Tom's 1987 Syncro Vanagon

We bought the van with partial rationalization that we would use it for annual treks from our home in Oregon to Southern California to visit relatives as well as for camping.  The 4 wheel drive aspect of the Syncro was intriguing to me.   I love to play in the snow!

In obtaining the vehicle, we paid too much, but there were few offerings in the state at the time.  Were also in a bit of a hurry because our trip to SoCal was coming up.  I decided that if I drove it to work (50 mile round trip) several times with no problems it would make it on our first journey.  About the third time driving to work I noticed a cloud of something following very close and my rear window getting much less transparent.  Oil light comes on and some nasty clunking starts as I pull into a convenient view point.  I wound up taking it to my VW mechanic of many years and getting a rebuilt motor put in.  At the same time, the radiator was found to be mucked with Stop Leak and some hoses were marginal.  So "new" motor, radiator, major hoses and water pump go in.  Expensive yes, but not unexpected. 

At left, a new paint job and 8 foot Fiamma F45 awning.  I went for a "good" paint job, since the strategy is to keep the van long term.  Some have winced at the total paint job cost, but with many dings, a dented rear corner and the very popular smooshed rear wheel well, the body repairs would have been significant on their own.  

I didn't like the stark white awning cover so I had it painted black, thinking black accents were the way to go.  After a couple of years of disappointment with the black awning cover, I had it painted to match the body when some body damage was repaired.

New Rhein 15" wheels and Michelin 215-75 tires on it now too. Bra came with it but I added the 4WD decals.  I get lots of comments like "Gee, I didn't know Volkswagen made four wheel drives". 

 

 

 

At the beach last summer I came out of a restroom just as a young lady had finished checking out the van.  She was yelling to her significant, "...and it's got 4 wheel drive, how awesome".  On the same trip, we pulled into a state park day use area and a fellow ran up saying, "So this is what they are... kind of a cross between a minivan and a Hummer."  Well.... I'll take part of that. 

 

At right, this is about as good as it ever looks, right after a good washing.  I've never waxed it, just use the car shampoo with wax in it. 

For the pop top, I use Penetrol on a warm day in the Spring, then wait a couple of weeks and go over it with Armorall High Gloss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the grey interior of these vans is too drab and I wanted some color.  Margo works for a major mail order catalog company that has a company store where they sell samples and returns to employees for very little.  She had picked up this rug for like $30, thinking it might go in the entry way.  We already had a rug in the entry way so it would up in the entry way closet instead.  I ran it out to the van and found the match was pretty much right on.  I had already been looking for a rug, but this one was "it" for me.  I found a place where you can get rugs cut down and re-bound.  This place matched the binding to the rug color perfectly.  They got $12 per side to do it.   By the way, the color is not this light.  The flash has washed it out a bit.

 

It's good to bring at least two blondes when camping. 

I have been taking pictures of our campsites since we started camping in this rig.  I couldn't figure out why our campsites always looked so plain and un-cluttered.  Then it hit me - NO KIDS.

On this particular trip it rained like the Dickens (or maybe even the Wordsworths).  Three of us had no problem sitting comfortably under the 8 ft awning, watching the fire and rain and making sure our blood didn't thicken up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

-o-