1989 Westfalia in Portland, OR

Last Updated: 9/6/2022 | Ad Source: Craigslist

Asking Price: $26,000

 

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1989 VW Westfalia

Beautiful, well taken care of Westfalia (Vanagon GL) camper up for sale with only 106,000 miles on the chassis. If you are familiar with Westy’s, you know that the 1986 – 1991 T3’s were mechanically the best ones made. They are hard to find, especially in good condition.

We call her Swifty. Was born in Germany and shipped straight off to Canada, where she lived until 2018. Everything is still in Kilometers. You can see the “Canada” Certification sticker too. Over the past few months, my wife and I decided to downsize. We are moving overseas and needed to sell Swifty.

I spent 5 years looking for the perfect 1989 Westy. I found it in Vancouver, BC. A retired airplane engineer/mechanic restores VW’s there. He is meticulous. His main concern with VW campers, is that they rust from the inside out due to the condensation from camping/cooking. So he gutted the interior, removed any rust that was present, put in new panels/insulation, fixed any interior mechanical/electrical issues and put her back together. I have records dating back to 1998. I have also added many new features: Propex heater, Gowesty auxiliary battery system, back up camera, digital speedometer (so you don’t have to convert Kmh to Mph when driving), Gowesty High Output headlight kit, 16” Mercedes rims, just to name a few. Below is a list of items fixed since 2007:

Year Item
2022 Propex Heater
Front coolant hose shut off valve
1200 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter

2021 Clock
Antenna
LED’s for instrument cluster and interior lights
Gowesty Hi Intensity headlights
Temperature Sensor
Low Oil Pressure switch
Installed Backup Camera system
New Front Cargo Box
Stainless steel coolant lines
Fuel Tank, Fuel filter, fuel pump

2019 Replace Ignition coil
Installed Aux Battery system
RR Speedometer cable
wiper blades
RR Fuel Pump, Fuel Filter
New All Weather Tires & Wheels & Spacers
RR oil filter, distributor cap, air filter, rotor, spark plugs, spark plug wires
Trailer hitch
Front heater valve
Gas Cap

2018 Engine Ground wire
RR Alternator & Belt
RR Shifter ball and lever
Main Battery
RR CV Joints

2015 RR Clutch Sleeve cylinder
RR Clutch system
RR Upper control arm bushings, upper ball joint, upper control arm
2014 General Maintenance, Brake pads
2013 Exhaust pipes, Manifold, Gaskets and tail pipe
Rear CV Drive Shaft

2012 Replace all brakes/cylinders/drums
2011 RR Propane tank, skylight,
2009 RR Front Suspension
2008 RR Front sway bar/bushings
2007 O2 Sensor
RR Transmission
RR CV Joint
RR Clutch disc, flywheel

You can see that the odometer is in kilometers, so that’s not 171,000 miles on the chassis. It only has 106,000 miles on the chassis. No rust, but it does have typical chips on the front. Whenever I find chip marks, I sand it, prime it, paint/clearcoat the area to protect from any future rust. Have a few of them I’m working on right now, but no rust on them, just typical chips on the front.

I have been wanting to do the Subaru Conversion with the 2.5L engine. Would have a brand new rebuilt Subaru engine in her. Puts Swift’s value between $38,000 and $40,000. As I was contemplating this as we drove to Seattle, I must have blown a head gasket and she over heated. Towed it to my mechanic. It still turns over but he is pretty sure she needs a new engine.

So rather than do the conversion and then sell her, I wanted to offer it to others that might want to do something different. Maybe just put in a waterboxer or DIY a new engine. That way, you could have this beautiful Westy with a new engine for less than what its worth if I were to put in a new Subaru engine. So I’m selling this Westy for $26,000. If you want to do the new Subaru engine and conversion, SmallCar out of Tacoma is the best and fastest place to get it done. They are experts at this. I priced out a rebuilt 2012 Impreza 2.5L engine and smallcar doing the install and conversion. It comes to right around $10K. That’s a good deal, since other places want to charge $15K – $20K.

Before the trip to Seattle, she ran great. The new 16” Mercedes wheels and all season tires give her more stability and a smoother ride. Only had to chain up one time when going to Timberline lodge. All other times, tires are great. Propex heater is fantastic when doing an overnight trip in the winter. The pop top/canvas are in perfect condition too. All interior items work. We camped a lot in Swifty. All interior items are original. I took the fridge out for more space, but put it back in recently.

The backup camera is really helpful along with the digital speedometer. I also installed LED lights in the Dash and exterior/interior lighting. Added some nice “puck” lights just to make it brighter on those long nights playing chess. Installed a trailer hitch and it works great. I’ve actually towed a small uhaul trailer. The bike rack and Yakima rack system comes with it as well. Auxiliary battery system is fantastic for those weeklong camping trips. We charge our phones, laptops and any other misc items. By doing this you don’t run down the starter battery.

Last year, when my mechanic was putting in the new fuel tank and coolant lines, one of his workers didn’t see my spare tire on top of the cargo box. When they put it on the lift, it cracked the cargo box. So they replaced it. That’s why it does not have the Westfalia sticker on it. I have the sticker, just need to put it on. The new Cargo box is stronger than the original. So standing up in it or loading it up more than before is just fine.

Has a full size spare (on Mercedes rim) as well as the original 14″ tires w/spare.

The only item that I never fixed (because have never used it in the past with my previous buses) is the rear window wiper.

If you are interested, give me a call or send me an email/text.

David

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Last Updated on September 9, 2022 by VanagonAds