Mid-Eastern T3 Roadtrip and Export!

[tarandusVDub]

What a great adventure! Love the travel log and keep us posted on the repairs and upgrades!
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1990 Syncro 16" DoppleKabine 2.1 DJ 112i
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Sold: 1972 Bay Campmobile; 1984 Westy, base model, 2WD.

[Corwyn]

Never despair. My motto has always been "the adventure begins when your plans jump the tracks". Things could be A LOT worse. Safe travels!
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'90 White Westy ("The Longship")
FAS Gen V 2.0
The Annual Baja Rally
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604813&highlight=baja

"If anything's" gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there"
~ Captain Ron ~

[jhax]

Ere is me being a German mechanic in a German garage for a day. The guy running the shop was very nice to let me use his lift and tools. I'm glad this issue occurred while in a small German town and not a small Croatian town.

Castle town on a lake in Slovenia

World's largest castle built inside a cave in Slovenia. Very cool story behind this one.

Made it to Rovinj yesterday afternoon. Cool little italianesque town.

On the road to Split along the west coast of Croatia.

We found a really cool "small vehicle only campground right next to the sea. I have never seen water so clear. Apparently people my age 32 are into the T3 thing too, there are at least 3 of them here. So far good conversation had with everyone.

[jhax]

By the way, we named the van Otto, after the grandfather of the guy we bought it from.

[Corwyn]

Following your adventure. I found I can ship my van from New Jersey to Barcelona for $900 (container). Wanting to see Europe on my own wheels. Have fun!
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'90 White Westy ("The Longship")
FAS Gen V 2.0
The Annual Baja Rally
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604813&highlight=baja

"If anything's" gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there"
~ Captain Ron ~

[jhax]

Otto made it to Split, windiest drive I have ever experienced driving south along the Croatian coast.

We will stay here a coue days then head to Bosnia where I hear T3s are plentiful, does anyone have any leads on how Iay be able to obtain some random parts while there?

[jhax]

Made it to the landing zone! 2 days, 3541km, 6 countries (they wouldnt let us into Bosnia), later, we are in beautiful Ghent, Belgium. Where some of you know Master Mike (aka Busman). Who has been importing our beloved Syncros, Caravelles, Busses, Dokas, etc for the last 20 or so years!? It has been an absolute pleasure chatting and getting to know this individual. He is a good person full of wisdom and insight. He and his family graciously took us in (he served us beer from one of the local breweries (Golden Dragon, a 10+% Belgian golden strong ale). A couple of those and all of the pains I incurred while driving 6+ hours/day for 2+ days, was quite welcome. Ghent is a fantastic town, full of lovely folks and fantastic food and beer (for those vegetarians among us, Thursdays are vegetarian days at all restaurants). Attached are a slew of photos.

Italian border, had to get the lady some pizza, wine and gilato.
'

Very narrow streets going into Trieste but the T3 handled them with carisma and grace.

We genuinely loved Croatia. It reminded Cassie of Italy without all of the pomp and circumstance.

On the way to Croatia, through Slovinia (by the way, on the way back the Slovenian Austrian border crossing SUCKS! Two hours and a couple beers later, we made it.

More images to come.... It's been a long couple of days, I need a good back punching and a few more beers. We left Otto in good hands, and we are taking a few days break. So up and coming will be the next saga, what to do with him once he enters the states. Obviously taking care of rust and restoration. But the motor. I originally wanted to go with an AHU/1Z swap, but may have been convinced to refresh the ol' 1.6TD and pull as much High revving torque as I can out of the little guy with a bigger turbo, an intercooler and injection pump upgrade (talking to you Giles). I dunno, I like the idea of simplicity and nostalgia. I would also like to lift him a bit and fit maybe a LSD and bigger wheels in the future. I am opening the floor and I understand that it is our vehicle and we will do what we will with it. But I am happy to discuss. Cheers!

Justin

[jimf909]

Wow! Thanks for posting your travels. I admire your spirit and willingness to go do stuff.
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- Jim

[Bleyseng]

Split is a beautiful sea town with the Roman Emperor's castle and Plitvice National Park is incredible with all the waterfalls etc.
How come you didn't go to Dubrovnik?

Looks like a fun trip. How come you couldn't get into Bosnia? I had no trouble two years ago.
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70 Ghia Black convert-9/69 build date-stock w/133k 1600 SP-barn find now with a rebuilt tranny and engine
77 Westy 2.0L w/Ljet, Camper Special engine-95hp and with LSD!(sold)
76 Porsche 914 2.1L L20c, 120hp Djet (sold)
87 Syncro Westy Titan Red 2.1L 2 knob 100k miles

[vik]

I have to agree with statement about Split. And bonus on top is that locals still live there.
There are many interesting places to see around the coast.
Not sure how it it is off season, but in generall Croatian police has avaibility to give you absurdly high fines for overnight stay outside the camps. Just be aware.

Good luck with your trip
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T3 Syncro camper in progress

[jhax]

Found this little guy on the walking path at Plitvice falls, didn't want him to be one one with the path so I moved him.

The drive from Croatia to where we camped in Austria was a long one, a couple beers were in order.

They would not let us drive into Slovenia with our export plates, apparently you cannot get back into the EU once you have left.

We stopped in Nuremburg at a brewery for a rour of the underground cellars that were used as bomb shelters, then lager cellers after WW2.

They also are right next to a whiskey distillery.

This is Mike, many of you know him through his website busman.be. we dropped otto off at his place in Belgium and said goodbye for now.

[4Gears4Tires]

Shaky start, but very successful trip! Congrats!
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[jhax]

Well ladies and gentlemen, the time is drawing ever closer. The van has arrived in Galveston and is likely being unloaded today or tomorrow. Our flight leaves Denver at 6am on Friday.

[jhax]

So here we are, we shouldnt be here right now. I'll explainore later.

[jhax]

[jhax]

Found us a cocroach free place.

[jhax]

OTTO MADE IT!

Well it was a long trip (16+ hours). Safe for a few flashing coolant light instances Otto made it in two days. We are so happy to have this opportunity. I have definitely learned a lot from my experiences. I achieved one of my goals (suffice it to say it's a pretty easy goal in the grand scheme of things), to learn how to import a vehicle to the US. Thank you to Mike (busman) for the exportation assistance, and the hospitality. Thank you to Elliot, the port manager at Galveston for personally coming in on a Saturday on a holiday weekend when the port was closed and filling out the final necessary paperwork and thank you most of all to my partner in crime, my partner, Cassie, for going through this process with me. It was so great to have her support through all of this.

There was a train preventing us from actually getting to the port, and a cop sitting in his truck right next to us, we must have waited 20 minutes watching these cars go back and forth on the tracks before it finally moved.

We walked right up to the port, the security guard wouldn't let me in, even after seeing the email exchange from the manager, the manager ended up driving up to the entrance and said, "You look like a Justin!"

We then rode with him to where Otto was parked, he was a little dirty from the bird crap. Needless to say, he fired right up and I followed the manager to the temp building where he filled out the last piece of paper.

So glad to see Otto again!

We ended up in a field in Childress, TX ate dinner and called it a night.

We arose at 7am the next morning and hit the ol' dusty trail. And 6 hours later we were at our home state border, this was a good opportunity to check the last box off of our honeymoon list.

That is all for now! I will start a new thread documenting updates to our newest member of our family.

[joetiger]

Congratulations! Can't wait to see Otto in person.
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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com