In a message dated 4/30/03 6:31:46 AM Pacific Daylight Time, JLRavary@MSN.COM 
writes:

<< What is a reasonable price to pay for a Gold Vanagon GL 1987 109,000 miles.
 AC works, power locks do not. Cloth seats, pretty good shape. >>

Gee, if it's mine, then it's worth $15,000,000.99. 

<< Two owners, both known to me.
 It is running well and there is only a bit of rust on the passenger side
 where the panels fit together (2 places).
 Is that indication of a more serious problem ? >>

That's going to depend on how well you know these two people. Do you trust 
them? You may want to have a mechanic familiar with Vanagons evaluate the 
running condition for you. What seems like a good running vehicle to you may 
be ready to give up the ghost in reality. I am assuming that you are not too 
familiar with these vehicles. Otherwise, please accept my apologies for the 
assumption.

The Gold GL you are looking at is probably what is called Savannah Beige with 
a brown and beige interior. Front seats with adjustable armrests. Which, BTW 
is a one year only upholstery IIRC.

The rust you speak of is commonly referred to as seam rust. The rust occurs 
where the 90� protrusions used to welded the adjoining panels together. It is 
not beyond repair but usually difficult to do so. Frequently the rust from 
inside and works it's way out. A search in the List Archives under the title 
"seam rust" will yield all kinds of revealing information on the subject.

As for price, that is dependent of what part of the world you're in. I can 
only speak for my area which is San Francisco. Vanagons are quite plentiful 
here. Most do not have much rust. Assuming the body is otherwise decent shape 
(by that I mean some very tiny parking lot dings but no big dents), I've seen 
87's with go for between $500 and as high as $5600. Most will fall in the 
$2500-$3000 category. The lower end of the scale are the ones w/o AC, power 
mirrors, power locks, or power windows. Automatic transmission models tend to 
fetch less though they cost more to acquire when new. The late 87 Wolfsburg 
Edition models will fetch higher prices as they have more options. They also 
usually have the later style fiberglass front and rear bumpers (but w/o the 
side skirts of the Carats).

That's about it for the early morning edition of the Rambling BenT.

BenT�
<A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/bentbtstr8/myhomepage/index.html">Vanagon 
Cafe</A>