Mr. Squirrel wrote;
>>What was unusual was
>>a fairly amount of smoke (not white water, but gray oil) that came out
>>of the exhaust for the first 30 seconds or so.

This happens with our '85 Westfalia from time to time.  I think it must have something to do with the layout of the boxer motor.  Depending on how the internal parts (rings, valves, etc.) line up when the motor is shut down it may be possible for a small amount of motor oil to leak into the combustion chamber or onto an exhaust valve resulting in the smoke you saw at start up.  It does not take much oil to make a cloud of smoke.  We have owned our van for ten years and this seems to happen once or twice a year.  Our van is usually stored in a garage so the smoke really shows up when it is there.
George
'85 Westfalia