

| Subject: | Re: New Westy and Syncro Westy alternatives under $30k |
| From: | Tom Forhan |
| Date: | Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:24:29 -0800 |
How about a fully restored Westfalia? (See below) The GTRV looks nice, except it sounds like you cannot have a couple sleep upstairs. I think one of the nicest features of a Westfalia is a real double bed in the roof, so if a couple is travelling together they never have the twice daily job of converting the rear bench to a bed, and back again, including moving all those dufflebags of stuff in the way back out of the way. Sportsmobile started converting splitties into campers about 1960 http://www.sportsmobile.com/new/index2.htm One of their biggest sellers is a Westfalia layout: http://www.sportsmobile.com/stanplan/rb50.htm , but including the poptop the conversion runs about $20K. They also take vans converted to true 4x4 by Quigley (solid axles, trasfer cases, etc) in addition to the "all wheel drive" offered by GM. A Quigley conversion runs about $10K. When you add that to a new Ford van, its easy to go way over $60K. Of course, if that is an issue, oen way out is to finance it as a motorhome over 15 years. Another out-of-budget alternative is the Mercedes/Freightliner/Dodge Sprinter, which was discusssed on the syncro list a while back. It all points out to me what a great value a Vanagon Westfalia is. You could buy one in decent shape, and do a complete rebuild of the mechanicals, intall new wiring looms, and strip the body for any rust repair, a repaint and new seals, and it would be less than $30K. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
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