Hi Folks

[deminimis]

I've been lurking for a while, so thought I'd say hello. No, don't have one yet. Currently have a VW Vanagon Wolfsburg Wesfalia and a crew cab, 4x4, lwb, chevy pickup. Thinking that perhaps I should combine both into one and get a Sportsmobile. The Westy has been great, but need more power for hauling my dune buggy and dirtbike(s) with car trailer through Baja and the like. Decided to put my Westy up for sale last night, and my phone wouldn't stop ringing. Wife freaked as she loves the Westy. So, decided to take it off the market for a bit while I attempt to convince my wife that we need a Sportsmobile. So, thinking I'd have to start with a used lower end unit, but would need to be a 1 ton Ford or Chev, 4x4 and deisel. Yes, perhaps that's not so low rent, but that's the goal. Perhaps add options as time passes. Anyway, that's about that. Oh yea, if the Woman I met in Baja about two weeks ago (Cabo Pulmo) from the Eugene, OR area with the tan Sportsmobile wants to sell me her's, I'm all ears. That was one sweet rig.

[calclimber]

Mine cried when we sold ours. You can become very attached to a VW Westfalia. Shes not crying now though as we power up hills with the AC on and camping with the thermostat set at 70. In the long run you wont regret taking the SMB step.

[lowracer]

We got started on this by renting a Westy. Loved it but it was too dang small (I'm 6 ft 5 and wife's 6 ft 1). The Westy is just to get you hooked so you'll move on to "the hard stuff." Go for a RB50 style, it's very similar to the westy floorplan, only better.

[deminimis]

Thanks guys. Yes, there needs to be some sort of counseling for those that need to, but don't want to, part with their Westies. I just gotta have a SMB.

[Ford_6L_E350]

What is it about women and Westys? We've got ~50K on our SMB and my wife still drools whenever she sees a Westfalia. Our neighbor has a Westy and our SMB gets better mileage, has more room inside, better sleeping quarters up and down, a real refrig, pulls hills, has AC, a better stereo and much more; but she still drools over any Westy.

Mike

[BC]

dude I cried when I sold my Westy. I wanted badly to figure out a way to keep and have both and believe it or not, could see short trips where Vananon made sense over SMB. But alas, the garage is only so big, and the cash from sale was sorta important. But it was cherry 89 with less than 40,000 original miles. Saw some of the tricked out syncros now going for upwards of $70k !! which hurts too.

That said, SMB are syncro Westys on steroids to be sure. And just so much more vehicle, but also a different class altogether.

If there was any way, I would hang on the westy, good ones are getting harder to find and value only going up. Heck, why not, be a Westy AND SMB owner!!

[oclv]

We just bit the bullet. We have been camping in my wife's Astro vans for several years. Have been on the Sportsmobile site weekly for 4 or 5 years. We just purchased the used 2004 green RB50 on the used section. We took it to SK yesterday for the 4x4. I'm pretty excited about getting it back. Best of luck to you. oclv

[MikewTV]

Congratulations and good luck with the 4x4 conversion. I had to laugh when I read you were on the SMB site every week for so many years. (been there, done that) I even had the SMB site as the home page on one of my browsers so it was that much easier to pull up. (Plus, it was a nice distraction to see before I went to whatever site I really needed to for work.)

Green looks great!

[surfgeek33]

My wife and I were really sad when we sold our beloved Westy, but we know that our SMB will be more reliable and comfortable for our little one. Here is a link to our old Westy!

http://web.mac.com/rayranada/Site/EIGHTY-7.html

[philrod]

I had a 1970 VW camper, not a Westy. Got it almost new for $3250 & had it for about 10 yrs. The interior was similar to my RB50, but much less storage. Even though I luv my SMB, I still get nostalgic when I see one of the older ones. A lot of miles & a lot of vino, etc.