When you can own a classic vehicle that combines utility with desirability, you’ve got it made in the shade. Sadly, most vehicles offering some utility aren’t all that collectible because of the very fact that they were used, heavily. When you find a vehicle like this European-market 1986 Volkswagen Doka Transporter Syncro listed here on Facebook Marketplace, you have that rare combination of a vehicle that can do the heavy lifting of either a suburban or rural lifestyle, while retaining its value for the long term. Syncro-equipped VWs are hard to find stateside, and this one is offered for $15,000.
Is this listing a touch old? It sure is. And in some cases, I’ll assume the seller simply hasn’t deleted the listing. But these days, you can’t be too sure since the market for such vehicles has softened quite a bit. On my local Facebook page, there’s a very cool Mercedes transporter that’s been listed for a similar amount of time and the price has been dropped no fewer than 10 times. This is a vehicle that no one actually needs, but someone undoubtedly went through a fair amount of effort to import it. The seller claims this Doka came from Poland, and while it’s mostly sound, it does have some rust issues to resolve. However, you can’t beat the utility of one of these with its folding bedsides and under-bed storage.
One reason for its slow selling may be the single cab configuration. When these show up with the double cab, pickup bed, and Syncro 4WD, they fetch a solid number; with the limited ability to ferry passengers, this VW begins to seem like a bit of an extravagance for a pickup truck with limited power and sometimes troublesome reliability as its relates to water-cooling. The interior is highly utilitarian, which is typical for VW trucks from this era, especially in the European marketplace. Related to the double cab, the seller does mention he has access to those vehicles in Poland and can order you a model with four doors if desired.
The VW needs a new muffler flex pipe, which the seller claims broke in while in his care. The rust is contained to the bed and rear wheel wells, but it all looks fairly manageable (or you could live with it indefinitely.) The engine in this Doka is one of the less desirable setups, a 1.9L non-turbo diesel, which actually gives it less power than the gasoline “Wasserboxer” engine sold in U.S.-market Vanagons. In this case, it it makes about 65 horsepower and I believe around 120 lb.-ft. of torque (that torque number could be off, FYI.) Regardless, this is a military-grade rig so don’t expect big power. Would you hold out for four doors and a turbodiesel at a higher price?
The trucks we used in Germany were 3 doors, which always seemed a bit odd to me. The rear seat passengers only had one door, and had to slide across.
These were great little trucks but the air cooled engine always struggled with overheating
Fortunately, this one appears to be a water-cooled variant, going by the second front grille under the main one, not to mention being a diesel.
I thought Doka meant Double Cab, but I could be mistaken all these years. Love these!
– Matt
It does! Doppelkabine or something like that, hence the short version.
It can not be a Single Cab and a Doka.
As stated above, Single Cab in german = Einzel-Kabine, Double Cab (Crew Cab) in german = Doppel-Kabine (Short = Doka),
And this one is a 3 seater. The single seat for the driver and the bench for 2 passengers.
Dokas (Crew Cabs) usualy had 3 doors, not 4.
No trouble with overheating with the air cooled engines, you just have to treat them the right way.
Very cool and useful!!
This is a VW Einzelkabine (Single Cab), as the seller’s description states. Two doors, two passengers. While some models featured twin bucket seats (like this one), the front passenger side often had a double bench seat alongside a separate driver’s seat, allowing for 3-passenger seating.
Also available were the VW Doka (short for Doppelkabine or double cab). Most of those trucks, particularly the T3 Transporter, only had three doors—two front doors and one rear door on the passenger side. A four-door version was available on the special edition “Tristar” model, which featured a rear passenger door on the driver’s side as well. Passenger capacity would be five (front bucket seats) or six (front double bench seat alongside a separate driver’s seat).
I can honestly say that I have only seen 2 of these in my life from this generation. They are indeed rare here in the USA. I wonder if one could engine swap it with a subaru or other boxer style engine to get more power.
The Subie swap is pretty common I’ve heard .