In the SoCal junkyards I visit the air-cooled Vanagons
> outnumbered the waterboxer models by at least 3 to 1 in at least
> 100
------------------------------
I have no doubt that you are correct about California and the West Coast
in general. Vanagons just simply aren't popular in Texas and this drives
the price down and renders them salvage before their time.

Stan Wilder

On Tue, 5 Mar 2002 17:51:07 -0800 mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
writes:
> 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
>
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