ok, being the bean counter mentality that i are, i've started watching
the buses-for-sale on the internet web pages devoted thereto. and some
of them post or require you to list the VIN of the cars being sold.
"Hmmmmm", says I to Me, "wonder if any of the vanagons are sequential
off the assembly line??".

so i start collecting that info. sure enough, three pairs of
consecutive VINs i've found. :)  now, since i only have had 1986-1991
buses, that's what i collected. if there's enough interest, i can
start collecting the 1980-1985 stuff, too. just figured it was enough
dufus work to get the 86-91s!

but some other semi-pseudo-interesting data appeared ...
(but remember!! this is all from a small sample of the buses imported
to the u.s. ... and it's based on the assumption/hypothesis that
buses-sold reflect buses-bought. more or less. sorta. kinda. somewhat.
maybe)

anyway, that the sales seemed to peak in 1987, then drop off badly in
88 and 89, then rebound in 90, and slack off again in 91.

1986  95 --> 16.8%
1987 133 --> 23.5%
1988  53 --> 9.4%
1989  68 --> 12.0%
1990 131 --> 23.2%
1991  85 --> 15.0%

 565 total

that syncros are only about 15 percent of all the buses sold.
curiously, it seems that automatics barely outnumber or at least equal
the number of 4-speed buses sold. i didn't think there were that many
automatics sold.

 14.7%  83 syncros of all types
 39.8% 225 4-speeds of all types
 41.6% 235 automatics of all types
  3.9%  22 unknown

that camper GLs sold the most. surprise!! ;)
and of the syncros, the camper gls also sold the most.

    1.1%   6 unknown
   30.3% 171 GL
    6.0%  34 WLE
    6.2%  35 Carat
    2.1%  12 Multivan
    2.3%  13 Camper
   37.0% 209 Camper GL
    2.7%  15 Syncro
    4.2%  24 Syncro GL
    7.4%  42 Syncro Camper GL

    0.4%   2 Double-cab Pickup
    0.4%   2 Syncro Double-Cab Pickup

but notice ... in 1986, the syncros were nearly 1/3 of all 1986 buses.
even in 1987, syncros were close to 1/5th.
and yes, i've seen only ONE 1988 syncro for sale. :)

      syncro
      5-spd  4-sp  auto   ?  total
1986    33    40    19    3    95
1987    25    65    36    7   133
1988     1    26    24    2    53
1989     7    28    33    0    68
1990    10    47    67    7   131
1991     7    19    56    3    85
        83   225   235   22
      14.7% 39.8% 41.6% 3.9%

so ... if anybody wants to contribute their bus's VIN to my Kollection
of Useless Vanagon Information and Statistics, this is what i need ...

year, VIN, model (GL, Camper GL, syncro camper gl, etc),
transmission-type (5-spd, 4-sp, automatic), miles-on-odometer,
State-the-bus-lives-in, city-the-bus-lives-in, and anything
goofy/special/wierd about the bus (sunroof, tiico/subaru engine,
painted-like-a-big-pink-booby, etc). if you're in canada or europe,
lemme know the country,province, and city.
and i'll tell you if your bus has a consecutive sibling that i know
of. ;)

and speaking of the state/city, california (of course!) runs off with
the waaaaaaay most buses being sold ...

AL   4  ** southeast ***
FL  33
GA  17
TN   2
MS   0
SC   5
NC  14
LA   0  *** southwest ***
TX  14
OK   2
AR   0
OH  12  *** midwest ***
MI  11
IN   4
KY   3
IL  12
WI   1
CA 162  *** pacific coast ***
OR  19
WA  35
NV   6
AZ   9  *** desert sw ****
NM   5
CO  49
UT  13
WY   1  *** mountain ***
ID   4
MT   2
ND   0  *** prairie ***
SD   0
MN  10
NE   2
KS   2
MO   3
IA   4
PA  25  *** atlantic ***
NY  12
NJ   6
VA  13
MD   9
DE   1
WV   1
ME   1  **** new england ***
MA   8
RI   3
CT   5
NH   6
VT   1
AK   1  ** offshore **
HI   0
CAN  6  canadian

and know you now the west of the story. ;)

unca joel