1989 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia Camper - 2nd Owner, Excellent Condition on 2040-cars
US $35,000.00
Year:1989
Mileage:177000
Location:
San Jose, California, United States
History & Mechanical - This Westy was originally sold in Portland, OR., I am the second owner and purchased it from GoWesty in 2003.
- Total mileage is coming up on 177,000, but in 2009 I replaced the original VW water boxer engine with a GoWesty 2300cc engine that has more horsepower than the original (no slowing down up hills!)<http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=24111>.
- The new engine currently has about 46,000 miles on it and is running like clockwork.
- I also added GoWesty alloy wheels <http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=3606> and a heavy duty rear bumper <http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=23577>.
- Last year I had the automatic transmission rebuilt by the local VW specialist, Peninsula Automotive <http://www.peninsulaautomotive.com>. They have done most of the repair and maintenance work on this Westy since I've owned it.
- I also got new tires and Bilstein shocks installed last year.
- Last month the Westy got new bearings and brakes.
- New alternator a couple years ago.
- Mechanically, this Westy is in great shape and you shouldn't have to do anything to it other than routine maintenance for a long while.
Camping Gear - The camping gear on this Westy is original Westfalia assembled in Germany. The one exception is the water faucet, which I upgraded to the Eurovan style "Shurflo" faucet <http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=23570>, when the Westfalia one finally gave up the ghost a couple of months ago.
- All camping gear is complete and working down to the key for the water tank fill door, the special tool to disassemble the stove top, and even the ice tray for the refrigerator.
- It has the front and back tables, as well as curtains for all windows and the sky light (which was also replaced last year).
- The stove works well, and the battery/water level/fridge pilot light indicators on the front of the kitchen unit work as well.
- The fridge works great on electric, but if this is your first Westy, be warned that it is tough to get going on LP. I added a kit from GoWesty a few years ago that was supposed to make the fridge easier to light, but it didn't help that much. The only way to make running the fridge on LP easier is to level the van really well before you try lighting the pilot (I mounted bubble levels inside the van to help in that regard). But that just reduces the pilot lighting effort from near impossible to really difficult. If you've owned a Westy before, then you know what I'm talking about. These Dometic fridges are notoriously finicky on LP power.
- I'm including the kit from GoWesty to add a second battery (under the driver's seat), which I never got around to hooking up. That could take care of your fridge power for weekend jaunts.
- I'm also including a space heater which comes in handy for cold weather camping, and a popup shower enclosure, solar shower, and folding wooden platform so you'll have all the comforts of home in the wilderness - almost. You'll need to supply your own toilet.
- The two sliding side windows have their screens, which I've replaced with more sturdy metal screen, and there's a bug screen for the rear hatch so you can leave that open at night to get nice airflow through the Westy without the mosquitos.
- And to recharge the battery during the day while you're out hiking or whatever, there's a Sunsei solar trickle charger mounted on the outward facing side of the passenger sun visor.
- I'm also including the battery conditioner I use to keep the battery in good shape when I'm not going to be driving the van for a while.
Special Features - The driver/passenger windows are powered, as are the L/R outside mirrors.
- The driver/passenger door locks are also powered by the Omega alarm package, which locks/unlocks the doors when you arm/disarm the alarm with the remote.
- The Omega remote also lets you start the engine remotely, which is good if you ever need to jump in and take off right away, or just like to let the engine warm up a bit before you drive, which is a good thing to do on older vehicles.
- The stereo is a Jensen multimedia player with an interface for a phone/MP3 player device. It has a slide out touch screen that will mirror the display of your device, which is handy for displaying navigation apps on a larger screen (for me it has worked up through the iPhone 4S, but doesn't seem to work with the new Lightning connectors). It will also play videos from compatible devices (like the iPhone 4S and earlier). The system also has HD radio which displays metadata about what you're listening to, and there's an input for a rearview camera if you want to add one. There's also a remote that lets you control all stereo functions from the back of the van. Front speakers are Blaupunkt, and the rear speakers are Polk audio. The system sounds great to me, but I'm not an audiophile perfectionist so your mileage may vary.
- I've replaced all the cockpit lights with LED, so you may never have to replace any bulbs.
- All the lights in the cockpit work, and I've even wired up the glove box/map light to automatically come on when you open the glove box and go off when you close it again. You can also still use the switch to turn the light on/off at any time.
- I've added a roof mounted center console with compartments for sunglasses, garage door openers, and other small items, as well as driver/passenger overhead map lights (SO much brighter than the stock lighting in the cockpit).
- I've also added a center console between the seats with more storage space, including net map pockets on each side of the shifter. It's not permanently installed, so if you prefer more floor space up front, you can easily remove the center console.
- The cockpit also has custom fitted rubber floor mats to protect the carpeting.
- The upholstery of all seating still looks as good as new. No rips, no stains, and none of those funky striped patterns that VW seemed to adore in the early to mid-80s. Just a pleasant, calming gray pattern.
- There's a "dashboard carpet" to protect the Westy's dashboard from sun damage. It has worked well, as there are no cracks or fading of the actual dashboard.
Caveats & Disclosures Now's the moment when you're probably saying, "Ah ha! I knew it was too good to be true!" Maybe, but I really don't think there are major deal breakers here. Check them out: - Air conditioning: It works, so technically the van has it. But if you're familiar with Vanagon air conditioning at all, you know that it's always been kind of a joke. The Vanagon is such a large internal space, and the rear air conditioner so small, that the only one who ever really stayed cool was the dog relegated to the very back of the van. Now that the Freon refrigerant has been outlawed, the air conditioning is nothing but a warm air blower. I had Peninsula Automotive convert the system so that it could be recharged with non-Freon refrigerants a few years ago, but that didn't really help. The air conditioning was designed to get cold with Freon, and even then it didn't work very well. With the new stuff, it barely gets cool. So you'll be much happier if you're the type of person who prefers driving with the windows open.
- Pop-top screens: The screen sewn into the front window of the canvas of the pop-top is still there, but the screen is old, and worn, and starting to tear. The pop-top canvas itself still looks good, but you'll probably want to replace the screen. I'm not sure whether you can replace just the screen, or whether you'll need to replace the entire canvas. It's the one area of restoration I never got too simply because I'm not camping much anymore, so it wasn't a priority (my declining interest in camping is the main reason I'm selling the Westy). The sky light screen also has some rips in it.
- Dings and scratches: This Westy still has its original paint job, and as you'll see from the pictures, it still looks great. But after being on the road as many years as this van has been, there's bound to be some chips and scratches, and if you look closely enough, you can find them. I'm including a paint touch up kit, which I've used to try and keep the paint looking good. There are also a couple of dings in the rear hatch and bumper from a low pole that snuck up on me while I was backing into a parking space one day. Like the chips and scratches, you really only see them if you're looking, so I never went to the trouble and expense of having them fixed. You probably wouldn't have even seen them in the photos if I hadn't mentioned them.
- Cruise control: The Westy has an aftermarket cruise control installed, but I've never been able to get it to work. It's there if you like to tinker. Maybe you can figure it out finally.
Post any questions you may have and I'll answer ASAP. Thanks for considering adopting my Westy! |
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Thu, 17 Jan 2013
A new survey of top global automotive executives indicates both Volkswagen and BMW are the most likely to grow their market share over the next five years.
Tax advisory firm KPMG LLP has released its 14th annual Global Automotive Executive Survey, which includes responses from over 200 executives. A total of 81 percent of respondents said they expect to see Volkswagen make gains, compared to 70 percent last year. BMW, meanwhile, saw 70 percent of those surveyed say they believe the company will increase its market share. That's a jump of 7 percentage points over last year. This is the first time in the history of the survey that BMW has claimed the second-place spot.
Meanwhile, Hyundai has seen its perceived market share potential slacken for the third year in a row. Around 61 percent of those surveyed predicted gains for Hyundai, down from 63 in 2012. Toyota also has a surprising year, but for just the opposite reason. While the manufacturer had slipped in ranking since 2011, it enjoyed the largest increase of any company in the 2013 survey, jumping to 68 percent from 44 percent last year.
Fri, Sep 25 2015
While the vast number of rumors made it seem like a foregone conclusion, Porsche boss Matthias Muller has officially been named Volkswagen Group CEO to replace the recently resigned Martin Winterkorn. His contract runs through the end of February 2020, and until a replacement is found, Muller also gets to hang onto his old job as chairman of Porsche. At the same time, the VW Group Supervisory Board is announcing a massive structural reorganization across the entire company, with the new management model in place by the beginning of 2016. Contrary to previous rumors, Michael Horn remains as President and CEO of VW Group of America. The board wants a greater emphasis on brands and regions going forward, and the scale of this shift can be seen in the US. On November 1, VW Group business in the US, Mexico, and Canada is being combined under the leadership of current Skoda chairman Winfried Vahland. However contrary to previous rumors, Michael Horn remains as President and CEO of VW Group of America. Other brands are also seeing some significant changes mechanically. Porsche, Bentley, and Bugatti now fall under the Group's "sportscar and mid-engine toolkit." This means that the brands will start sharing standardized technical parts. A Chief Technical Officer across all of the company's brands will also start working toward future innovations. The new brand-centric view means the end of a group-wide production department. "Going forward, the brands and regions will also have greater independence with regard to production. So it follows that they should also hold the responsibility for these activities," Berthold Huber, interim Chairman of the Supervisory Board, said in the announcement. In a statement with the press release about his promotion, Muller promised to turn the company around after such an international crisis. He said: "My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group – by leaving no stone unturned and with maximum transparency, as well as drawing the right conclusions from the current situation. Under my leadership, Volkswagen will do everything it can to develop and implement the most stringent compliance and governance standards in our industry." Matthias Muller appointed CEO of the Volkswagen Group Muller remains Chairman of Porsche AG until a successor has been found Matthias Muller (62) has been appointed CEO of Volkswagen AG with immediate effect.
Tue, 11 Dec 2012
It was just nine months ago that Strategic Vision announced its 2011 Total Value Awards, but you don't have to wait until next year for the 2012 awards. The Volkswagen Group keeps its lead as the number one brand, with seven products taking top category spots: Golf, Jetta Wagon, CC, Eos and Audi A3 Wagon, Q5 and Q7. Strategic Vision says "true innovation" - "rich and impactful, intuitive, motivational, in-depth and is able to trigger description by the user in great specificity" - is the open secret of the brands with the strongest showings. Results are culled from 77,153 owners covering more than 350 new cars bought between September of 2011 and 2012 ranked in the Total Value Index (TVI).
Other notable winners are Hyundai-Kia following VW in the brand category and having the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Sorento among category winners, the BMW Z4 taking the premium roadster category and the highest overall score of any vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt continuing to gather silverware in the Special Category, nabbing the second-highest score of all and representative of "nearly perfect innovation," and Chrysler and Dodge being most improved.
Check out the press release below for your day's dose of jargon and all the winners.
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