This Burgundy Westy has covered some ground – 156k miles in its life – but it’s been pretty much completely refurbished mechanically with some great cosmetic touches too. Outside, its been repainted in its beautiful original hue and has the perfect (if ubiquitous) GoWesty wheels. The South African grille is another popular mod, but the quad-round setup just looks so darn good. Inside, the front seats have been replaced with blue and grey cloth Recaros from a Jetta GLI that don’t quite match the rest of the just-grey interior but are still quite sharp. All seals and the tent were redone at the time of repaint (a few years ago). The engine and transmission were rebuilt and the suspension and brakes are redone. So yeah, pretty much everything. The market is strong for nearly-perfect, well-tended Westys like this, so the seller is probably feeling pretty confident in their $29.5k price.
Tag: T3
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?
Click for details: 1981 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia
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Over the last year I’ve really come to appreciate the high-top Vanagon. With a very different approach and look from the Westy, it’s taking the VanLife game just a little further. This early 1980 model has covered less than 50k miles with its air-cooled 2.0-liter. There’s no explanation as to why it has only covered an average of 1300 miles a year, but it looks the part. The two-tone yellow is going to make you the quintessential ray of sunshine that comes when people see awesome Vanagons on the road. Inside, the redone interior is pretty amazing with a very early-80s brown and beige color scheme and as high quality of work as I’ve seen in any Vanagon. With reserve-on bidding starting at $7k, it’s nice enough to go much higher than that.
Click for details: 1980 Volkswagen Vanagon Adventurewagen on eBay
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As I fantasized the other week about rocking a Golf Country into the mountains, I didn’t really account for the limiting factors of a lifted hatchback. Yes, it can probably get you and a couple of friends over and through just about anything, but what about your stuff? Or your other friends? Hatchbacks are certainly known for utility, but when you start talking sleds, camp stoves, extra clothes, and maybe more than 4 people, you’re either going to have the biggest roof rack known to man or have to look at a bigger automobile.
Back, then, to most popular Syncro, the Vanagon! This isn’t a Westy, just a tintop, of which we’ve seen some decent examples before. An all-wheel drive tin box that can carry 7 comfortably, and this one has a burly cargo rack on top that can gather any and all snow toys you need. It’s not as fancy as some nor does it have the pop-top, but that cuts the price by over half. It’s not as immaculate as the Golf Country, with some general interior wear and a rebuilt engine and transmission a few years ago, but it looks pretty nice for 220k miles and sports some quality upgrades like Emu shocks and disc brakes. There’s plenty to do to make it cleaner and personalized, but it’s a great start on a van that could take winter adventures to the next level.
Click for details: 1987 Volkswagen Vanagon Syncro on eBay
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Today we have another ex-German Military DoKa Diesel from Georgian importers Zombie Motors. This time the oilburner has a turbo strapped onto it and it’s a slightly brighter shade of green, looking good from afar in the pictures but reportedly a pretty crappy paint job according to the seller. The last Zombie DoKa was pretty rough to look at but had a nice interior, while this one is kind of the inverse. With just 85k miles, it should have a lot of life left in it but will clearly need an enthusiastic project manager.