1971 Volkswagen Bus/Vanagon

Minivan/Van

4 - Cyl.

Manual

2312037280

Clear

Gasoline

For sale is my 1971 Volkswagen Bay Window Wesfalia Camper. This quality bus was fully with lot of dollars around the year 2000. I am the 3rd owner. The first owner in Arizona owned the Bus near 30 years, selling it to the second owner (a VW professional mechanic who did all the custom work on this Bus). I have owned it 6 years and enjoyed it without question. If you are looking for a great touring Bus worth your investment this is it. I am selling in an effort to down size and open up a garage slot for stuff. If you are interested please email through Ebay. The Bus was purchased from original owner in 1999. The body was decent, basically rust free, in original condition and with 105,000 original miles. In 2000 the second owner began to restore it with two goals in mind: 1) do the best restoration possible including an engine veedubbers dream of, 2) make the bus perform well in the mountains and to be comfortable for camping even in winter conditions. EXTERIOR The red and white paint is solid color top-of-the-line Dupont Chroma One. $2000 was invested in materials for the body and paint work. All rubber/door seals/window felt were replaced with German NOS. Headlights are Sylvania Halogen. The rear bumper was left off the BUS because that’s the way we made them cool back then, plus it was in poor condition. That said, I do have the braces & tin to mount a bumper and will include. The wheels were painted metallic gray Dupont Centari paint and were not ever rusted. I also have an extra set of wheels. The pop-top was replaced with new, as was the cot fabric. The fiberglass top was painted and the rear portion installed on strong rubber posts with stainless steel 13 mm bolts (the original was 4 sheet metal screws) and aluminum reinforced sides to confidently support the Yakima snowboard rack which is included but not shown. Also included are 2 bike mounts and other variable mounts. The original rack rails were restored as well. All of this was done with the top off and the roof of the van was painted as well. The front of the pop top has chrome spring clamps added to keep the top snug to the roof on the highway. Exterior issue: The left rear fender well has some rust – see picture. This spot and the one on the right rear fender well are isolated issues and in no way represent the vehicle as a whole. There was a year period where I had the Bus outside, no garage available and I unfortunately let the small blemish grow. Since it has been stored inside the there is no spreading of the rust. I was going to have it repaired but thought it best to leave the method choice to the new owner. A replacement panel is available for $40. I also have left over paint and obviously paint codes for new. A body man could really make out on this deal. INTERIOR This is an incredibly comfortable vehicle to drive. The front seats are Sew Fine (http://www.sewfineproducts.com/) top-of-the-line gray leather bucket seats which cost nearly $1400. They have bearing slide rails and recline all the way back. They recline all the back because the back metal panel behind the original seats did nothing other than support a cheap original seat and provide a place to hang the brake fluid reservoir, and were removed. The fine modern seats eliminate that extra metal and open the cab up, providing all the comforts of a modern car in terms of reclining, etc. The rear seats were re-upholstered in black naugahyde. When folded down, the bed sleeps two comfortably. The steering wheel is a perfectly restored original painted with PPG Deltron Black paint. The dash has zero cracks and is beautiful, fitted with VDO Tach, Oil Pressure and Temp gauges, an NOS Alpine CD player unit is a CDA-7839 w/ 40W / channel, remote and removable faceplate. The rear Alpine speakers are SPR-176A Component (http://www.caraudiomag.com/testreports/0207cae_cuttingedge/). The Alpine cd player is mated to 4" alpine in front and 6" alpine in the rear with tweeters. The original speedo was rebuilt and new turn indicator/dimmer switch. ALL gauges, horn, interior lights, accessories work perfectly. The seat belts in front are retractable and the rear are safe original lap belts in perfect condition. The original cabinets were not in perfect condition, so new ones were made out of Baltic Birch hardwood. The old cabinets were duplicated almost to the last detail. Functionality of the old cabinets was maintained, but resulting in added space and beauty with the custom woodwork. All side panels and the roof are also done in birch - including the floor which was stained black and sealed. I also have the interior rear ceiling shelf – not installed. As for the sink and seat behind the driver's seat? They were removed for good but mounting brackets are still in, seen in floor picture and I have the sink to go with. With the bed down, a cooler and a backpack or some surfing or snow board gear, there is no more room in there anyway! But what a comfortable camping machine this way! Throw the cooler outside, tuck the gear under the bed edge and you have ample space with a remote to operate the CD player. For cold camping the finest Olympian Catalytic Propane Safety Heater (http://www.uscatalytic.com/) was installed. See the pictures for the location of the heater behind the drivers’ seat against the wall. Along with the heater is a new Manchester tank properly mounted and plumbed outside. The curtains are new and go well with the red paint. There is also a rear hatch bug screen, the child’s cot for the front, as well as a full original privacy curtain for the front 3 windows. The entire rear and floor of the interoir, as well as the inside top of the engine compartment are lined with DynaMat sound proofing material (http://www.dynamat.com/) DRIVE TRAIN The engine just may be the best part of this bus. It is a 1907 cc built starting with a new Brazilian case from GENE BERG ENTERPRISES http://www.geneberg.com/). In fact all of the bottom end was purchased as a balanced kit from Gene Berg: Inspected, counterweighted Bug Pack 8 Pin Doweled Crank, GB 856 dual spring ported heads (w/ fresh valve job from GB about 1400 miles ago!!!), GB Full Flow Oil pump and cover, 1.5 qt sump, GB 297 Engle Cam, GB 440AE equalizer weighted pulley, Berg clutch disk, etc (I have the receipts which show all cat #'s for GB parts and labor). The top end has dual Kadrons w/intake manifolds mated to the GB heads, crinkle black powder coating on all fitted tin (w/ proper cooling fins & thermostat), 12 v Bosch ALTERNATOR, crankcase ventilation, etc. The GB bill alone, for just the bottom end balanced engine and ported heads was $4981.93. There is at least $6000 in the engine and that does not include a FRESH valve job from GB!!! The motor is accompanied by two oil coolers mounted safely and plumbed with top quality air craft fittings and high pressure hose in the center of the vehicle which keep the oil below 200 (usually 180) degrees even on a long mountain climb. The original transmission was sent to Transaxle Engineering in Chatsworth CA for a rebuild (http://www.transaxleengineering.com), The cost was $745 and it functions perfectly. The brake rotors and wheel cylynders were replaced w/ new and the pads are all NEW. In the last year there has been a new master cylinder and front calipers. The front end was repaired as needed and that work includes 2 ball joints, steering stabilizer, and KYB shocks all around. All wheel bearings were replaced and repacked the CV's with new boots. Tires are Michelin with 1200 miles, aligned and true. The Bus runs perfectly and will set you back in the seat or burn rubber. That said, I do not drive it that way. This is still a 55-60 mph highway cruiser, but at those speeds you have enough power to STILL push you back in the seat as you accelerate to 80 or 90 mph for a pass or an on ramp. If you want to cruise at 70+ mph it is best to have a highway gear modification to the 4 gear. It’s really a nice, ready to enjoy bus, and I do hope there is somebody out there who would like to avoid all that work and take on a bus done right. I would not hesitate to drive this vehicle anywhere. I have described the Bus to the best of my ability and pointed out the only issue: the rear wheel well rust spots. Otherwise this vehicle is in excellent condition for a 40 year old. The motor is super strong, the stereo is superb, the interior beautiful, and road ready. For the right price I also have a load of parts, some new, some old, some used, some NOS. I also have the original 1600 engine that ran well when it was pulled. It still turns over. Please email with any questions. This vehicle is sold as is no warranty implied or expressed.