A few years ago, when a good portion of the country assumed we’d never use air travel again, the van life movement truly took off. While the rush to acquire some sort of camping rig has cooled a bit, many people still love the idea of a vehicle that can take to the open road at a moment’s notice without the need to have a standing hotel reservation. This 1983 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia has all the bells and whistles you could want for life on the road, and it’s listed here on eBay with bids to $8,600 and no reserve.
The Westfalia conversion was a fairly significant of Volkswagen’s van class, whether a Vanagon like this or a later Eurovan. To VW’s credit, they kept this package available for as long as they offered their take on the minivan, and I’m curious to see if it returns with the introduction of the ID.Buzz Microbus. The seller’s Vanagon has been thoughtfully upgraded inside and out, with the swivel bucket seats you see here chief among them. And thankfully, it’s equipped with the standard manual transmission.
The layout of the Westfalia is one of its best features, with a ton of equipment packed into a vehicle with a fairly standard footprint. The kitchenette, dining table, refrigerator, and sofa-bed all have a surprisingly small form factor, but the Vanagon feels comparatively huge when you’re parked at a campsite and have access to all the comforts of home. Of course, the Westfalia feels even bigger when the top is popped up a second story bedroom is effectively opened up. The seller doesn’t clarify whether the interior has been refreshed or if it’s incredibly well-preserved, but it’s in very nice shape regardless.
The seller refers to the paint job as a Porsche color called “Roush Green”, which doesn’t make much sense in terms of the naming convention and its obvious connection to a Ford product. All that aside, the paint looks quite clean, and I feel this Vanagon’s exterior is just a wheel swap away from perfection. The optional 14 x 6-inch alloy wheel that some later Vanagons came with get my vote, along with a slight suspension drop – and then, you just may have the perfect Vanagon.
Hmm, a Westfalia, wouldn’t THAT steam the old mans clams. Well, he isn’t here, and my recent health scare tells me, time is waning, so rather than sit and watch shadows on the wall, I thought, maybe some traveling. Plenty to see outside of Colorado in a slow motion mode. No interstates. My trip last summer, you know the one, 750 miles one day, 800 the next, in a crummy rental car, convinced me, no more of that, but a small camper, maybe a HUNDRED miles a day,,no rush. I thought of a Toyota Dolphin, but a newer VW Westfalia, better yet. What a chick magnet, perhaps an old hippie chick,,,more on that later. As mentioned, this unit truly has everything one would need, showers at Loves aren’t that bad, Pilot, not so much.
So, asking my BF friends( and no enemies, I hope) VW or Toyota?
I’d go with the VW … I had a 73 Westfalia I bought used in February ’78 for $2750 … blew a piston in July, never got it back from the garage until November and sold it the following April for $3650 … cost me $750 for the repair job. Anyway, there was lots of room for chicks in the back with the rear seat folded down into a bed … hell, you could put the whole henhouse back there. Lots of fun to drive. Wish sometimes I had it now.
Go with the Westfalia. As you know they’re easy to fix if it breaks and the Toyota Dolphin is even more of a slug on any open road with all the gas saving aerodynamics of a Kleenex box. And FWIW there’s a strong Westfalia group that have annual conventions with folks of all ages attending.
Keep us posted, Howard!
Howard, my vote is for a mid 70s or newer Toyota Chinook. Living in Colorado you no doubt have seen seen one or been behind one on a mountain pass. Plenty of room for an old hippie and companion to explore 2 lane state roads at a leisure pace. Toyotas over built 2.2 will give you no problems once you do the timing chain. Add a 5 speed to the mix and go 70 on the interstate if you must. Jimmy Hendrix echoing thru the cab, that sweet tanned earth mother riding shotgun……ahh the memories.
Hi Slomoogee, upon further thought, I tend to agree. The Toyotas( or Datsuns) offer more of a homey feel, something a mere van doesn’t have. Besides, there are a lot more Toyotas than VWs out there. A VW will always command a higher price, but some Toyota motorhomes could just be an eyesore to some. Advantage, Howard!
Sold for $10,300. Will we be seeing Howard touring the country in it now?
Slightly off topic of the Westfalia, but regarding the Toyota. Have any of our readers swapped in the the later MPI 22RE engine? Or potentially swapped the camper onto a later model Toyota with the 22RE or maybe a V6?
Howard, When covid ended my son was at his wits end, the home crap and so on. I was furloughed for two months and I said, ” what do you want to do kid?” His reply see the presidents in the side of the mountain. I worked for a medical transport company for 3 years and used an 06 E250 wheelchair van. When I left they gave it to me. The seats all fold up for chairs to be anchored to the floor and a nice air mattress fits along with video hook up. Long story short we put 7000 miles on that van. If you get tired any nursing home or church is the perfect parking spot. Agent 107 as my son calls it fits the Hyabusa comfortably, his swim team. It pulls just under 25 mpg on the highway and right now has 552,000 miles on it and runs superb, gets out of its own way and is easily repaired but has really never needed anything major even when it was in active duty doing 3 to 6 hundred miles a day. We used to call these Van-be- gone as these were horrible to work on and were to beatniks I knew that swore by them money pits. I towed for a foreign car garage and we would average 1 to 2 a month to haul off for scrap.
Bought a new ’84 water cooled “Special Edition” and as was the case with the first two we had we put almost 90,000 miles when we traded it in for something else. The air cooled 2 Ltr is a good engine and doesn’t give anything away in terms of power. This one looks like it’s in good condition. All it needs is an AC which is available aftermarket. We also put a 120 volt AC under the right rear of the the bench seat. Ducting didn’t take much away from space and it was really nice to have going through hot country.
Interesting color, makes it look like a Forest Service vehicle. Good buy assuming good compression all around.
I have owned these Westies for most of 50 years. My first “car” was a 63 Euro SO model. I currently drive a cherry 91 Syncro Westfalia with a 2.5 STI Subie motor… after driving it 200K plus on OE Wasserboxers. RUN from a late aircooled. I sunk a fortune into a perfect one before I knew better. Too much weight for the motor and you cant find OE type parts anymore, all Brazilian and Chinese crap. This green one will break your wallet and your heart. I can’t speak to the Toyota in question, but a well sorted 2 wheel drive Westy with known expert maintenance and either a newer GoWesty motor or pro done Subie transplant that you drive like you describe will be a blast. I will never sell mine, there is not a better fun overall vehicle out there. Look on The Samba…
I’ve owned several Type II Buses, ‘65 Splitty through a ‘75 Bay Window.
This air cooled flat four (Not an “inline” as stated in eBay) is the same as my ‘76 and a couple 914’s I’ve owned over the years and very dependable and strong enough if taken care of.
I’d definitely stay away from later iterations of the Vanagon with the “Vasser Boxer” water cooled engine though.
I replaced heads and whole engines on a few of those because they were prone to coolant leaks at the heads and possible subsequent total engine failure.
This one may be a steal!
It’s very clean, well taken care of and the Porsche green is really cool in my book.
If I had an inside spot for it and could hide it from my wife I’d be all over it.
I believe it’s Escorial Green- an fairly uncommon VW Vanagon color.
With well over 500,000 miles in several wasserboxers and being a mechanic myself, I will say that the “head gasket failure” issue is overstated. Poor maintenance- i.e failure to change coolant every 12-24 months (using VW factory coolant only and distilled H2O) has lead to dissimilar metals corrosion pitting at the mating surfaces, which as doc points out causes total failures. Many folks also add additional grounding straps. The 2.0 is a decent motor in lighter vehicles, it works too hard pushing these, and the heater box design is pathetic- they fill with oil from the smallest leaks and stink. I threw time and money at my 2.0 thinking it would be ok as it had been in my bay window…nope.
I finally replaced my 2.1Boston Bob stage III wasserbox with a Subie because the conversion is common now, the 2.5 torque curve and the 150 (conservative) HP make it a dream to drive. My Syncro lopes down the interstate at 70 @ 3K with the cruise on at about 1/2 throttle.
No problems with our ’84 water cooled. As per the manual, retorquing the cylinder heads at the 1,000 and 25,000 miles was recommended, the 1,000 mile one being the most critical. At 82,000 miles the transmission input roller bearing came apart due to not enough grease packed into it at the factory.
The eBay listing wouldn’t load for me, so I couldn’t tell which of the three possible 1983 engine this one has. The green looks similar to Escorial Green, which was a factory color, but interior shots reveal that it was previously Assuan Brown.
Those front seats aren’t really an upgrade, as Westfalias featured swivel seats from 1976 onwards. They are later seats that are missing their armrests. They appear to be from a passenger van, as Westy seats had a thinner seat cushion to make up for the added height of the swivel mechanism. The rear seat-bed needs its foam replaced. The good news is that a reproduction of the factory fabric is available if somebody wants to redo a pair of front seats to match.
As a 30 year rv veteran , buy something with a toilet , running to a locked door in the rain is a serious pain ! Pulling out the portapotty And taking a dump by your spouses head is not very romantic …
YOLO
Now, beeing watercooled and almost 40 years old I see some problems arising.
Here in Europe it is probably the most seen classic??? car on the road. You decide if its a classic, I think they are just so versatile so they are still in use. Many are brougt back with the use of quite some money, a Westfalia like this will be much closer to 20 grand over here. But lets have a look at my concerns:
Watercooled, how often was the coolant changed?
Not so often, then you will see a seepage at the outer rim of the heads, they are just a large U-rubber band, so corrosion of the heads in that area is most likely and that means some metal glue if you want just sell it or some serious welding and milling.
But much more problems arise at the plastic piping from back engine to front radiator. These plastic pipes are with brass inner sleeves, and the plastic becomes britle with time exactly where the hose clamp sits. No problem as long as the engine is cold. When it warms up, pressure will build up, water will leak a little or it slips apart and and all water is gone in one moment. Engine seized.
So my advice: Ownig or buying one of the water cooled VW buses gas or diesel, check the coolant pipes, open the hose clamps, take of the rubber connectors and check the plastic pipe and most likely you will have to fit a new set in stainless steel and everything is well. Great car so and quite reliable if serviced with knowledge!
Regards Thomas from Tyrol
This particular Westfalia, from early in the transitional 1983 model year, is air-cooled, so coolant hoses won’t be an issue.