bad news is, it's
in Canada". My response..."Canada??? Then we are definitely interested
because only Canada got them legally. If he didn't import it and he is
the original owner, it could be one of the Canadian 18!"
I was pretty excited but Chris reminded me that Canada generally means
rust, and always means paperwork at the border to get it legit in the
USA.

When I got back from my trip, and back to the office, I put a call
into Freddy and he told me all about his funny little rare truck. Then
I told him what I knew about them and sure enough we determined it was
one the special order Tristars. He wanted a lot of money for it
though, so I said I would think about it. He said no problem, and that
it wasn't going anywhere.
Just before I got off the phone with him I said, "You know Freddy, you
sure didn't use it much"
He say's "I didn't use it at all"
Hmmm. "Well if you are the original owner and it has 48,000 Kilometers
on it, how does that work?"
"48,000 Kilometers???" he says, "No, It has 48K on it, as in 48
kilometers. I've never used it."

I covered the mouthpiece and yelled as softly as I could to Chris
"Forty Eight K!!! K as in 48 Kil-o-me-ters, not as in thousands of
Kilometers!" Chris had heard him say it had '48K' on it, and down in
these southerly parts, we convert that to thousands...

48 Kilometers...that's like 29 miles right? Yes it is. How is this possible?

Knowing it was rare, and even though he lived less than 10 miles from
the dealership, Freddy had it trucked over to his underground storage
space. Freddy hopped in it, drove it into the parking spot, covered it
and that's where it was for 21 years. But Freddy knew how to take care
of his vehicles so every once in a while, he would start it up, and on
a few occasions he shipped it on flatbed over to the dealer and get
the oil changed and have it looked over. All in all, of the 48
kilometers that are on it, he says he put maybe 2 of those km's on the
clock driving it out of the storage spot and on to the flatbed for its
check up. The other km's were VW delivery km's in Germany and in
Canada when it arrived.

Now I understood why Freddy was asking so much. We wired him the full
asking price the next day and shortly after I was on a plane to Canada
to document it where it sat hidden in a suburb of Toronto.

My trip North...Early June
I arrived at Freddy's house and after a short tour of his classic
motorcycle collection, we were off to see the DOKA which was just a
short ride away. We got to the location, opened a big steel door and
there it was, just like he said. Stored and covered in an underground
cool climate parking space alongside an old tired Karmann
Ghia. Off came the cover with lots of dust, on went the battery cable,
and in went the key. It started right up, and purred without a knock
or a ping. I carefully pulled it out into the filtered sunlight under
a maple tree and parked it. I hopped out, took a few steps away to
stand next to Freddy and stared at it. I just stood there holding my
chin, and shaking my head, and 84 year old Freddy just stood there
smiling.
"Told ya." he said.

A word from Freddy:
-I am 84 years old now. Starting to slow down a little I guess. I
bought this truck back when I was 63. I was a pilot for most of my
life, but I have always loved collecting and working on interesting cars. Been
driving since I was thirteen. I think I have had over 70 cars and
motorcycles in my life. Anyway, I figured it was time for this VW to
go to someone that can use it or share it's uniqueness with others
like at a VW museum or something. I hope people get a kick out of how
well preserved and rare it is. And I hope the next owner takes good
care of it. Maybe some day it will get used for what it was intended
to be used for. I have heard they have some amazing off road
capabilities. Hell, I barely used it on the road! Good luck and good
travels to whoever is lucky enough to enjoy this next.
~ Freddy W, Toronto Canada

So there you go. We know everyone has a story to go with their VW
toys. This was one of the best ones we have been a part of.

*In addition to those TriStar features noted above, the word from our
importer, and the one man in North America that has seen more of the
DOKA's than anyone else stateside(Jeff at Autostadt) tells us it has
at least two additional unique features he has never seen. One being
original factory cable connectors to attach and lay the rear gate down
90 degrees (flat) as opposed to having it swing down the full 180. And
finally the bed of the DOKA. This is usually raw painted metal or
covered with Germany's equivalent of Diamond Plate. This DOKA has what
appears to be nice Oak slats running down the bed. We thought of
refinishing them but wanted to pass it on as we found it. The one
thing I noted was that the entire underside of the vehicle is factory sealed
with a Ziebart like protectant probably in anticipation of the
Canadian weather.

As for the current mileage, we haven't even put a kilometer on it yet
ourselves. Not even to take the photos.

PS: The vehicle has not even been detailed yet~ it sits as it came.

[r39o]

That's Joey's (Ewokpoacher) old Doka.

The text lifted from the GoWesty website.

Normally I would not allow live eBay auctions.

Not sure on this thread yet.
_________________
"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

1990 Multivan EJ 22, Rancho trans 0.82 4th, Small Car front AC, CLKs w/ 215/65-16, homemade big brakes 303mm, Konis, Recaros, etc....

Click to see my ads for Cup holders, Subaru clutch fix and CLK wheels (no wheels currently)

[teej]

[EwokPoacher]

[D Clymer]

I read that story three weeks ago when Supervans first posted the ad for that Tristar here. It's pretty amazing to see such a 100 percent preserved example. I have a feeling VW themselves will end up buying it. They often acquire low mileage examples of their cars to be kept for their museum collection. Maybe they haven't heard about this one - or maybe they don't want to pay the price. At any rate I do hope it ends up in a collection where it can be viewed by the public.

D

[jackbombay]

*All original* Including the gasoline!

How often can you buy a vehicle that still has the original gasoline in it?
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Gas struts to pop your top easily!
Pop Top strut kits now available for late Bay window Westies

Samba ad here.


DIY artificial rain gutters (ARGs)

[Ahwahnee]

Well a remarkable vehicle & story to be sure and not an unrealistic price.

In case it isn't obvious by the Yucaipa locale, it is here:

Pop Top Heaven

[syncrodoka]

I thought that someone was hinting to there being more to the real story in the the ad that the seller listed here- even went so far as to post the last owners name.

[K58]

TMI can be a negative and I don't see how that story adds value to the vehicle.
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Westy HID Projector Retrofit

[D Clymer]

[16CVs]

I'm with mickyfin ,spend the $75.00 and put center caps on the wheels . I think that truck is worth about $65 k tops . Who wants a museum piece anyway . If you could get it for $50/65K ,that's the price of a new Chevy or Ford .
The story I always had heard was that there were 1500 2WD and 500 4WD . Most of them going to Sweden for a tax advantage ,hence all of the Tristars with rear cargo bars at the front of the bed . But all Swedes are White and red ,non metallic . The luxury of a car and the taxability of a truck and the cargo bar made it that way . Anyway VW saw that there was interest in them and made 17 for each of 3 markets . Canada got all 4WD and one 2WD drive which we parted out for its bits . Germany got all 4WD in a mix of metallic paint jobs . All of the English were RHD with front and rear lockers and a range of colors .but all solid colors with no metallic paints .
Buy it ,take the key and drive it . It was meant to be used . While I agree it is only new once ,it has already been new and is now a used vehicle .
My Tristar is getting ready to hit the 300.000 mile mark . 100.000 from me .
May the highest bidder win ,but I have a feeling someone will be sitting on that thing for a while .

Stacy
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[SpeedoJosh]

[germansupplyscott]

[SuperVan]

Guess who...

So to keep the record straight on this DOKA, I was the buyer from Freddy. I am now the previous owner as it was put into the hands of a collector here out West.

I stand by the story that Freddy told me. I had no need to fabricate anything. Why would I? It wouldn't make the story any better or any worse. If another collector actually had it before Freddy, that would be news to me. After reading the post above I called Freddy again to confirm how he acquired it and he stood by his story. So I will stand by mine. Freddy is a stand up guy and was a pleasure to meet. When I left, it was not with a handshake, but with a hug for both he and his wife of over 60 years. Fantastic folks.

J, if he told you something different I can respect that. Freddy is very forgetful in his condition, and at his age and without going into detail, it took a lot of patience and trust on my end of the phone to send him his incredible asking price but I thought it was worth it.

As for the rest of the details, I contacted many people to get the history of the DOKAs and borrowed none of it from the GW site/sale. Its all out there on the web. So a pinch of salt on the exact numbers of the DOKA production etc.

But nothing was fabricated. That's not how I do it.

I am happy to report that I got dozens of thankful emails for the story and spreading the excitement of the find, and only one pissy email from a jealous DOKA guy up in BC that eventually apologized for his comment.

My only regret is that I was not able to keep it for myself. Absolutely amazing machine. But no way I could afford to keep it, and keep it nice. I would have it down a dirt road in no time...

~K
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"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" ~Samuel Langhorne Clemens

[SuperVan]

Oh...

And it did come with center caps btw~ For some reason Freddy took them off because he thought someone would steal them. And I just forgot to put them on for the photos:/

K
_________________
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" ~Samuel Langhorne Clemens

[MayorMcCheese]

Interesting story of a Syncro with only 14k on the clock

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4x4-VW-Syncro-Vanag...2ec1620ee1
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