** At 01:14 PM 8/4/2004, you wrote: **

>I have told him much the same, but he doesn't want the air cooled option.
><shrug> I still want to know where all these $7K Westys are located that
>are all tuned up, new tires, great engine, and no problems to be had, just
>waiting to be bought, and driven carefree around the country. That is the
>point I was trying to make.

they are at places like gowesy.com or poptopheaven or such and
they definitely aren't $7K!   They also will *still* have issues no matter
how many $$$$ you dump into them   You can go the Larry Chase
Roadhaus route, redo the entire van and still have problems/issues..
or you can just fix  them here and there, until you know what you've got.

You need to have an interest in learning about them as well as getting in
tune with the machine.  If you want a vehicle to just put gas in it and
drive?  well  not sure if a Vanagon would be my first choice... probably would
go with a Toyota pickup and some sort of camper shell.

I know a few folks who have found them in pristine condition with
very low milage, and picked them up for a song.  They are still  nearly
15+ year old vehicles and as such, even with low milage, there are
issues.

Vanagons are very cool vehicles however.. esp westy's and even more
so syncro westies.  No other vehicle like them today, which is why I have
one and will keep it for a long time.

I'd leave the van aircooled, (simpler, less things to break/go wrong)
esp if I were driving around living in the thing and had to be self
sufficient in some respects.

Decided to stay with a WBX in mine.. to have a reasonable chance
that a VW mechanic would  be able to work on it (if needed)

cheers,

  -tim

90 syncro westy
mesa, az