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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We have 15 years of archives. Links older than a year may have been updated to point to similar cars available to bid on eBay.Tag: VW
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?
Click for details: 1980 Volkswagen Brasilia on eBay
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The strong market for Westfalias should surprise no one by now. What is surprising, however, is finding two ridiculously low-mileage Westies for sale at the same time, in nearly the exact same spec. They’re both late-model, white on grey Vanagons that are looking for high-$30ks. That’s starting to get into decent Syncro Westy territory – are they worth it?
Click for details: 1987 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia on eBay
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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.