Aircooled VW South Africa

So I just couldn't resist buying this beautiful '91 Westfalia to add to the camper fleet...Power steering and aircon will mean it'll suit those more used to a luxury, modern driving experience. I sometimes have clients complain of aching arm muscles after driving one of my Bay campers for a few days
I'm not too mad about it being LHD, but apparently it takes 30 mins to get used to driving it. We'll see...

Congratulations. I was wondering why that stayed on the market for so long.

Price was an issue I think - I did not pay anything near the asking price...And the fact that it's LHD...I think that initially it was advertised for R 120 000, then R 90 000, then R 80 000. I paid what I think is a market-related price for a SA buyer earning rands. It's a lot of camper for the price, and the Golf 2L motor sweetened the deal. The market will dictate....

lovely looking example there, - I would'nt mind one of those one day

Have you physically seen it yet?

This car was for sale at Sedgefield classics some time back, where I checked it out, but the body was not a good repair at all. Very amateur repair jobs finished with an even more amateur spray job.

Unless there is another vehicle just like this on the road, its definitely the one I saw in Sedgefield.

Hopefully all of that can be repaired as it is a nice style bus.

There is another LHD Westy of the same colour and spec which I saw for sale a while back. I questioned the seller, and he said his was owned by the former German ambassador to Zambia who brought it into SA, sold it to an MD of a company the seller does business with who then sold it to him. He said it had no rust issues when I questioned him directly about that.I haven't seen it physically yet, so hopefully there'll not be too many surprises. It's always a bit of a crapshoot buying remotely...

Something different....

LHD is really not an issue. If you have a driving license (legal....) then you should not have any issues getting used to it. I jumped in my 69 LHD Westy and took on the road.

Might be an issue for your customers Derek?

Also watched this bus on Gumtree and saw the price dropping over time.

With campers people seldom exceed 100km/hr, so there's not a lot of overtaking I'll take it out on a few trips to see how easy/difficult it is to drive under typical conditions. If all else fails I may consider converting it to RHD, as all of the parts required are easily available in SA at good prices.

Converting to RHD should be relatively easy. Hydraulic clutch/ hanging pedal assembly should make this swop easier, and of course rhd specific parts like steering rack being available plentiful and cheap. Think doing so would increase it's resale value.

Does it have the VW style tilted engine installation which retains the flat rear floor, or the aftermarket upright type which require a raised floor?

From what I can see it has an upright engine - we've fitted upright Golf engines in Bays without having to raise the floor...Not sure if the T3 engine compartment has a lower floor...I have seen a T3 Westy with a raised lid, and they had made a cutout in the rear bed section to accommodate the raised section...

So the Westfalia arrived this morning - and it IS the one Sean saw for sale at Sedgefield Classics - their sticker on the windscreen was the giveaway. I took a look at the bodywork and spraywork, and it has one area of concern on the LHS below the sliding window, and a few other minor spots. It needs a good flatting and buff to improve the overall appearance of the spraywork, but I think that once I've attended to the bad workmanship it will be fine...

Annoyingly, some idiot previous owner removed the original Westfalia front cupboards which contained the built-in gas stove and fridge, and replaced them with of the poorest quality cupboards I've ever seen. Grrr...So now I'm going to have to try and have the original grey cupboards copied to replace the crappy one's.

Other than that the vehicle is pretty neat, has new pop-top tent and full side tent, an Alpine sound system, front seats that swivel, and it drives very well with the 2L Golf motor which was fitted just over a year ago. They did not refit the aircon compressor, so I'll have a new one fitted and get the aircon working again. For what I paid I'm happy to have a unique Westy camper in my collection

Will be intersting to see if your clients prefer this one... In summer they may like the aircon while driving. Some people even keep their engine running at the campsite to have aircon.

If the lid was raised to accommodate the Golf engine, does it interfere with the bed?

To be honest I bought this with selfish motives...I just love sleeping in the modern Westy roof on this camper Power steering and aircon will be an attraction to a limited market I think - most people just love the Bay's lines and that's what makes them popular. I had a chat to some German's staying at the hotel next to my place and they couldn't believe that they could rent a T2 camper for R 850/day....In Europe the cost is 2-3 times higher.

I doubt that the bottom bed will be usable as the engine lid has been substantially raised, but I must take a look at that when I have time...Luckily the top bed is so big and comfortable...And the camper has a full side tent.

I took this Westy for a test drive today - she drives like a dream The bottom rock 'n roll bed works, but I will need to make some adjustments to accommodate the raised engine lid, and build a surround to fill the space around the lid. It's such a pity to me that VW never managed to build a T2 camper with modern steering, suspension and engine other than in Brazil...The driving experience in this Westy is so much more comfortable than in the Bay's...

Derek you should get the engine lid surround from Gilo Engineering,