Volkswagen,westfalia,1985 Project on 2040-cars
Decatur, Illinois, United States
I'm selling my VW Vanagon that my family had lots of fun times camping in. The van was given to our family by my wife's father who drove it from Oregon to Illinois. The kids are grown and gone now, so it is time to sell it. It ran well, and was maintained by a local foreign car shop until it was parked at my farm. Unfortunately it has been sitting for eight years. It had battery/electrical problems and the batteries were constantly dying despite new ones being put in. (It has two batteries) Evidently some sort of short. I had it worked on several times without any success. I had always intended to get it running again so I kept putting off selling it. It is now a project, and will need to be loaded on a trailer to be moved (tires are flat). I haven't tried to start it. It had no other mechanical problems that I was aware of when I stopped driving it. In one of the pictures there are several sets of keys. The starter ignition was replaced, so there are door keys and ignition keys.
I have included many pictures of the interior and exterior so you can get a good idea of what your bidding on. I noticed a dent in the rear bumper that is seen in the photo. The camper is clearly in need of lots of TLC, or perhaps could be used for parts. I was hoping someone that has the interest and skills to do the repairs might be interested in it. The paint is in very poor condition from sitting, but there is only one rust spot as seen in the close up photo of the side. The windshield has a small stone chip in it-pictured, but never expanded while we had it. The camper top popped up effortlessly this morning. There is one bad spot in the canvas at the back (see photo) the rest is in very nice usable condition. Two of the hub caps are missing, one hubcap can be seen on the floor inside. The side slider works well, and slides very easily. The other doors and rear hatch works and seals well too. I just checked the bed in the pop up and it is in excellent condition--looks like it hasn't been used. This is the Transporter model so it has seating and a table, but no kitchen. Our family of four slept in it very comfortably. As can be seen in the interior photos the seat cushions need to be recovered. It also has the VW interior curtains that came with the Vanagon (camper) model. It has the Vanagon air conditioner. I had it worked on many many times and it worked off and on, but was a constant pain--and money pit--it did not work when I last parked it. I put a new Sony CD player in and several nice speakers-one has lost its front cover--there are six speakers in total. The front dash has dried and cracked from the sun (see photo). Please feel free to ask questions if there is something I've missed, or you would like me to take another photo of a part I missed. I will reply to questions promptly. I would be happy to show it if you want to come to central Illinois to look at it. **Just to be completely clear, this VW Vanagon is presently not running or drivable. It must be hauled on a trailer. Please do not bid unless you plan to pay for it, and haul it away. It is sitting, and can remain where it is for another month or so until mid July if that helps with scheduling a pick up. I'd be happy to discuss any arrangements for picking up the van. BUT it must be paid for in full within a week of the close of the auction! I have the clear Illinois title for the van. |
Volkswagen Bus/Vanagon for Sale
Auto Services in Illinois
West Side Motors ★★★★★
Turi`s Auto Collision Center ★★★★★
Transmissions R US ★★★★★
The Autobarn Nissan ★★★★★
Tech Auto Svc ★★★★★
T Boe Inc ★★★★★
Auto blog
New investor allows Suzuki to fend off VW
Tue, Aug 4 2015After years of legal wrangling, the long-soured partnership between Volkswagen and Suzuki looks finally to be coming out of arbitration, according to Bloomberg. As a sign of the Japanese brand's improved fortunes, hedge fund Third Point LLC recently bought an undisclosed stake in the company. The investor reported seeing a major opportunity in the successful Maruti Suzuki business in India. As an investment, the only major problem that Third Point found with Suzuki was its legal battle with VW. "The company's greatest asset is its low-cost manufacturing process for vehicles for the emerging market consumer," the fund said in a letter, according to Bloomberg. Third Point reportedly also wants a seat on Suzuki's board, despite being a minority shareholder. The alliance between Suzuki and VW goes back to late 2009. In the deal, the Japanese brand was meant to get access to cutting-edge tech, and the German firm got a helping hand towards better establishing itself in India and Southeast Asia. Things didn't go as planned, though. Less than two years later, Suzuki's boss publicly derided the deal. Eventually, the allegations started going back and forth, and the two have been working out a way to untangle practically ever since. Among the biggest issue has been how to get back the 19.9 percent stake that VW purchased. According to Bloomberg, the arbitration is now technically over. With the divorce nearly final, the two sides are just waiting on a decision on how to split things up. Suzuki may even just buy VW's stake to get the shares back.
VW budget sub-brand stuck in limbo over VW standards, costs
Sun, Mar 2 2014Reports in October 2012 claimed Volkswagen had begun investigating the creation of its own budget brand. This came after having failed to purchase Malaysian car company Proton or produce a meaningful partnership with Suzuki, and after watching Renault-Nissan make piles of euro on Dacia and plot the return of Datsun. For VW, more important than the question of what to call it was how to build it profitably and in a way that didn't damage the VW brand. According to a report in Autocar, a satisfactory answer still hasn't been found. The hurdle is how to hit "'necessary' quality and safety levels" at the price points needed to make the venture worthwhile. At the time of the 2012 report, German outlet Der Spiegel said VW was trying to get prices down to 6,000 to 8,000 euro ($7,784 to $10,379 US), about two thousand to four thousand euro under the price of the VW Up and in line with the cost of a 6,790-euro Dacia Sandero in Germany. In March 2013, VW announced, "We want to bring a true budget car to the market in China in the foreseeable future," the most concrete move in that direction after years of planning to make a decision. Working with local Chinese maker FAW, it was predicted that the vehicle in question would appear around 2016, but as of November last year a final vote on it needed to wait until this year because "We are still working on the cost side" and profit possibilities for a car that "has to be durable, it has to be precise, it has to be safe." Even Fiat, another automaker long considering a budget brand beneath its Fiat line-up, wasn't sure how to squeeze any extra money from lower-cost products but was sure that it couldn't be done by manufacturing in Europe. If VW hasn't yet made the math work with a joint venture in China, it will be interesting to see how it might build a European go-it-alone business case.
Brazil contemplates safety exemption for VW Kombi as it goes out of production today [w/poll]
Tue, 31 Dec 2013Brazil: the country of carnivals, indescribable beauty adjacent to abject poverty, Ayrton Senna and old Volkswagen models. Only they're not old - they're new, they're just based on old designs. The original Beetle continued production there long after it had been phased out elsewhere, but the original Kombi van has lasted much longer. That ends today, however, with the iconic VW Microbus ambling out of production on the last day of 2013.
VW kept making the van in Brazil with the original air-cooled 1.2-liter boxer four until 2005, after which the original design was updated with a 1.4-liter water-cooled engine. Today, however, it ultimately falls prey to safety regulations that mandate that all vehicles - no matter how old their design - need to have airbags and ABS, forcing Volkswagen do Brasil to cease production of the Microbus after a 56-year production run. But the latest word is that the Kombi (as it's presently known) could get a stay of execution - or at least a resurrection in short order.
According to reports, the Brazilian government is looking into granting the Type 2 Microbus an exemption from said safety regulations, reasoning that the van was designed long before the advent of airbags and ABS. If the measure goes through, the Kombi Last Edition (pictured above) could prove not to be the last at all. So what do you think, should the Microbus get an exemption from Brazilian safety regulations for nostalgia's sake? Vote in our poll below, then have your say in Comments.