The Volkswagen Vanagon may be the go-to for a water-cooled camper van, but the company made a few different varieties of the Vanagon that weren’t sold stateside. These include rarities like this double cab pickup, otherwise known as a Doka, and an extremely rare find in the U.S. These were wonderfully practical machines, featuring plenty of room for four passengers in the cabin with a versatile bed featuring fond-down bed sides and storage underneath. This example came into the country by way of Canada, and remains in very nice shape with numerous upgrades that should make it quite reliable over the long haul. Find it here on eBay with bidding over $20,000 and no reserve.
The seller notes he has owned the double cab for over a decade, using it for hauling everything from building supplies to kayaks. This really is the ultimate outdoors/adventure vehicle, with room for friends and their gear. The Doka was also offered in four wheel drive, which is the grandaddy of all the VW double cab pickups. This example wears great colors of robin’s egg blue over gray, and the interior has been upgraded with gray leather Recaro seats. That’s just one of the many upgrades and retrofits the seller has made, which runs the gamut from air conditioning to the engine management system, and all designed to make it possible to use this double cab on a daily basis.
That is, if you’re comfortable with 90 horsepower. The seller notes the VW will reach 70 miles per hour on the highway, but that it’s much happier at lower speeds. Although I love that this one remains so original, one can’t help but wonder if the Subaru flat-four engine swap makes sense in a truck like this given it will only improve its already awesome usability. With just over 41,000 original miles, there’s no need to start sweating engine swaps just yet, but a Subaru transplant would improve almost everything, especially reliability and performance. The seller notes the double cab benefits from a rebuilt suspension, new radiator, and an upgraded power steering system, among other improvements.
The Transporter looks like a normal Vanagon from this height, until you notice the hinged panels over the taillights. The double cab has been upgraded with mew bumpers front and rear, known as the “Twin Peaks” units courtesy of Vanagon and Bus specialist Rocky Mountain Westy. The seller reports he has also improved the braking with “Small Car Performance” front big brake kit, and upgraded the rears to discs using OEM parts. Numerous other improvements have been made, including Koni shocks, lowering springs, new wheels and tires, new polyurethane bushings and end links, and much, much more, It’s no surprise to see bidding where it is given how clean this double cab is, but the borderline fanatical fan base for all things Vanagon has a lot to do with it, too.
It’s in Mount Pleasant,South Carolina,
just outside of Charleston.
Very nice rig. I’m guessing the the slow top end speed has something to do with the weight of the 4 wheel drive unit and the gear ratios associated with it. Our ’84 Vanagon camper pulled our race car on our tandem axle trailer at 75mph on flat ground with no problem. Don’t remember the rpm numbers but it wasn’t excessive.
Ad indicates this is a two wheel drive unit, Barn Finds writeup notes that they are also available in four wheel drive.
This one is just rear wheel drive. I am sure it will do more than 70mph. My Westy Syncro cruises nicely at or above 70mph. Too well infact as I got clocked earlier this month at 77mph!
This would never be on my radar to purchase…
That being said – this is (although rad and awesome are appropriate for the year of this rig, I find them way overused), – so let’s go with: Super cool!
Had a split window double cab, friend had a bay window double cab that we took multiple trips to get mulch. Drove many kms in the Vanagon version while I owned a syncro westy. Of them all the Hino dual cab I rode around Japan in was the best
I’m the original owner of this truck. I sold it in 2007 with 7000 km on it. It was very nice and completely original when I sold it. It was equipped with a factory canopy and was the only one in North America equipped with that canopy. Looking at it now is very depressing. All the time and effort I spent to preserve this rare vehicle was wasted on the next owners. This is 1 of 23 double cabs imported to North America in 1991. I realize that once you sell a vehicle you have no control over it, but this is still very sad.
Hey Jim – I think they looked quite well after the double cab – still in very nice condition after 14 years since you sold it, and they just added things one could easy change back. It’s not like they messed with the bodypanels or such. They just ajusted the truck to their personal taste – which isn’t a bad thing IMHO (still I wonder if the canopy is still with the truck)
Good luck – Jeff
Sad? It looks great Jim. The 1 of 23 number doesn’t mean much when people are importing them from Germany over the last 5-10 years. I got my Syncro from Germany with 65k miles 6 years ago. Busman in Belgium helps people get Vanagons out of Europe and he’s collected a bunch of Sinkas & Dokas for export to the US. The one thing I’m surprised about is the RSFab Big Shot shifter. The maker took a lot of people’s money and hasn’t delivered very many of them.
Many Doka’s (Doppelkabine or Crew Cabs) of the VW Typ2 in Europe – T1’s, T2’s, T3’s and so on – they sit 3 people on the backbench, usualy also 3 in the front, which make them a 6 seater –
Nice vehicle, but 20k?
Yes, and then some, according to the bid history.
Steve R
Item location:
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
With air conditioning, and the Low Country’s terrain, this truck is quite competent at what it does. You’ll certainly stand out in the crowd of crew cab pickup trucks at the home center or warehouse club. The original engine is fine, no Subaru mods required.
The only issue may be one of wasted space. You can haul more people and longer things in a minivan than you can haul in these “trucks” with four-foot beds.
I gotta give a thumbs up to the design team at VW-the dashboard platform for the hula dancer is really thinking of everything! LoL
Good catch Mark. Probably working on the first cup of coffee with my brain in neutral. We actually made a 80mph plus run across Nevada on Hwy 50 heading for the mountains on our way back to Florida. Engine never burped once except at 80,500 miles the needle bearings came out of the input shaft bearing. Except for batteries, tires, etc. no problems.