Hi Dave,

Welcome to Vanagon world -- your experience with unreliable English sports
cars will come in handy.  I had an Austin Healy 100-6 once and learned a
lot from it.

I've bought quite a few vanagons and my approach is quite simple.  My
primary vehicle condition criterion is "rust free".  Almost any Vanagon
part is readily available and your past experience should keep you
occupied getting your van road worthy.  My buying approach is to do a
Craisglist search every day - I live in Sacramento California and search
from New Mexico/Colorado west -- every Craigslist.  You can set up a
series of favorites in your web browers that go to each individual
Craigslist with the prespecified search term "vanagon" in the autos for
sale section.  Only a few new van will show up a day so it doesn't take
long.  Most of the sites won't have any vanagons.  If you do this
consistently you'll find a very reasonably priced rust free van that's
driveable within a month or so.  Have your cash in hand and buy
immediately when you find the right one.  Then be ready to fly or take a
bus or whatever to wherever it is - pick it up and drive it home.  Have a
strategy if it breaks down but that hasn't happened to me yet.

Be ready to do some repairs.  People who are selling a good condition van
at a bargain price are usually doing so because theres some underlying
problem they don't want to deal with and it's been sitting for a while.
This isn't a big deal because it's my sense most vans for sale have some
hidden things that need fixing.

This works for me - might for you.

Cheers!
Werner

On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:44:32 -0400, Peters, David Gerard <dgp6@PITT.EDU>
wrote:

>Hi All
>
>Just discovered this list.  Excellent stuff!!
>
>I am a newby to Vanagons.  Being a Brit I have owned Land Rovers and
unreliable English sports cars (all rough).  I am now living in Pittsburgh
and have been looking endlessly for a Westy nearby.  ... Can anybody
advise as to a sensible price range?  What should I be looking out for
when I view it?
>
>Thanks
>
>Dave