Six years ago I bought this nice Wolfram Gray 1988 Westy with an automatic transmission and 2.1 waterboxer and had it shipped from AZ to Philadelphia. Prior to its two years in AZ it had lived in the Silicon Valley since it came over from Germany. Now, after 5 great years I'm looking to sell it to make way for another van. In my opinion (and others I've run into along the way) this is one of the nicer camper vans in this part of the US. If you're looking for a West Coast van but live in the East, this might be just right for you.
I have taken really good care of Vince (as he's known in our family). I have original purchase paperwork and all records from about 85,000 miles (it now has 158,000 on the odometer). Major upgrades since I've owned Vince include:
* Head gaskets replaced at about 130,000 miles by Ken Wilford at Vanagain.
* New oil pump and filter
* New water pump
* New drive belts
* Fuel lines replaced by PO in 2013.
* Installed GoWesty stainless steel exhaust
* Replaced fridge with a TruckFridge TF49
* Installed GoWesty plate steel bumpers
* Installed 4 Mercedes CLK rims (16")
* Installed 4 Michelin Defender - 215/60R16 95T BW - All Season Tires on 8/12/2015; they only have about 2000 miles on them
* GoWesty External Cooler Kit for Automatic Transaxle (GVW-AT-COOLER)
* GoWesty Gray Rubber Mat Set - Driver side, passenger side, aisle (GVW-6840-RT)
* GoWesty High Power Headlight Kit (GVW-WR1-ST)
* Replaced all 4 factory speakers with Rockford Fosgate R14X2 Prime 4-Inch full range coaxial speakers
* Added a Bazooka BTA6100 BT Series 6-Inch 100-Watt Amplified Tube Subwoofer in the bench seat storage area.
* Installed a complete 100w solar system including a portable 100w Windy Nation panel, a 100AH battery installed in the cubby and 12v connector installed through the city water outlet.
* Installed second "house battery" to power stereo and interior lights
* Installed poptop lift assists and artificial rain gutters for a roof rack.
* Installed new water pump, starter, and high volume oil pump
* Installed Van Cafe oil pressure and oil temperature gauges
* Installed GoWesty "vanagon syndrome signal filter fix" to AFM
* LED bulbs in instrument cluster
* Removed fiberglass insulation (notorious rust accelerator) from interior cavities and installed Fat Mat and bubble wrap insulation. Doors give a solid CLUNK!
BODY
The paint is original (except for the slider door--see below) and in good to very good shape. There is a little seam rust starting to form in the kitchen area and the rear wheel archs, and some surface rust along the lower edge of the slider door (the slider door is the only part of the body that was repainted--I'd taken a stripe off the van, and when I did it left some chips, so I had it repainted. Thanks to a not so good MAACO paint job the slider door color doesn't quite match the rest of the body. There is also the remnant of a body stripe visible in some places. There is the usual collection of chips and little dings, plus a small area on the right rear corner where the van said hello to a telephone pole in back of our driveway. The good news is that since it's the original paint (except slider door) you can be assured there's no coverup or creative body filler sculpting going on--what you see is what you get!
MECHANICALS AND ENGINE
The van runs great and has never let us down, including on an out and back trip from Philadelphia to Yellowstone 3 years ago. Transmission shifts well and has been regularly serviced. For the last 3 years or so all the major service work has been done by Kevin Mayer in Philadelphia (if you know of him he's a Vanagon god!). I've changed the oil and coolant religiously and followed all the service intervals recommended by GoWesty.
INTERIOR and CAMPING GEAR
Interior is in great shape all the way around. All the camping gear works great (especially the TruckFridge). The propane tank was replaced by the PO so is about 6 years old. The tent is original and is in pretty good shape (I replaced the screening) but has a couple quarter-sized holes in the upper left and lower right corners. A/C seems to need a recharge every summer but once it does it works and blows cold (for a Vanagon). I've had various A/C repairs made along the way but generally concluded that the AC's almost not worth having.
NOT INCLUDED
* Roof rack towers (the load bars and artificial rain gutters go with the van).
* Space case
* Wheels and tires pictured will be swapped for the wheels and tires listed above.
In short, there is literally nothing mechanical that needs to be done on the van, and only a few cosmetic issues (although I'd probably have it painted within a couple years). You are ready to hit the road and live off the grid.