I've seen some pop-top VW LTs here in the states, too.

The Sprinter is, interestingly enough, closely related
to the VW LT. Developed as one project, they share
platforms, mechanicals and some sheetmetal, but use MB
or VWAG engines, respectively.

Westfalia, of course, is now part of DaimlerChrysler,
so they make a MB Sprinter camper called the James
Cook.

http://www.mercedes-benz.com/e/rv/jamescook/default.htm

Even if you could get it here, well beyond $30k.

--- Harald Rust <harald_nancy_vw@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> I've seen the Ford "westy" at a rv dealer.
> To me it looked like a fake westy.
> The diesel engine is nice, but that's about it.
> The poptop was "fake", compared to the vanagon
> poptop,
> not enough space to sleep up there, unless you're
> 5 years old.
> The kitchen furniture etc. looked cheap, compared to
> the vanagon. It was mostly centered around a
> microwave.
> The floor on American full size vans is too high,
> due to the driveshaft and antiquated suspension.
> That makes for lousy headroom.
> From a distance it looked nice, but when I was
> sitting
> in it for 15 minutes, I was happy to go back to my
> vanagon westy.
> Something I would consider would be the new
> Freightliner "sprinter" (I think) vans.
> I was at a Dodge dealership recently, and had a talk
> with the sales manager. He said they are going to
> discontinue the full size Dodge vans, and sell
> the Freightliner aka Dodge sprinter through selected
> dealerships, beginning this year.
> The Fed Ex drivers love them.
> I've seen one recently in Port Townsend, Washington,
> that was converted to a camper using vw vanagon
> westy equipment and a poptop.
> I didn't have my camera to take a shot, but it
> looked
> nice.
> Harald
> '90 westy
>
>

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com