I have been to many wrecking yards and I don't know what you are talking
about. In the SoCal junkyards I visit the air-cooled Vanagons
outnumbered the waterboxer models by at least 3 to 1 in at least 100
that have hit the yards in the last year. Since many more waterboxers
were sold over many more years I would expect the opposite. The chronic
head/valve problems of the air-cooled were far worse than the head
gasket problems of the waterboxers MHO. The gasket problems of the
waterboxers mostly occur much later in their lives than the head
problems of the air-cooled Vanagons. I knew people who bought 80 and 81
models brand new and had valve failures in the first year or 2.

Mark

Stan Wilder wrote:
>
>......
> Waser boxers are ten to one more than Air Cooled Vans in the wrecking
> yards I buy from. Most of the WaserBoxers have a rod sticking through the
> crank case or the engine in disarray in the back seat with the heads off.
> So I'm not nailing the Waser Boxers specifically because I know that
> properly cared for vehicles will last just as long or longer than the air
> cooled versions.
> I do contend that we had a quality drought in the auto industry for the
> past twenty years that continues today in all of the US made vehicles.
>
> Stan Wilder
> 83 Air Cooled Westfalia