A buddy of mine just bought an 82 Westfalia with manual transmission. The
upper brown  plastic cover plate on the steering column is different than the
cover plate I have seen on other Vanagons . It has a rasied top that creates what
looks like a flat plate or surface that faces the driver as the driver looks
through the steering wheel. It looks like it could hold a little plate like
you see on an old Ford (say 1968) that would show what gear you're in if you had
an automatic transmission--This type of deal:
P-R-N-D-2-1. This Vanagon has a manual transmission and I don't think even
the automatics had a display up at the steering wheel.

Any ideas what this cover plate accomodated? Was it a glow plug indicator
light for a diesel? The picture is still up at the samba on the link below.
Although this bus has been sold to my buddy near Reno.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=66078

Best
Jeff
83.5 Westfalia
LA,CA