> Are there any "Classic shifter linkage problems" or "Classic stiff tranny
> problems"

Yes. and yes.
It is typical for an aging Vanagon transmission to be hard to get into
gear... especially when it is cold... sometimes changing to Redline MT-90
synthetic helps... sometimes it turns out to be a shift linkage problem...
sometimes it indicates a transmission rebuild is coming...
but that shouldn't be too much of a surprise if it has 100k or more on the
odometer....

Bill