In a message dated 18/10/2007 12:19:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

I had a  visit from a customer driving a 89 Westy Joker Turbo Diesel last
week. It  was the first time I have seen a Joker in real life and it was
pretty cool.  For those of you who may not know what one of these is they
are a  permanently raised hightop like an Adventurewagen except made by
Westfalia  and only sold in Europe. The interior in his looked very
similar to the  interior of a normal poptop Westy with a few exceptions.
There was a  factory cabinet near the sliding door that looks like a seat
and can be  used as a seat. It is supposed to contain a chemical toilet.
The van also  had a factory installed furnace and grew water tank. On the
Westy  instrument panel where you normally flip that tiny switch to see
your water  level, battery condition, and fridge light status there was
another small  switch below the normal one. He told me this was for a
heater that heated  the propane if the temperatures got really low (so
many degrees below  zero). Also the propane tank was bigger than what we
would see here in the  states. All of the windows in the camper area were
double pane plastic  (similar to what a factory Westy skylight looks
like). It is supposed to  give you a higher insulation factor for camping
but just like the factory  skylights these windows go bad with age. I
would much rather have the glass  ones myself.

There are quite a few of  these around the Quebec ~ Ontario scene as Ralf &
RV Westfalia are importing  them now for over two ~ three years.  There were
three or four of them  at Westies @ Watkins.  AND they are not all as the one
you saw and  described Ken.  Westfalia made many different versions, with
different  interiors, etc.  One now belongs to my bud Cory who will be travelling
with  it to Zamora for my daughters wedding in December > _Busesinzamora : Buses
in  Zamora 2007_ (http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/Busesinzamora/)  .

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
- Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust  Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10,  2007