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Date:         
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Glenn Wanek (wanek@whscdp.whs.edu)
Subject:      

There are a couple of choices for your quest to get five-passenger capacity
in a Vanagon Westfalia:

In 1980 and 1981 there were two versions of Westfalia's brought into the US.
One version sacrificed the closet unit and refrigerator/stove, but in return
you got a wider rear seat (and lower bed).  I'm not sure if it had 3 sets of
seat belts, though.  My sister recently sold her Westy that had this version -
I'll ask her to see if it had 3 belts.

Later Waterboxer Westy's had a factory option of a removable, forward facing
seat located behind the right front passenger seat - with belts.  I don't know
if the anchors for this seat exist in all Westy's, or if they can be
retrofitted.  When this seat is in place, it probably interferes with the
refrigerator door, undersink drawer, and maybe one cabinet door, so it's
sort of a "today I'll be a camper" or "today I'll be a family hauler" kind
of problem.  A local dealer mounted a nice swivel leather Recaro seat in a
Westy, behind the right front seat.  It wasn't easily removable, but it did
not interfere with any of the camping gear.  A realtor used the Westy for
a mobile office.