Hey, I will hopefully be buying a VW Vanagon tomorrow! it is an '85. Although the cooler body style and big ole VW symbol is substituted for a much smaller one, it also has AC, and one of the previous owners put in a CD player. Only really bad part is I have to learn to drive a stick shift. It currently needs a new paint job and a few dents taken out and stugff but it runs and is pretty dang cheap. Anyway, I am way excited and had to tell some poeple.
Sweet! I have a 70 Bus. If you have questions or comments, or want to chat with other VeeDubbers check out the forums at Volkswagen Heaven All the topics were lost during an upgrade so join up and help spread the word....again
Actually I had my parents test drive it yesterday, and I decided not to buy it. To buy it woud take a little more cash than what I have (my parents were willing to chip in some cash), but I didn't know how much it would take to fix. Body work, my dad could do (he has his own auto body shop) but it was missing some stuff (side mirrors, things like that) that I didn't know how much would cost to replace, and how east they would be to find. When we test drove it, it kept dieing and could BARELY make it up a hill (this is like, barely an incline. As in, I really didn't even know it was a hill until I noticed it was barely going up it!). I am talking probably going less than 20 MPH with the pedal to the metal in 2nd gear! I estimate 20, because the speeometer was broken so I couldn't really tell. In fact, probably slower than 20. It was also smoking, REALLY BAD, going up it. And took forever to build up any speed on the flat road. I know that Volkswagons have fairly small engines, and weight quite a bit so it isn't going to be like the 6 cyl I have now as far as pick up. But I also know, that it should have THAT many power problems, or no one would want to drive them across the country! In fact, they most likely couldn't! It would probably be a good project, but that is REALLY not what I am wanting to get into right now. I have little cash, and am about to start college and don't have the time or finances to start restoring something. If I did, I would rather take the money and buy an older one, you know? The crappy part is though, that that was a real bummer because I was really excited about it. And now I have a serious jones for a bus! But there are a very very small amount around here. I am keeping my eyes peeled though. But with a budget of around $500 I doubt I will find anything that runs.
The going up the hill slowly syndrome is easily remedied by switching from a vacuum advance to a centrifical advance distributor like a Bosch 009. But it sounds like you made a good decision. I can hear that van barking through your post. Good luck finding something you like.
