I can't believe I actually own one of these vans! It's a 1987 Volkswagen Westfalia van, with the full camper setup. Compared to the Nissan Xterra I was sleeping in, this van is pure luxury!
Nice work dude! Glad to see someone else is out enjoying their westfalia as a lifestyle as well! I have been at it for about 1.75 years. I have some videos on my channel about living in a westfalia. Check it out.
ArbitraryLifestyle Gotta love autocorrect. Yes, we you down. Many folks keep fixing them until they just get tired of dealing with it anymore. I just talk to people often and they warn me. One guy described it like renting a room every month. He spends about an equivalent of $300 a month over the course of the year just repairing his Westy. As much as a love these and have some unhealthy desire to wn one, something tells me I might be better off with a class B Ford or GMC RV van or a converted regular van of the same type.
Haven't read all the comments, but as for a FLUE VENT, that vents the burned gases of the propane out of the vehicle so you don't die of carbon monoxide poisoning while you are cooking or using any other propane or propane accessories. Sorry, had to throw a little Hank Hill in there..
***** As I mentioned, "using any other propane or propane accessories: which unless I am mistaken, the fridge runs on propane as well, as per your own comment. But thank you for nailing down exactly which "propane accessory" it was for.
NICE, I have an 87 westy I have had this one 6 years it now has a new westy 2.3 engine, new trans, new cooling system, all new fuel lines and tank sealed, new suspension 16 inch wheels, Recaro seats, the list goes on and I am still adding. I just put in a new truck fridge runs on AC and DC and a 120 watt portable solar keeps the fridge totally chill oh I upgraded headlights and switched to the South African grill with the round lights. Enjoy your travels. Mine is named Ned for my dog that died.
Incredible tour, my man. You have a Beautiful Westy there. Don't sell her. You will regret it. :) also, the flue vent on the side of the Van is an Exhaust for the refrigerator. Scope out my 1982 Westy in my videos. I'm currently fixing her up.
Get rid of that asthma...that Advair will do you in over time(the steroids kill the adrenal glands). Start off by eliminating dairy and gluten from your diet. Look into the raw food diet (uncooked fruits and vegetables) as much as possible A good book to start you off is the 80 10 10 diet. Your athletic performance will go up too! Nice Van!
I have literally bought one 1.9 water cooled. Great camper but engine is not great to drive. Thinking of selling or changing the engine. In two minds now as I'm planning a trip up Scotland
It is always.. "this is in great shape.. everything is broken". LOL, giving you a hard time. It is a special kind of love affair, that involves some hate as well. These are neat (love the interior set up and turning circle), but constant headaches wile also being so over valued in ain't funny.
Yes, really. I never used that table. I only once put it in the stand to see how it worked! Having said that I don't think I could turn the chair around at all as the gear stick got in the way. I could only turn the passenger seat!
Hey man, thanks for being honest and calling it for what it is. A dirtbag adventure. There are so many folks doing the same as you, mainly dudes who try to hipster glamorize it. Enjoy your trip, have safe travels. PS, that flue is for the refrigerator. You open it when you are running the refrigerator on LP gas.
Hey pretty nice, enjoy your Kombi. BTW the "flue vent" is for the propane fumes when you run your fridge on gas...so the carbon monoxide does not kill you when you sleep....The 12V element in your fridge is probably burnt out, but will work on 240v ...IF hooked up. Will work on gas but you got to get down and light the pilot light and of course not have an empty propane tank. I LOVE those captain chairs ! Have a great life, cheers ex-kombi Pete
Ayeee thanks weird! I named it Rufus after my grandfather who seemed to have a wanderlust mind as well. I miss it at times, but if I did it again I would be sure to upgrade the engine for peace of mind on longer trips. Feels like forever ago I was living in it on the streets in Berkeley, CA.
I had a 2005 Nissan Xterra that I sold in order to buy the van. I paid $8,800 for the van after selling the Xterra for $9,000. I will actually be selling the van soon as I'm moving into an apartment :-O
Dude, I woulda bought it from you!!! dang.... Anyways welcome to the Bay friend. I left the Bay & moved to Sacramento because shit was just too expensive there but if I could afford it again I would be back there in a heartbeat! Do you know where I could look to find a VW like this one? I need one pretty bad.
HI, great van, I have a 1983 hitop westy. You probably have realized by now, but the Flue vent is basically a chimney for when the fridge is running on propane gas. Thats the "Electrulux" symbol on the vent. Cheers, Mack in Ireland.
i would love to get one of these and travel and do odds and ends jobs while seeing the country and meeting new people, sadly it will take me awhile to save up for one as i can only find them for around 10k-15k.
Flue vent is to vent the carbon dioxide from the fridge pilot lift staple survival foil blanket to the inside of my curtains to reflect heat and make them not see thought .A portable bag shower and portable toilet are essential.
Cool video, enjoyed it! I wish I still had my '68 VW Camper, but that's history. I do have a camper, though, a small Runaway, is the name of the company that manufactures them. When I had my VW, I did some traveling and actually lived in it for a few weeks after I was single again. It was fun. Anyway, keep on living your dream and be safe. Happy Camping!
That's so sick....but how in the love of god did you pay for that....am not saying you look poor but my god people are selling those for 10,000 plus at times, anyway that would be so sick
Thanks for posting this. I have precisely the same model, color and everything. It is simply beautiful, but the motor ("Wasserboxer") was one of the worst VW ever made, which is why VW abandoned it in 1992. It is also a real "gas guzzler." Other than that, however, the van is a lot of fun and mine has held up pretty well. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I can't sell it, as it was bought new by my family and has too much sentimental value! I would love to buy a new one, but they are so ridiculously priced that it is highly impractical.
Did u get it at Westfalia Enterprises? Its a really good dealership that only sells westfalias t3 and t4. Look it up on google maps 16129 Sherman Way,Van Nuys,CA, 94106
Liked your little walk through your van. I bet you get a lot of people that want to share their Westy stories with you. I have an 87 full camper too and when I am out it is really great when someone wants to share a story. I am going to do a video on mine also. I just finished changing out my springs, shocks, tires and wheels, I went with the 16" wheels HUGE difference in the drive and handling. BEST OF LUCK on your travels.
Check out my comment above. I am looking for a website I saw a couple months ago that featured VW vans. I thought it was "Salsa" but nothing comes up with that.
was wondering how soon you'll be selling it and for how much - i'm looking to buy one. yours looks like it's in great condition. does it ever stall or anything?
I lived in a VW van but found that I really needed a proper shower and toilet - as well as a bit more room. For me the VW was too cold in winter and far too hot in summer!
I can understand that. The Bay Area weather is perfect for year-round van dwelling and I joined a gym to have 24hr access to shower/toilet... best decision ever.
That Flue vekt vent is for the fridge when it runs on Propane. no idea how it works must be something to do with propane absorbing heat or.. something something thermodynamic's :/
Hey I've seen several of those vans... is it hard to find mechanics for them? I have a big ole Dodge gas guzzler, easy to find mechanics... but the VW gets way way better MPG and I'd love to get one. Thanx for sharing!
I lived in Berkeley,CA at the time and that city has the higher number of registered VW vans in the country. There were MANY mechanics and it's very expensive to have them repaired... on top of that, the original engines are very unreliable.
very cool! was looking into a class b van but came across videos of these Westphalia vans and this video was great info for me to decide on going to find and purchase one..thanx!!!
Within the next month hopefully, 6 weeks at the longest. I want to put a new poptop canvas on, fix the hinge on the poptop, and get the gearbox guide fixed as well before selling. I'll likely be asking $10,000 for it after those and previous items I've replaced or fixed :)
A Flue Vent is: a duct for smoke and waste gases produced by a fire, a gas heater, a power station, or other fuel-burning installation. That is your heater. Happy Travels!
Hah! It's RU-vid's own "video stabilization", which is a post-process. I'm always surprised at how good it works. It does tend to crop some of the video off the sides, but overall I'm always happy with the results.
I have exactly the same van, with some customizing. I took my teenage son on the road for his junior year in high school, 2002 to 2003. We traveled up the Mississippi to Canada, across as far as Newfoundland, down through New England. Second semester we traveled around Mexico and he got two months in a language school. He named the van Dharma and she has taken us all to such good places. Now I am putting her up for sale. But I will miss her. Perfect for the life we led.
Maaannnn life got busy and I haven't been too motivated to make videos lately (past 3 years lol). I have moments where I do want to create some sort of vlog though... we'll see what happens.
my best friend and i are thinking of doing this bc we've never been known to settle in one place. any opinions on it? and another question, do you have internet in it? bc i know you can install that in some vehicles but i just didnt know. :) cool place man
+Ches Wilson I highly recommend it, but I'm pretty biased obviously. I used internet at cafes and if in a pinch, I would use my phone as a WiFi hotspot for internet in the van itself.
Friends from home thought it was "crazy", but friends I met while on the road thought it was cool and almost normal, at least in the Bay area of California.
I just happened to find the spot I lived at for 10 months in Berkeley, CA. It was a residential street with no driveways on either side for about 200'. Where do you live now? Is there any street parking? Would you notice a van parked there for a week or two? That's kind of how I thought about it... would people notice me here easily or not?
thanks so much for your video! it was very informative for us as we have been working towards getting our first westy too!!! keep on keepin on! maybe we will see you on the road one day! we are planning on doing route 66 this fall.
Yay! It took me a year before I finally bought one, I did so much research. I have since sold the van, moved to Colorado, and started graduate school. I do miss it often and would actually consider living in a van again rather than pay the rent here in Boulder, CO! I'd just need one that was more reliable than the stock engine. Good luck buying your first one!
I'd check out TheSamba.com for classifieds. Personally I wouldn't buy anything older than an 87 (technically 86.5) since the older ones are air-cooled and that's pretty troublesome. A good body (no rust) AND a good engine (typically rebuilt or replaced with something more reliable) are going to be expensive... probably in the $15K range. I would say to spend the extra money to get one that's in decent shape because they're known to not be very reliable in general.
Vanagons are cool looking, but many problems.. The biggest problem is engine fires, the fuel lines, fuel pump lay on top of the engine, over time the lines leak, poof, they van is engulfed in flames, the van will be gone before the fire trucks get there. Second problem is water leaks, awful design, have to use special and expensive coolant, and change it often, and still no guarantee it will last. Engine tear down to reseal the motor is over $1,000. no warrantee.. If you REALLY have to have one of these, buy an early air-cooled model, and put in an early style motor.. Get those fuel lines off the cylinders, and heat from the motor. Ive also seen Buick V6's and Subaru transplants.
I don't :( I sold it a few years ago. Here's a video soon after I sold it where I talk about what's going on in my life at the time ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jZsH92FxOb8.html
