Red Baron Ramblings

Right now I’m going to jump start my Westfalia Time Warp Machine and move from 1992 to 2005. This will skip several adventures, repairs and modifications that occurred within this time frame, but don’t worry, these will be covered later when I return from Cyberspace.

The reason for doing this jump is to give you an insight on what happens when things start going wrong in a Vanagon and what it takes to fix them. This and the next rambling covers the decisions, procurement and installation of a re-built 2.1L Waterboxer Engine that I think are especially important at this time. First: There was a lot of discussion last year at various VW events on replacement engines for the water-cooled Vanagon engine and Second: The waterboxer engine over the years has become famous for coolant leakage and as these vehicles continue to age, the leakage issue becomes more to the frontline and what alternatives are available to correct it. 

OK, ignition, lift-off and we’re into 2005.

Starting in the late fall of 2004 the Westy started leaking hydraulic fluid from the master cylinder, which serves both braking and clutch systems. Also in this period, coolant leakage from the left cylinder head increased significantly. Mileage was around 145K, so I felt lucky to get this much out of the Westy as I had heard horror stories about leakage issues at around 50K miles.

On January 17th, 2005, the master cylinder failed completely and clutch and shifting were totally in-operative. So, off went the Westy to the repair shop on a flatbed.  

Next up: The DAR ( Decisions, Actions and Results )

Thruout the remainder of 1991 and into 1992, I researched sources that might turnup a late model Westfalia. Sources included Internet sites and local newspaper automobile classified ads. It wasn’t until September of ‘92 that an ad appeared in the Hartford Courant for a 1987 Vanagon Westfalia Camper offered by Gengras Motor Cars, a prominent dealer at that time located in the north meadows of  Hartford offering Mercedes Benz, BMW, Range Rovers and Volkwagens.

The ad appeared on Friday morning and I did not call the dealer until Saturday morning to inquire about it. The salesman I talked to said his manager had taken the vehicle home for the weekend but it could be seen next Monday. I told him we’ll be down first thing to look at it and we were there early that Monday morning. We looked it over and without even test driving it, I gave him a check for $100.00 to secure it and to give me a day or two to gather the remaining funds of the selling price of $9995.00. Note, that this price did not include the Connecticut Sales Tax, Title and Registration Fees and the invisible so-called dealer “Conveyance Fee” of $75.00. What’s that??

It only had 54004 miles on it, no rust, interior almost like new but lacking one finned OEM VW hubcap, radio antenna and a plastic cover from the drivers side windshield washer. I knew this vehicle was it, regardless!

It had been traded in on a new Mercedes by a couple from Westfield, MA. They only used it once or twice to go to Maine and had been using it as a daily driver since they bought it new. As the vehicle came from out of state it had go thru Connecticut Inspection before re-sale which meant new brakes. Gengras Motors did this, put on a new matching hubcap, radio antenna and washer cap, took our 1987 Mercury Topaz in-trade with the balance in cash, got it registered and titled and we drove it home for the first time that Thursday, September 17.

An interesting sidelight to all this was that after we had secured the vehicle the salesman called us and wanted to know if we really wanted to go thru with the deal as he had another interested buyer. “NO WAY”, I told him, “get it ready for delivery”!

Next up: Problems and fixes after delivery and expiration of the dealer’s used car warranty of 2 months or 3000 miles from date of delivery. Keep in mind the original MRSP of $19,225 in 1987 and our used purchase price of $10,000 in 1992.

It all started in the summer of 1991 when after 35 years of service with a major aerospace company, I started to realize that things were getting a little sticky in the aviation industry and it might just be the right time to cash out. So, my wife and I decided to take a late summer vacation down in the Blue Ridge Mountains and sort out the options for retirement. 

I pulled out the rear seat from our ‘89 Dodge Turbo Caravan, packed it up with a tent and other essential camping gear and off we went to the Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. We took the Blue Ridge Parkway heading for the Big Meadow Campground. Upon arrival we found the campground full but were told that space was available at the Lewis Mountain Campground further down the Parkway.

We got to Lewis Mountain late that afternoon and got one of the remaining sites, unloaded our gear and started to set up the tent. What I found was that the ground of our site was so hard that pounding the tent stakes into it was a real effort. I was still pounding in the hardpan soil when a couple in a nice light blue ‘84 Westfalia with Texas plates pulled into the adjacent site.

Now get this: Here I am sweating and swatting flies pounding in those tent stakes while the guy in the Westy pops up the roof and said to his wife, “I’m going to clean up and you can start dinner while I’m gone”, which she did in the Westy’s little kitchen. All the time this was going on we watched in amazement until my wife said, “You better get that tent up soon or we’ll be sleeping under the stars with all the park critters.”

Well, that did it and I said to her: “We should get one of those Westies when I retire ( which I did the following month ). It sure beats this tent stuff and sleeping on the ground.” and that started almost a year long search for a late model Westfalia in good condition.

Stay tuned on how we found our ‘87 Westy.