Date:         Fri, 10 Mar 2000 07:51:50 -0500
Reply-To:     Todd Kaderabek <todd@LARKBOOKS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Todd Kaderabek <todd@LARKBOOKS.COM>
Subject:      Re: e-bay Euro
Comments: To: Dagbear@aol.com
In-Reply-To:  <7e.20db1c2.25f9833f@aol.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

on 3/9/00 5:44 PM, Dagbear@aol.com at Dagbear@aol.com wrote:

Thirty-five is a lot. Perhaps it's not the vans that have been inadequate.
Look elsewhere. These vehicles are at least 9 years old and many need quite
a bit of work to make them serviceable. If you haven't found one acceptable
to you yet, perhaps, just perhaps, your standards are a wee bit too high.

Rico Dagastino Munford, TN


I've considered this, and actually agree with you for the most part.
However, I think another factor is that I'm generally finding two types of
vehicles:

1 -- 1987 +/- westfalias with minor defects for around $9,000
2 -- 1987 +/- vehicles with major defects for around $5,000

This leaves me with three choices:

1 -- spend too much money on the front end
2 -- spend too much money in repairs after spending too much money on the
front end

Either of these is unacceptable to me, as it leaves me holding the golden
goose, as it were.  I just don't see the market for $9,000 1987 +/-
westfalias, unless they are exceptional, and I think for the most part the
list has supported this notion.  So, I've opted for my third choice:

3 -- keep looking, be patient

I think that despite the kernel of truth to your assertation, I just haven't
seen the right vehicle.

Case in point.  There's a 1986 weekender for sale in San Francisco,
reasonably priced at $5,500.  It has 156,000 miles, looks to be in good
shape from the one photo I've coaxed out of the owner, who claims new
cylinder heads, battery, brakes, and curtains.  Sounds pretty good, except:

1 -- it turns out that he just thinks the left head was replaced by the po,
and he did the right side at 150,000, which is fine, except he has no
receipts for the parts.

2 -- the air conditioner is non functional

3 -- there is apparently a good bit of rust on the undercarriage

Best case: I buy it for $5,000 or so, bring it home, put the belt back on
the  AC and it functions perfectly; and the heads prove to be in great
shape, and I have many miles of carefree driving at a reasonable price.

Worst case: the AC is shot, and I have to sink $1,000 or more into that; and
the heads are not new, or one of them is not new, and I have to sink another
$1,500 or so into them.

Now I have (give or take) a 1986 weekender with $7500 in it.  Not too bad,
except for the rust, which makes it tough to resell. Still, I'm interested,
so I asked the guy if he'd take the vehicle to a shop for a pre-sale
checkout, so I could get an independent opinion on the aforementioned
concerns.  His response:

"If you show up in SF with $5k cash in hand the van is yours, I don't have
time to be your errand boy and shuttle the car around for you to have a
mechanic tell me its rusty underneath.  I have wasted too much time trying
to sell a simple $5000 dollar car.  If you want it, come get it as is."

On one hand, I understand his angle, selling a car is a pain in the ass.
But if you're not willing to cooperate with a long distance buyer, I would
suggest not advertising on a national level as he has, on ePages.

Bottom line: I'm thinking about it, trying to be reasonable.  But in my
heart I know I can't spend $400 on a plane ticket to go to SF and still have
this guy refuse to allow me to take the vehicle to a shop. Yeah, I think
I'll walk away before I waste any more of this time.

TJK

--
Todd J. Kaderabek, Director of Production
Lark Books, Fiberarts Magazine, Folkwear Patterns
50 College Street
Asheville, NC   28801
Phone: (828) 253-0467, X 331
Fax: (828) 253-7952
todd@larkbooks.com