1979 Vw Westfalia Show Quality Camper Bus - No Rust. No Bondo. Special Interior. on 2040-cars
San Jose, California, United States
Body Type:camper bus
Engine:original
Vehicle Title:Clear
Fuel Type:92 octane
For Sale By:owner
Interior Color: Green
Make: Volkswagen
Number of Cylinders: 4
Model: Bus/Vanagon
Trim: none
Warranty: none
Drive Type: manual
Mileage: 22,232
Options: Cassette Player
Sub Model: westfalia
Exterior Color: custom green
I am finally selling my beautiful 1979 VW Westfalia. It has been my baby for a long time and is like a member of my family but I'm going to let someone else take her to shows and get waves and horn honks now.
It has been a 12 year project that I am finally finished with.
The story behind this camper is that it is actually 2 buses, now one.
The bus is complete and runs perfect. I didn't buy it to drive it but I wanted to use it as a show car for local shows like Kelley Park and stuff like that. It has been stored for nearly 10 years and I recently got it smogged.
I found the current body sitting in an auto shop in 2001 that was perfect, no rust, no dents, no accidents, no bondo with non faded original paint so I bought it. However, it had no engine, no transmission, no clutch.
Then I set out looking for a great original engine, tranny and clutch. I found it a few years later in a bus that just came to California from Utah. I bought it and drove it to San Jose, put everything in at San Jose Bugformance in 2003.
I had the front windshield taken out and new rubber put in. No leaks.
Later, I had it repainted with custom paint (when it was painted, I asked the shop to add a little black to the mix so that it would take out some of that bright green look, it is still green but a much more mellow green. People ask me why it looks so good and I just smile. If I didn't tell you what I did, you would really never know).
The interior was redone with a beautiful hippie pasley headliner from front to back. Later, I repainted the wooden area over the lower bed in black. The cabinet is custom and I did not do that, it is interesting and you will love it. I also sanded, primed and painted the poptop with special paint. I did not put a westfalia sticker on yet. You can see the old one on there so you can just put a new sticker over it. That is the best way to do it.
The stereo is a cassette. You can hook up a CD player to it if you like. The reason why I didn't put in a CD player is because I couldn't find one that would fit in the original space without cutting hole in the dashboard. I would never do that and if you want to find the original VW radio online and put it in that would be best.
The carpet inside has really never been walked on while I have had it. I cut out a piece of gray carpet to protect it. The bench seat is really nice and it folds down really nice. It has the table. I am currently trying to figure out away to keep one of the cabinet drawers from coming open when I drive. It is an easy fix, just trying to think of something perfect.
My nephew closed the canvas when we were cleaning it all up and got it caught on one of the hinges and there is a small hole in it now but I am going to get that sewed up. Nothing big and the material is still great. Like I said all original.
The carpet is perfect. No rust at all inside or outside. It runs amazing, never a problem. In fact, you could drive it all day at 55.
Recently, I took the car to Fred's Garage in Redwood City where Paul completely redid the:
DRUMS,
BRAKES,
TIRES,
FUEL PUMP,
INJECTORS,
WINDSHIELD WIPERS
and some other generally small stuff.
Now what about how I drive it...
I have put about 500 miles on it since I did all the major work to it ten years ago. Once in a while, I drive it over to the beach in Santa Cruz or to Half Moon Bay, nothing far and nothing hot. It has never been in a position where I was overheating the engine due to the temperature. It doesn't have air conditioning so if it is hot outside, I stay out of it.
I never go over 60. If you do that, you keep the engine within an acceptable RPM and it never really gets stressed and sounds pretty quiet. It is only when you get up in a high rev that you hear the engine whine. I drive quiet listening to the engine. When it gets loud, I take my foot off the gas.
90% of the time, I use 92 octane gas. It has an air cooled engine so any cheap gas will cause the engine to work harder to get up to speed. 99% of VW people will tell me that I am crazy and that it makes no difference but I don't care. Higher octane gas is better gas and this bus is 33 years old now. It deserves to take it easy as much as possible.
When I drive I keep the clutch in 2nd and third for as long as possible and never over run them. I spend as little time in first as I can and roll through stop signs as much as possible in second or neutral. As you can tell, I don't like first.
The car is warmed up before I drive it because that keeps the engine longer plus these buses tend to buck a little bit with the 92 octane until the engine warms up properly. Basically, this bus has been babied.
The bottom line is that there is not another bus like this in the world. The color is unique, the interior is unique, no rust, no accidents, as clean as they come. Take it to any mechanic in San Jose that knows buses, they will tell you the same thing. I encourage you to.
In a 30 year old bus the seats are not new but a little shampoo and they will look great. I have kept them in expensive seat covers since I bought it but they slide around a lot.
New gauges (oil and temp) are in the dash and I have not gotten them hooked up yet except for the odometer. I might not and sell it as is, just drop down the price if you want to do it. I will probably never use them anyway.
If you are looking for a special original California bus, this is the one.
Call me at Four Oh Eight 2 Oh Nine Oh two 4 Eight. I would love to talk to you.
I have a ton of pictures and a video if you want me to send them to you. I am pretty firm on the price because I know what I have is rare and I have spend hundreds of hours putting it all together.
On Jan-28-13 at 09:19:35 PST, seller added the following information:
**** AS OF JANUARY 27TH, I AM BUYING AND INSTALLING A BRAND NEW POPTOP CANVAS FOR MY BUS. I DON'T FEEL RIGHT SELLING THIS BUS WITHOUT HAVING A NEW CANVAS INSTALLED. IT DOES HAVE A SMALL TEAR NOW BUT WHY NOT SELL THE BEST. YOU WILL BE HAPPY THEN.
Volkswagen Bus/Vanagon for Sale
1978 volkswagen westfalia camper id # 99-309 serial # 02266000
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