Best In Show Westfalia Automatic, A/c Recaro New Gowesty Motor W/46k Mi Warranty on 2040-cars
La Habra, California, United States
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What you are viewing here (thanks for dropping in by the way) is what
turned out to be a restoration project that I MIGHT have gotten a little
carried away with. It was a fun project and I’ll leave it to you to
decide if it was time well spent or not so much…
Having lived in Southern California most of my life, I have an intense appreciation for the Car Culture and have been a “Car-Geek” forever. As I get older, the idea of camping with a fridge and comforts of home attached to my steering wheel was appealing, but I am used to driving German sedans and vehicles that are at least a little unique… The result ended up being (for myself anyway) an answer to the question… within reason… “What would a Westy look like if the factory put one together in 2014?” I started by finding a solid, well looked after example and bought it from the owner of an independent Ferrari/Maserati auto service business and shortly thereafter the transformation began… I started with the brakes (Brembo Rotors) from GoWesty, Struts from Billstein and a set of Shiny 16” wheels from the Westy’s German cousin (Mercedes-Benz Motorcars). The wheels were Original Equipment on a CLK 430, manufactured by Ronal in Germany out of Forged Alloy (lighter and stronger than cast alloy). Tires are a matched set of Dunlop SP7000’s size 215/60/16 which vastly improved the stability, handling and grip on the boxy red thing… But then I had this clear coat fading van with a few areas of surface rust in the usual places (seams, under bumpers) making my shiny wheels look bad… so after dismantling it and removing all the trim, it was off to the painter for about 10 weeks of prep and paint, at least that’s how long they kept it. The color I chose was a 2014 formulation called “Basque Red Pearl”, which is close to but in my opinion an improvement over the Factory-Original Color “Bordeaux Red Pearl”. While they were at it, I had the brilliant idea to have them paint the few metal interior pieces that I could think of (Kitchen control panel & Fire extinguisher) to match… So NOW I’ve got this Georgeous on the outside Westy with two new shiny painted parts inside making the rest of the 23 year old interior look… well, you can guess where this is going… Converted the carpet, floor mats, seats, rear pad and upper bunk to black. Leather Recaro fronts are the best you will ever sit in and have the Wolfsburg Castle Logo sewn into the headrests. Back seat was redone to match the fronts, right down to the center backrest stitching pattern and logos. Rear pad had to match the rear seat when converted to a bed, so I had them match that too, right down to the stitching. Now the upstairs didn’t match so I not only had it recovered in black cloth, but also engineered a 12” bed extension for taller upstairs sleepers AND just people that are tired of their pillows falling down in the middle of the night! New seats and Operation-Noir made the curtains look pretty shabby, so back on the phone to GoWesty, while I had them on the line I wanted brighter dash lights, rear hatch struts, a skylight/vent kit and bigger wipers too… I was getting so excited I was preparing it for a roadie and was testing the faucet when I broke the handle. Turns out it wasn’t my only problem as the in-tank pump had died. Samantha at GoWesty (and UPS) to the rescue (again) New pump and variable flow/adjustable position Sure-Flo faucet installed. What else on the inside…? 4 Speakers and a modern Sony stereo with Aux jack for your phone, Pandora, etc. Also installed the GoWesty auxiliary battery kit as well as their battery. Solar charger is hooked up to the Auxiliary battery with wiring cleanly routed under cabinets and plug stealth mounted in factory external power hook up door. Oh, I also had the decals all made up custom for me in chrome, as well as having the metal test switch surround plate on the kitchen control panel chromed, added chrome trim to the molding on cabinets, tables, etc. It’s all subtle, but it makes a significant difference when you see the side door slide open to welcome you. Let’s go back to the outside for a minute… Got a new antenna from GoWesty, they also provided a new exhaust tip, gas cap bezel, rear fender chip guards, rear suspension bolt caps… But wait, paint was great so then I couldn’t resist restoring the bumpers, air dam pieces, installing Audi-style driving/running lights in the factory holes and about the grill… My interior didn’t look like everyone else’s anymore,so why should my face? Personal preference, but I think the South Africa upper and lower grills coupled with the matching round headlight conversion is a huge improvement over the rectangular look. One of the rules among car-geeks is that your ride can’t be all show and no go… GoWesty 2300 motor bought and installed by a local shop that specializes in Westfalias! Best part, better than being able to keep up with traffic or get over the grapevine without incident is that the engine is still under warranty for something like 36 Months or 46,000 miles! It just had it’s 1,000 mile break-in service done this month, which took me most of a year to rack up due to a few knee surgeries and consecutive whitewater rafting seasons cancelled due to drought. Oh, the A/C also blows hard and cold, the heater is great and the Pop-top canvas is the new 3-window design, color matched to the paint and Wolfsburg Crests embroidered into the fabric to match the seat headrests and wheel center caps. Currently registered in CA till 2015, and it easily passes smog-test here, so it should anywhere. Clear California title in hand, no lien, salvage, rebuilt or other nonsense. Carfax report shows no accidents or issues to report and eligible for all their guarantees. I know I’m forgetting many things...it has Power windows, alarm, remote keyless entry (2 remotes and sets of keys) I re-did most hoses, radiator, cooling system, transaxle is newer, windows are lightly tinted, LPG tank refurbished with new fill and relief valves, Calipers are painted, undercarriage cleaned, detailed and rust proofed, etc., etc.) but I think I have rambled enough for now and If you have made it this far I sincerely appreciate your time and patience and wish you well in your quest for the perfect Road-Trip Chariot, be it mine or another : ) I can say with confidence that this is an extremely well sorted and executed example, and if you had the stamina to drive 10 Westys to compare it to, I am confident that mine would stand out. That said, it remains a 24 year old metal box (albeit one that gets half a dozen thumbs-up per day) and it squeaks on occasion till I can locate the source with some WD-40, has at least one post-paintwork door-dimple, it will have some interesting issue to chase down in a month or two, and will get beaten badly by any Soccer-Mom that floors the accelerator in her late model Mini-Van (She is probably having a hard day and in need of a win anyway, so consider the loss a sort of kindness). I’m located in Orange County and welcome you or your mechanic to climb in/on/around/under the vehicle and by all means take her on a good test drive anytime. Many more pictures can be seen at my photobucket link if you want the address, please email me as ebay prohibits external links on their ads. Cheers! |
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Auto Services in California
Yes Auto Glass ★★★★★
Yarbrough Brothers Towing ★★★★★
Xtreme Liners Spray-on Bedliners ★★★★★
Wolf`s Foreign Car Service Inc ★★★★★
White Oaks Auto Repair ★★★★★
Warner Transmissions ★★★★★
Auto blog
VW readying CC Shooting Brake?
Mon, 11 Feb 2013This was bound to happen. Volkswagen's relentless drive for big volume has the brand mining seemingly every niche it can find for additional sales worldwide. And with its CLS Shooting Brake, fellow countryman Mercedes-Benz has already shown that a wagon based off of a "four-door coupe" can look dead sexy and command extra dollars. So it follows that the Volkswagen CC (whose existence is all but directly attributable to the success of the original CLS sedan) will also get a load-lugging variant. That's according to the UK's Autocar, which notes that the five-door will come in the CC's next generation.
According to the report, the next CC will be available in front and all-wheel drive variants with the usual assortment of gas and diesel four-cylinders found in the Wolfsburg empire, with the possibility of a gas plug-in hybrid model, too. The rakish estate will ride atop VW's MQB architecture, a shorter variant of which is also found underneath the new Golf. The scalable chassis is set to spread like kudzu throughout the company's lineup, but the CC probably won't happen until after the launch of the next European-market Passat in 2015.
Will we get it in North America? Hard to say. Volkswagen sells the standard CC saloon here, but not in particularly large numbers, and when the company moved to a North American-specific Passat, it dumped the wagon variant. The traditional VW estate apparently continues to pick up sales momentum abroad, however, making the CC Shooting Brake a seemingly natural fit for buyers who still want the utility of a two-box form but can afford to sacrifice a bit of cargo room in the name of style.
Jay Leno takes a ride in Gabriel Iglesias' classic 1966 VW bus
Tue, Feb 3 2015We've seen Jay Leno driving all manner of vehicles, many of them epically fast. But few (this is side of his steamers, anyway) have been as slow – or quite as beautiful – as this classic 1966 Volkswagen Samba. While many of the vehicles featured on episodes of Jay Leno's Garage have actually been from Jay Leno's own garage, the former talk-show host has been known to feature some interesting rides from fellow comedians. A couple of weeks ago it was Adam Carolla's '68 Lamborghini Islero, and this vintage, pristine VW bus belongs to Gabriel Iglesias. It's in beautiful condition and is a sight to see, even if it has a little trouble making its way down the highway. Or starting up again after a quick snack break.
YouTube's Super Bowl commercial buzz list dominated by automakers [w/videos]
Thu, 31 Jan 2013After Sunday's big game, YouTube will be the place to watch every commercial that you missed when you left your seat for an emergency guac refill or, as we say in Cleveland, took the Browns to the Super Bowl. That makes YouTube the nation's water cooler on Monday, and it's got some preliminary stats to share in the lead up to kickoff.
As you know, Super Bowl advertisers, particularly automakers, like to endlessly tease their big budget commercials in the weeks before the game, many times revealing them outright days in advance. Because of this, YouTube can tell us which commercials have been viewed the most so far, and their top five list is all automakers.
Kaley Cuoco appears to have been a good investment for Toyota, as her ad for the RAV4 has garnered the most YouTube views - six million and counting - among Super Bowl commercials so far. Second place goes to Mercedes-Benz, though not its actual Super Bowl commercial, but rather the teaser for it. You know, the one with Kate Upton and the car washing, which is up to 5.6 million views. Third place is Audi's Prom commercial (3.3M views), fourth goes to Volkswagen's slightly controversial Get In, Get Happy ad (3.3M views), and the fifth and final spot is bookended by the teaser video for Kaley Cuoco's commercial (3.2M views). You can watch all five in order below.