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Category: Volkswagen

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1981 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia

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I always wonder what people get out of selling advertising space on their cars, a topic Jalopnik provided a point/counterpoint to yesterday. If you really don’t give a damn about the appearance of your car, I guess it’s essentially free money. Company vehicles can be cool – I’m thinking old bakery delivery panel vans – but sometimes some dude just had to offer up his vehicle as a promotional platform. Something like that happened here to this 1981 Westy for Montana’s MOJO 92.5. Considering the recent trend of consolidating small radio stations into conglomerates whose names make me distinctly NOT love radio, I’m guessing Montana just lost one more station beloved by roofers and garbage men. I sure hope the window decals can come off easily, as well as the tiny logos swimming around in the black trimline.

Beyond the glaring weirdness of being a rolling billboard, it’s a pretty nice early Vanagon. GoWesty wheels are the most tasteful choice on the vehicle, which has such anachronisms as a “ceiling mounted DVD player!” Not exactly my type of van camping, but could be a plus if you like road trips but your preferred parenting method is screen hypnosis. The new interior looks well done if overly Halloweeny, but you’re not going to get away from that in this van. The houndstooth is nice and the appliances and cabinets all look outstanding. With a Lamborghini Orange paint job, is this pumpkin worth $23k?

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1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia

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We often speak of the value of Vanagons here, which has stretched upward to dizzying heights in some cases. It’s worth taking a deeper look at how conservative campers from the People’s Auto inspires such devotion. Today’s seller has touched every piece of this car and tried to do the best possible thing to make it immaculate and/or updated. Leading in with

I will try not to bore you with all the details of my restoration but here goes:

he proceeds to passionately explain rebuilding the engine, then removing it recently and painstakingly clean everything… just because. And this guy isn’t alone. The parts are available through amazing companies like GoWesty to have tinkering on your van for years, meeting all kinds of other people who also like driving a mobile personal campsite. His Buy It Now is big money, creeping towards some decent Syncros, but the fact that he can’t not share his excitement about making the perfect van is convincing. It’s cleaner than clean.

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1980 Volkswagen LT45

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You can’t really buy American firetrucks and drive them personally. Forest service greenies or the chief’s Blazer, maybe, but our real fire trucks are fricking huge. Euro firetrucks operate in much more confined spaces (and budgets), meaning they end up with sweet conversions like this 1980 Volkswagen LT45. Something like the T3’s big brother, we’ve seen a Syncro LT45 before that looked like it was ready to roam the desert because it knows that winter is coming. This is no Syncro DoKa, but it is a dually 5-speed diesel van that could serve many uses. It currently has the hose reels, but unless you want those the seller says he’s pulling them out. The seller seems confident that $16k is his price – do low miles and rarity counteract the generally rough appearance?

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Feature Listing: 1993 Volkswagen Corrado SLC

We have a tendency to look at older cars through rose-colored glasses. Today, by all accounts, the Corrado SLC is a modern classic – but was it always so? In fact, if we go back to the original tests of the cars, as with most Volkswagen products it wasn’t the fastest, quickest, best turning or braking. It didn’t turn the fastest lap times and yet was usually the most expensive. As such, in comparisons like Car and Driver’s 1992 Sport Coupe comparison, the Corrado finished only mid-pack. But as with other Volkswagen and Audi products, there was an intangible element to the Corrado that made it somehow more appealing than the competition.

By 1992, the supercharged Corrado G60 was underpowered compared to the competition given its relatively high weight. Volkswagen solved the problem with the introduction of the awesome narrow-angle VR6 motor, rated at 178 horsepower and 177 lb.ft of torque. New wheels mimicked the design of the of the outgoing 1991 BBS wheels on the G60, but were subtly different; underneath hid now 5 bolts and a redesigned suspension, brakes and electronic traction control system. Subtle changes were new clear signals and a re-sculpted hood, along with new nomenclature – the VR6 model was now dubbed the SLC. Further changes were rolled out in 1993; a change of wheels again to the more purposeful 15″ x 6.5″ Speedline 5-spoke design was most notable outside, while inside a revised dashboard had mostly new and more upscale switches, dials and gauges. A fair amount of the 1993-1994 Corrado SLCs were shipped fully loaded, now with a price a staggering $10,000 more than the 1990 base price at a lofty $28,000. That meant few sold, but even though by the numbers these Corrados weren’t the best deal, much like the contemporary Porsche 968 the SLC proved more than the sum of its parts. Even a decade ago some like Richard Hammond from Top Gear were declaring the still fairly new Corrado a future classic, but more recently established collector organization Hemmings tipped the Corrado as a great potential collector. Great! Now, where to find a nice one? That’s a larger problem; the Corrado was so expensive that few were sold here, with low thousand numbers in each 1993 and 1994 production which would be the last year of offer in the U.S.. We’ve got quite a great example to feature today, though:

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1980 Volkswagen Brasilia

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Paul has featured a couple of Brasilias here before, but its small original market means we almost never see them in the US. This one has made its way to Florida and looks to be in great shape after just 66k miles. The ones Paul featured were 2-door shooting brakes, while this one is the slightly less elegant 4-door. Interior and exterior look extremely nice, even in the frunk. It’s pretty much a Beetle but with a lot more practicality and a bit less cuteness. Who needs cute when you can be funky and rare?

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