>
> so where do the best vanagons come from?

California and Arizona.

 I was thinking that the vintage planes all live in the desert.  They dont
> age, perse, but dont their hoses and things get baked?

Hoses whose job it is to pipe 200+ degree water? nah. Rubber parts decay
faster in high-polution areas (e.g. most of southern california) from ground
level ozone, but rubber parts are designed to be replaced. Really, ozone
decay seems to mostly affect "exposed" stuff like suspension components.
Windshield wipers only last 6 months. Hoses, 7-10 years, I'd say. But you
wanna replace all the hoses on a "new to you" Vanagon anyway, right?

  But no rust, is that really a benefit?

Dunno. Depends on whether you mind your car coming apart at the seams, I
guess. I have a '90 Vanagon that was badly neglected by the last two owners,
but since it spent its entire life here in SoCal, literally the only body
rust it has is one tiny 2mm spot on the nose where a rock chipped away the
paint. But being a spoiled SoCal dweller I'm naturally appalled by what road
salt and constant dampness do to cars in the midwest/east/Great White North.

But if it doesn't bother you, hey, that's great. Get something local. One
less California Vanagon taken away to the rust belt. I know it's dumb, but I
always feel a twinge of annoyed outrage when I see a Vanagon for sale in
Wisconsin or Maryland or such and one of the selling points is "California
van I bought 2 years ago". They took one of "our" vans to a horrible place
where it'll just ROT!

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"