Hi all

In the past we have seen discussion concerning the fact that most of the
messages are complaints about broken Vanagons.  In the spirit of
ballancing this a bit, here is a note to say that these machines are not
all bad.
About a month ago I was fortunate enough to find a '87 SyncroWesty in my
own area.  I had been told that there was a van for sale locally by
co-workers but kind of blew it off as I had just purchased another '87
Syncro for my wife a few months earlier.  (some may remember the 17 hour
trip from Michigan to PA just to get it. Thank you Karl Bloss for
putting it on your website).   I had driven by it but didn't have the
time to look at it.   I eventually got around to going to see it.  It
was parked off the sholder of the road low enough that it was not
obvious that it was a Syncro and a bra hid the emblem on the front.
When I realized what it was, I started looking closer.  I was pleased.
GL with full amenities.  Electric windows, locks, and mirrors.  Exhaust
good, no antifreeze leaks, fresh Michelins, perfect interior, and very
little seam rust.  Hmmmm, this has to be a dream....  The one
distractor... 250,000 miles!  Found the person who had owned it for the
past year, only the second owner.  Seems the original owner was a
doctors wife and had meticulously maintained it.  Had all the service
records.  Other than heads @ 100,000 it had all been normal wear and
tear.  Called the primary mechanic in WI and found that they had never
had the engine apart.  Well,   I couldn't stand it,  offered $6500
because of a slight tranny whine and she said "sold".   After having put
a couple of thousand miles on it I have to say it was a good deal.  I'm
pleased.  When I asked the owner if she had ever used the fridge she
said that she never even tried so I figured I might have some problems
there.  Went to fill the propane tank and found that it was still FULL
from the original owner.  Wow...  The fridge even makes ICE.  I have had
to fix some little stuff like the dome light, one of the locks, and a
seatbelt latch but other than that, it runs like a top.  Eventually I
will dig into the tranny and fix the diff lock when I rebuild it. Until
then, I'm just going to enjoy the new member of our family....
 BTW,  I did manage to sell our original Vanagon ('84 GL)  for $2000 the
other day.  Not bad for a 200K vehicle.  Now if I can just find the time
to finish rebuilding the air cooled 2L in my '81 westy so that I can
offer it a to a new home, I can be back down to 2 Vanagons...
Waiting for Snow so I can try the Syncros in Northern Michigan
Mark Rokus