We never took our cross country trip, but we drove that van for the better part of the summer out of high school. I was not able to figure out how to make that injected 2-liter run like it was supposed to, so I sold it down the road for about the same $400 that I had paid. The thing was, even though it ran terribly, I was entirely hooked on the experience of hanging out in the van with friends, of hunching over the steering wheel creeping up long grades, of hanging on at wide-open-throttle when the power would intermittently kick in, and generally I was hooked on van ownership.
It would be ten years or so before I had my next van, a white 1968 genuine Westfalia. I picked up the van through a coworker, somewhere near Grass Valley, Ca. It hadn't run in a few years, the registration was expired, and the interior was shabby and missing a few pieces, but we struck a deal and I got it for $300. Score!
1968 Westy- a little rough around the edges, but up for anything! Cosmetically, all I did was paint the wheels, add new hub caps, and wax the paint. I may have popped out a dent or two also.
I towed the van home and took to making it run. It didn't want to run because, as it turns out, the Karmann-Ghia engine that was in it had a hole in the case behind the fan shroud that was not immediately obvious upon my naive inspection. The hole was from a connecting rod that disengaged from it's piston...Bummer. I bought a rebuilt engine, a dual carb set-up and a bit of chrome doo-dads and ended up with a pretty mean looking engine hidden underneath the lid (no pics).
Looks like a twinkie on wheels, and it's brick shape wasn't terribly wind-cheating at freeway speeds.
I put some house carpet in over the old linoleum and recovered the front seats and door panels. In time, I managed to source the missing ice-box and sink parts (I had to buy a complete donor van- a 1969 Westy- to get the sink/ice box). The bed was very comfy and the horsehair seat was very supportive, even on long trips.
A shot of the sink/ice box. The cleaned up interior and new engine made this thing a pretty respectable weekend camper.
On weekends, I could pack a few clothes, my CD's, a bite to eat and just start driving in any old direction. I left the sheets and blanket on the bed all the time, just pushed to the rear so I could fold the seat up. It was an awesome get-away van. The farthest I ever wandered was out to Utah, taking a hiking/camping tour for a few weeks of the National parks out there. The van handled any off-roading, and all the on-roading I threw at it.
The long haul, me hunched over the big bus steering wheel
Camped out inside Arches National Park, Utah.
Exploring the Salt flats somewhere in Utah- extra gas strapped to the roof just in case! I needed it once during this trip.
Westy doing surf-bus duty in San Diego on Spring Break from College
In a few years though, I became tired of the fluttering noise from the fiberglass roof at highway speeds, the weak heater, the weak wipers, the cold drafts, and the seeming constant valve adjustments. I needed something a little more solid and modern...Enter the Vanagon...
My 1984 Vanagon GL snooping in the desert somewhere in South-Eastern California
I sold the '68 down the road and picked up a tattered 1984 water cooled Vanagon passenger van. I sourced a Westy bed from the local junk yard and re-paneled the interior with birch- like my old '68. I put a new floor down, added curtains, and I was back in business. I had a strong heater, A/C, power steering, sound deadening, arm rests, and a much more relaxing driving experience. The Vanagon was an excellent road trip machine....but, I blew the head gaskets driving over the Grape-Vine while heading to Los Angeles during Spring Break one year. I managed to limp it along for the rest of that trip by constantly adding water and not pushing her too hard.
Trip up the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas in California
Trip through Death Valley, the water was a much needed thing for this Vanagon as I had blown the head gasket(s) on this trip.
I can't leave anything alone for very long. Note that I had picthed the plastic wheel covers in favor of these 70's caps. I eventually lowered the Van and customized it a little further. This pretty much destroyed the nice ride and it's off-road capability. What was I thinking???
It does look kinda cool slammed down like this though, and was fun to drive.
I sold the Vanagon down the road. and it was a few years before I got the van bug again...I had to have another air-cooled machine, because I never wanted to deal with the head gasket B.S. again. I found a really dilapidated 1970 Westy for sale on Craigs List for $300. Someone had taken it apart for restoration, than dumped it on their ex-girl friend. I contacted the lady and told her, sight-unseen, that if it had a title, and all its windows, I'd buy it, period. That's what I did. I paid $300 for a dismantled van full of its own parts and had it towed home (a seedy apartment at the time). Then I began my restoration, right in that apartment parking lot.
I picked this '70 Westy up in Davis, Ca, where it had obviously sat in this condition for years.
The engine was made to run well with little effort. The transmission shifted right, but the brakes needed overhauling. The dash had to be bolted back in and all the camp interior was rotten. I straightened the body out, had an inexpensive coat of paint, in the original shade of red applied, and refurbished a lot of little things. I put in a nice bamboo floor, added birch paneling, had the bed recovered in new vinyl and had a nice rig on my hands. I hadn't gotten to making curtains or a headliner before I was in dire-straits and had to emergency sell off the van. It broke my heart to do so, but I had to off-load it. I never even slept in it once.
Dusty, but otherwise very tidy engine bay. Just needed some assembly, like everything else on the van
This was the carb...inexplicably filled with saw-dust. Weird. A quick rebuild and she was good as new.
Interior was gutted. The dash was removed too, that was the first thing I re installed
Superb original red paint inside. There was not a spec of rust inside this bus, and only minor surface rust on the outside. What a clean, dry and solid rig!
Day 1 when the tow truck delivered it from Davis to my seedy Sacramento Apartment complex.
Shabby looking bus keeping my Fairlane company.
Knocking out dents, adding filler, priming and spot-blocking
I used a vacuum to catch most of the dust while sanding. There was a lot of sanding.
Fresh coat of the original shade of red. I love fresh paint! Most windows removed, trim and lights off. I actually drove it to and back from the paint shop like this, with a buddy following me!
I recreated a modified version of the westy cabinetry. I wanted visibility out the passenger rear side window so I built a cut-down cabinet. The floor is bamboo and the seats and bed upholstered in brown. Original table remains.
All cleaned up, refurbished and polished. She was breath-taking. VW Mud flaps are mandatory.
Look how clean the roof is, no more mold/moss. She had great personality. I wish I could have kept her.