Ohhh la la. Good lookin 1987 Westy Camper Auction in Castro Valley, CA ends 1/30/15.
This no reserve auction in the East SF Bay will sure receive some attention over the next 24hrs. Ending at 5pm PST tomorrow January 30th a 1987 VW Vanagon Westfalia Camper with 200k miles on the body, 26k on a rebuilt engine, and stock manual transmission. Overall, this van looks to be a pretty good deal, I estimate it will probably sell a teeny bit over $15k. The seller also provided a Test Drive Video and a Walk Around Video that cover some good good detail, and have already passed 50 views each. With Burning Van last weekend at Ocean Beach, there’s probably a higher than average number of new Westy hunters on the prowl in the Bay Area. There’s quite a few receipts and records available for this 3 owner rig, dating back to 2003, as well as the original window sticker. Below are my thoughts in no particular order.
- I love how clean and original this is, how well it sounds, and how everything appears to have been kept.
- I’m going to guess that all of the kitchen appliances work, though it’s not specifically mentioned. Make sure to check on this.
- It’s got an upgraded 3 window pop top tent, usually a $1,000 job after tent an labor.
- It appears to be the original red paint from 1987, and while the clear coat on the rear hatch is peeling, at least it’s likely never been resprayed.
- It does have power windows, which can be a pain in the… if you don’t know how to fix them. If they’re original parts and never tamper with, have them checked out, especially the wires in the door jam.
- The seller says this is a GoWesty engine, which is a bit confusing, as it appears it’s an engine that GoWesty rebuilt to mostly spec 2.1L for the customer, rather than an off the shelf GoWesty upgraded engine. Either way, a nice bonus for this rig and will likely add it’s weight to the final high bid.
- Transmission Overhauled? I’d get more details here. As unless it’s been fully rebuilt at some point, it will need to be soon.
- They attached the Yakima wide body rack tabs somewhat of a strange position, as they are super far apart. This is usually for carrying things like canoes, kayaks, lumber, etc. So be sure to check for stress cracks around the areas where the rack tabs attach to the top.
- The body panel seams look great, especially the dreaded kitchen seam.
- It’s got a bit of butt sag, I’d suggest having the suspension checked out, and possibly install a shim kit to the rear springs to lift it up 3/4 of an inch or so.
What do you think it’s worth? Are you going to see it? Let us know in the comments below, or head on over the individual posts about this Westy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest and share your wisdom there.
Van is being sold by a dealer, flipper etc. look at his feedback. He writes his ads as if he has owned it for years. Amazing how people just bid on his vehicles. Best to see the vehicle in person before pulling the trigger.
I notice that the front end, paint is not in very good shape either and he does not mention any of that.
Engine bay looks dirty. Most likely worse on the under side of the engine. No pictures of the undercarriage, why?
Well ladies and gents, its been relisted a third time with no reserve. Maybe someone can get a deal this time? Beware of cars that get relisted over and over, its usually a bad sign of something not being disclosed. Beware of the 84 Westy in Searsport, ME that has been listed three times as well on eBay. I’ve chatted with the previous owner of it who sold it for $2400, and it has major 3″ rust holes on rear crossmember, questionable brakes, running rich, and smell of coolant around radiator. The dealer has not addressed anything and wont answer detailed questions about it since he just wants to flip it.
did you also notice that the van also came orginally with power mirrors and now that 3rd hole is plugged up and junk floppy mirrors from an earlier vanagon is now in it’s place. Who does that?
Thanks for all the insights Dan. Yeah, they’ve used up all their free auto check repirts, so they’re a flipper for sure.