We got a Westy!

Doug was online 24/7 looking for a play toy. Well he finally found a ’66 bug, bought it and was as happy as a clam. Then he continued looking for vehicles…hmm…what now? A car for me – or so he said! Since I gave my car to my daughter, I had no “official” car to drive. Well, when Doug showed me one VW bus after another (on thesamba.com ), I fell in love with them. A hotel on wheels! Doug and I love to travel, but hate to pay outrageous hotel rates, and if you don’t pay the price, you “pay the price!” We’ve been in some pretty interesting rooms. So, the idea of having my own “hotel” and my own stuff really intrigued me! So, Doug would show me different VW buses and they were all so cool! I loved the look of the bay windows, but the convenience and updated features of the Vanagons. I had never driven one, and that worried me about buying one without driving it (by the way, it had to be an automatic). That, of course, drove Doug crazy because he had just bought his bug from California and wasn’t able to test drive it.

Well, he finally found “THE ONE” – it was about three hours away in Richmond, Virginia. He started communicating with the owner and we decided to travel down to see (and drive) it. Oh, what fun it was to drive! And oh how clean it was inside! I was sold basically from the minute I looked at it! We found out the owners, Colin and Carrie, were selling it because they were upgrading to a Syncro because they were going on a year or two long adventure to Argentina! (Wow, to be that adventurous!) They had only bought it 6 months ago from California. We looked at it one week and bought it the next! (We also discovered a neat little area in Richmond called Carytown with unique shops and restaurants – Ellwood’s Coffee was an all organic coffee shop/deli we really enjoyed!)

When we went to pick up my new Westy, we were all (owners and us) shocked to find a small fuel spot under it! Colin told us how he had just topped off the fuel. What had happened was the hose to the expansion tank had broken and because the fuel tank was so full, some of the fuel had leaked out. Colin was sick about it and in fact, made sure we still wanted to buy it. (He and his wife were so genuinely nice and honest. We really appreciated it!) Well I wasn’t about to leave without it! I couldn’t wait to get it home and show it off to everyone! So Colin called his VW guy and Doug called ours and they figured out a way to get us home!! (Colin spent over an hour under the Westy in 90 degree heat fixing it!) Hopefully Doug was paying careful attention! Before we left, Colin gave us a small tool kit he always kept in the van and a quick lesson on how to patch up a tire! (Oh, and he also told us to call when we got safely home!)

Tip #1 – Invest in the Vanagon Bible, so you can fix most mechanical issues on your own! (Well, maybe!)

Doug drove it the first hour home to make sure everything was ok. We stopped at a Tropical Smoothie, got a smoothie, of course, and made the switch! My turn to drive!! In our hour of standing there while Colin fixed the Westy, Carrie was giving me some advice and one thing she talked about was “Westy time.” She said that on their drive back from California they only passed three vehicles, and one had their four ways on! She said the highest they would drive it was around 60. So, that’s exactly what I did, much to Doug’s dismay, as he followed me in the Yukon. He said at times he was ready to give me a bump and push me along! I was just having so much fun driving it! I had the windows down – there is A/C but I didn’t really want to use it. When you put the two armrests down, you can just rest your arms and put your hands on the wheel to drive. I do not really enjoy driving long distances – I get so tired, but with this it was just a ton of fun!

I went out the next morning and looked at my “new ride” parked in the garage. I decided I would clean it up a bit. Remember me saying it was so clean inside? Well I brought out a vacuum cleaner to clean it and let’s just say I didn’t really suck much up! It was so clean! Anyway, I did that and then washed the windows. Doug really got a kick out of all this, because I NEVER am one to clean cars. In our family, he takes care of that! He said, “I can tell you really like this Westy!”

So, this week I am taking it into our VW shop to get new fuel lines. I just started reading the Samba forum and if it’s one thing I already learned, it’s to change the fuel lines when you get a Westy! I’m going to get a brake fluid flush and a state inspection. Hopefully they won’t find too much more wrong with it at this time, because my husband has also been reading the Samba forum (and everything else on there!) and he read how we should get 15 inch wheels and tires (not the cheap ones either). So he is checking on that, so we can get them and then begin on our Westy adventures!!

~Jess