Prior to '88, these were the place where air exited the van (it got sucked
out through a passage in the door to slots in the front edge of the door
and then out through the gap between the door and the frame).   This caused
lots of air  noise and allowed road noise to enter, so in '88, the air
exhaust was relocated to the rear windows, and the old exit was plugged
(the gap between door frame and door was filled by a new gasket too).

Dave
87 Wolfsburg
90 Westfalia
Lincoln, Mass

At 05:17 PM 8/29/97 -0400, Todd Last wrote:
>My '88 has black plastic air grills at the rear bottom of the front doors. I
>took the door panel off to install a map tray in the right door and noticed
>that the hole in the door behind the grill is taped up with black tape.
>
>Does anyone know what these grills are for and why they are taped up?
>
>Thanks
>Todd
>'88 Westfalia
>
>