original message:
We spent a few days free camping on a nice stretch of beach near La
Paz (Baja) beside a VW LT high-top westy and it was *sweet*!  Had the
turbo diesel in it.  It was big and spacious, beautifully done.
Driven by a German couple driving around the world for a while...

I still have LT westy envy.

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They are big and have all the things the vanagon westy does not.  There was
a 1982 LT28D westfalia diesel for sale in alberta, canada last summer, about
$3500 us.  Very good condition.  But driving it was more than I could bear.
It was by far the slowest thing on the road, including 18 wheel trucks. Much
slower than the diesel vanagon.  Very very high roof with flat sides and
tiny 14" tires made it dangerous on the highway.  Even in very light winds
the thing felt like it was going into the ditch at any moment.  It had a 5
speed,  first gear was similar to a sincere low, but in this case you used
it just to get off the line.  I would have bought it in an instant, but it
is just not made for north american driving conditions (1982 diesel anyway).
You need more than 80 hp to move something that weighs almost three times as
much as the vanagon westy.

Gary Lee