Our Super Modified 1984 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia World Traveler
Our ride is a 1984 North American Type 2 (T3) Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia Camper which we instantly fell in love with. These vehicles were some of the most thought out amazing vehicles ever made in our opinion! We bought ours from an older guy from Eugene Oregon. It was a very cool chill hippy style town with quite a few of these vans out on the streets actually for anybody looking. We found it early on craigslist and called immediately to have Charley the owner tell us a little bit about it. After a few minutes of talking with him I knew this was the one and the right person to buy it from. He seemed like an old hippy type of guy, very honest about the smallest of flaw on the vehicle and made sure he told me every one before hanging up with me but that didn’t discourage me at all. From the pictures it looked like the body was in pretty decent shape with little rust AND it already had the Subaru EJ22 engine conversion done! He was asking $5,000 dollars which I didn’t flinch at because this engine conversion can cost $7-10k alone, maybe $4k if you do it yourself. On to my computer I went to purchase a plane ticket and text him over a copy to let him know I was coming out the next morning so don’t sell it. He seemed a little surprised and went on to tell me some other meaning less to me flaws he thought would be an issue but nothing was changing my mind, this was the right one and I could feel it!
Out to Oregon we went the next day and picked up our new home for the coming years. It was just right, a few things we need to do to it here and there but to be expected for any 30 year old vehicle. He went through it showing us all the tricks and twitches to it all old vehicles have and off we went down the road grinning from ear to ear! It was an amazing feeling I’ve never felt before cause I knew that this vehicle was the beginning of a whole new life for us and as we hit the road on down the horizon I realized this was probably the best decision of my life. As I turn my head around from the drivers seat I see my living room, my bedroom, my kitchen for gods sake, and I just picture us overlooking the Amazon out the sliding door as we cook up some Brazilian food on the stove. This vehicle is going to be our key to seeing the world and that feeling was unforgettable.
We definitely took the scenic route through Yosemite along the way back to Vegas and it didn’t skip a beat, ran beautifully. Once back immediately came the planning of the build to make it a world traveling Vanagon! One of the most crucial parts, the engine, was already taken care of so on to the list of other upgrades and changes to make it more comfortable and capable of traveling this world in the harshest of climates and terrain.
This build was made possible by GoWesty for their great products, amazing customer service, and swift delivery. This build from start to finish took us less then our three month prep time we had allotted to prepare for trip of a lifetime. At least half of our parts inside and out were brought to us from GoWesty. Thanks for helping us create a machine that has been capable of tackling any obstacle that the road has brought us.