Is $2000 a fair price for a Vanagon with (automatic) tranny problems?
That's what I'm asking for my '87 GL, Matilda.

Maybe the trans needs replacement.  I'm no mechanic.  It started
slipping about 8 months ago, then worked fine, then started slipping,
then worked fine for 3 months solid, then started slipping but worked
ok, then on Interstate 295 just let go.  I could shut down, wait a few
minutes, and then drive 5 or 200 feet, then it let go again.  I had it
towed and since then just moved it around the property here.  I think my
son drove to the store once, but basically it sits here for the past
month.

Other than that, she's mechanically sound.  Switched out the a/c
condensation valve and charged w/ Freeze-12 this summer, also added
brackets to hold up the ceiling-mounted parts.  New coolant flange last
November, brakes all turned and new pads installed in December.

Yes, her body shows her age.  She's been in parking lots and on the
street all around the Washington area.  However, no serious rust
problems.  Also, the odometer quit on me maybe a year & a half ago at
151k.  I can't have gone more than 20k, 25 max, since then.

I bought her in February 97 for $3200 with 148k on her; the owner was a
Volvo mechanic who had just rebuilt the engine and then changed his mind
about towing a boat behind a Vanagon.

What do you think?

Byron Spears
'87 GL
Clinton, Maryland (due southeast of Washington, DC, 3 miles outside the
Beltway)
301-868-6453

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