Hi,

I've never owned a VW before. I'd like to try one for occasional gentle
long trips for a year without spending too much money before I determine
if I want to keep it or maybe spend more money on a more reliable one.
I'm not going to get rid of my Honda Accord which I commute in.

Anyway, I'm looking at a 1987 automatic Vanagon pop-top camper which I
believe I can get for about $5500. It runs okay but not very peppy. The
mechanic told me the compression was about 120 which is low but not too
bad. He said there is no other sign of head problems. He also said the
front end is a little loose. I'm concerned about two things: (1) the
odometer broke at about 60K so I'm told they guess the engine has about
120K or so on it but there's no way to really know. (2) The dealer
bought it at auction and immediately gave it a paint job and the
mechanic said it looks like it was driven in the snow for quite a while
which means there may be a lot of rust that I just can't see. There
certainly is a lot of rust on the exhaust system.

I live in Santa Cruz so I'm guessing I should be able to turn it around
for $4000 easily if I tire of it. Comparing the Van to the bluebook
value of about $9000, it seems like a great deal even if it isn't
perfect. But then I haven't been looking at Vans for very long so I
really don't know. What do those of you on the group think?

BTW, my girl friend used to own two air-cooled vans (one for parts) and
is a bit concerned about my sanity in wanting a VW. Aside from head jobs
every 80K or so, is there any way I can reassure her that the
water-cooled engines are more maintenance free?

Thanks,
Eric