>
> As you may know, the early water-cooled vans (the first was in mid
>  '83) had a lot of problems with overheating although the later models
>  seem to have been less afflicted.  I'd question the seller closely on
>  this point.  After learning about the heat problems of these
>  "vasserboxers" on this list, I opted to by the last air-cooled, an '82
>  Vanagon.  The above for what it's worth.  Cheers, Art
> >
FWIW, the '82 was not quite the last air-cooled Vanagon.  There were
indeed '83 model air-cooled Vanagons and the wasserboxer was introduced
in '83.5 when the air-cooled was dropped.  However, there would still
have been plenty of '83 air-cooled models around on dealers' lots I
would imagine.

1983 was a unique year for Vanagons here in the US as it was the only
year that a buyer of a new Vanagon would have had 3 engine choices:

1)  2.0L gas air-cooled
2)  1.9L gas water-cooled
3)  1.6L diesel water-cooled ('82-'83)

Neat!

--
Sean Bartnik
Fredericksburg, Virginia
1981 Volkswagen Vanagon L Westfalia
1974 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible
http://www.type2.com/bartnik/myvan.htm
http://www.mwc.edu/~sbart7kb/vwbooks.htm