It’s hard to beat the cool factor or visual appeal of a tricked-out vintage full-size party van, with that bright custom paint job and bubble windows on the outside plus shag carpeting and captains chairs inside. But for functionality or practicality, this 1978 Volkswagen Bus here on eBay scores high with its Westfalia package, and most things one would need for camping or overnight travel wherever the road might lead you can be found here. If this is sounding good and you’re ready for a vacation without the hotel, the VW is located in Phoenix, Arizona, with the current bid sitting at $16,450. Best of all, the highest bidder will be driving it home as this is a no-reserve auction.
This one’s being offered for sale by Desert Muscle Cars, a company that spends a lot of their spare time restoring older high-performance vehicles, but they took the Volkswagen in on trade toward one of their muscular offerings, and prior to that it’s said to have had just one owner. The care this VW has been given shows just about anywhere you look, with no rust present and a finish that still shows nicely all the way around. It’s not specified whether or not that’s the original paint, but if there has been a respray it appears to be of reasonably high-quality workmanship.
Volkswagen subcontracted their Vans out to Westfalia-Werke in Germany to make the conversions, which got buyers all sorts of goodies to make travel in their VW a comfortable home away from home. This one’s got a stove, a sink, curtains, and my favorite feature, the attached pop-up top with canvas siding. Not only is it like a built-in tent, but it looks pretty relaxing too, and hopefully it’s up high enough that it’ll help keep crawling critters out at night. Things inside are looking well-preserved, and the seller assures us that all the components in there are working great.
With a stated mileage of only 81,000, the 4-cylinder engine is said to be running great and ready to drive anywhere. The motor has received new spark plugs and some gasket replacements along with a change of all the fluids, plus there’s also a new set of tires, but no mention of how long those wheels have been on there. I’m always appreciative when a seller takes the time to post photos from underneath, with everything we can see down below looking solid like the rest of the vehicle. With the low mileage and obvious care this one’s been given, I’m guessing there’s plenty of good years and lots of fun left to be had here. Is this Volkswagen Westfalia Camper a van you or somebody you know would be interested in acquiring?
Our first of two Westfalia campers was an orange ’77. Literally covered the entire US in it and had a ball. Perfect for two people and a small dog. Second one was an ’84 Special Edition water cooled unit. Between the two of them we put 160,000 miles on them.
Great camper if you’re not in a hurry. 40mph up hills, spraying oil on the long line of cars behind you!
Sold one identical to this in 1995 for $1600 and four tickets to a musical at the Paramount Theater in Austin. The guy was an artsy guy who worked the lights at the Paramount.
I bought the van at a police auction for $250. Engine was locked up. Bought another van with a broken front end for $275 to get a good 2 liter engine and a spare transaxle. Traded the hulk of that van for a crappy air compressor.
The van was superb-o. The two liter gave it good power and the shifter was very positive and direct, unlike my other VW vans. The padded steering wheel was a great improvement over my 74’s hard plastic wheel.
If I was gonna get another VW camper, this would be it…but I would want a green one. Would be worlds above the air cooled Vanagon (aka the Vanaguana)that I’ve been carrying on my back for the past 25 years. That poor 2 liter is seriously overmatched by the Vanagon camper’s bulk.
Bought a 76 in Weidenbruck in feb 76 , sort of a frog green. spent a year in it in Europe playing tennis and camping. Ours had a refrigerator unit as well that could make ice and an outdoor plug to plug in while camping although we needed an adaptor for Europe. Denmark to Portugal to Greece and in between. Lots of fun. Just don’t hurry
Did the same in northern Europe with a VW notchback. Portapot and cooler in the back seat area, stove and kitchen in the rear above the engine with a canopy over it, food and clothes in front and a big tent. That’s when we bought our first camper when we got back.