Maintenance & Restoration

Glenn Baglo · 09-30-2018, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

I drove this through a good part of the 70s...

Mine was a red fastback.

Jon in AZ · 09-30-2018, 07:19 PM

Mine was... oh wait!... I wasn't driving through most of the 70's.

So... what was the "good part" of the 70's? [emoji3]

ninklink · 10-01-2018, 12:17 AM

I’ve owned over 15 of these vans from 70 to 2003. Everyone has their quirks but the strongest emotional appeal for me is the 75 to 79 type 2 van. Its classic styling and fuel injection made a nice balance. I would not let my daughters drive until they learned to start and navigate our 1974 window van from a steep hill on Sumas Mountain here in Abbotsford. I figured if they can learn to drive a VW van from a stop parked on a hill facing up they can drive anything. If you really want to drive a VW camper van keep looking. They are out there but very rare. I sold one once to farmer with a very big belly. He got in and the big steering wheel pressed on his belly so there were two big bulges above and below it. I asked him how are you supposed to steer? He thought he will do just fine and bought it. Then I drove by his farm quite a few months later and saw it parked then drove by months later and still sitting there so I drove up and his wife said that Doug passed away of heart failure and she didn’t have a license and wondered if I would buy it back. Of course I did. The last van I almost had was a perfect 1979 Westphalia orange with the classic plaid interior. I spotted it in a carport in my town and knocked on the door. The owners didn’t want to sell but I left her my card. For the next 4 years once a year at the same time I left her my card. One day she called me and said I’m selling and the price is $10,000 take it or leave it. I called my best friend and told him here’s your chance to own a classic beauty. He being a stubborn Englishman said I’ll think about it and I replied if you don’t buy it tonight I will. He bought it and loves it. He’s been offered $25,000 for it but won’t sell it. I hope he remembers that love got first dibs on it. I keep my eyes open for them and another one will pop up sooner or later but it won’t be cheap!

Glenn Baglo · 10-01-2018, 12:47 AM

I had plans to convert my bus into a camper, but never got further than removing six seat belts from the back.

My dad drove a Kombi when we lived in East Africa. Worst experience was having the front windows ( windshields ) open and driving into a swarm of bees.
Fond memories.

1500 · 10-01-2018, 10:37 PM

I have owned a 92 Vanagon for about 10 years. Before that I was driving a 77 and grew up with a 76 (spent two months when I was 14 travailing the country with my parents, and two brothers, and a dog).

My Vanagon has never broken down during a trip, but it spends most of its time broken down between trips. Had to cancel a number of trips as I just could not get it going in time. As such the wife is not a fan of the van.

There is a lot to love about them and a lot of bad things as well.

If you think a 16' scamp has no room, try removing the TV space and then taking space out of the 16' to fit an engine and steering wheel, nvm 4 wheels instead of two. Oh and don't forget to cut a full foot off of it as well. Very small fridge, so small you might as well not count it (that is assuming you can get it to work). Very small fresh water tank and no grey tank (just dumps on the ground, so illegal in many places).

No AC while driving, well no AC at all. My summers are 95-100, and it gets really old traveling 55-65 with the windows down and still being drenched in sweat. Nothing will drain you more on a drive than air noise. Heat that kind of works, and the only camping heat is from cooking.

A transmission system that means there is a rod under the van that can freeze and keep you from changing gears (yes this happened, had to pull into a car wash and use the hot water to free up the shiftier).

Making the bed means unpacking the van (the major storage space is on the bed). If you want to leave camp you have to break camp and get the van ready for travel.

Limited range, 13gal tank and 18-20 mpg means 220 miles between fill ups. I normally see roads that have 100-150 miles between fill ups.

There are some great things as well. They are just fun to drive. Mine has 10" of clearance, so I have no problem taking it up some bad dirt roads. Can pull over anywhere and sleep, no need for a larger parking spot. Not bad MPG for a camping rig. Can sleep 4 no problem (well assuming people are agile enough to climb on top of the cabinets to get to the top bunks).

I still can't get myself to give up the van.

redbarron55 · 10-02-2018, 07:19 AM

I had two Westfalia vans a 1973 and a 1980. I rebuilt the engine on the 73 and sold it after we bought the 80.
My wife hated the 73 because every time she drive it it broke down.
Maybe the van hated her....
I drove is and went everywhere.
The 1980 was more civilized and she had no problems with it.
I finally sold it when I got tired of no air conditioning.
That being said when we bought it it did strand us numerous times and had to be towed to a dealer. The fuel injection would quit and by the time it got to the dealer it would work just great. A few hundred dollars later off we went.
I finally gave up on getting the fuel injection to be reliable and installed a Weber two barrel carb and never had another problem.