I've needed something other than the F250 as a grocery getter, and had long thought about a small Toyota pickup or something. But I also wanted a camper capability, but could never bring myself to pull the trigger on a slide in camper for the Ford. Years ago a friend of mine had a Vanagon camper that we used to go to mountain bike trail heads. It still had the VW engine in it, and was really slow, especially up hill, and he had quite a bit of trouble keeping it running. But what a nice place to come back to at the end of the ride, with fresh water on tap, a comfortable set of seats, frig full of beverages, and plenty of room for all our gear. And it was small enough to park anywhere. I was pointed to the mechanic that's doing the Subaru engine swap by one of my motorcycle buddies, and I'd been watching the flow of projects through his shop as he did various repairs on the Ford. This last time around he just happened to have gotten a non-running Syncro and had already planned to do the Subaru swap, along with big Audi brakes and a much better air conditioning setup, so that got me thinking that I could kill two birds with one stone: An around town grocery getter that would also double as a camper. With a receiver hitch I can carry a dirt bike on the bumper, and with a propane heater and stove/microwave, use it all year long. And with 4WD there are no worries about getting up my driveway in bad weather. You could say that all the pieces just serendipitously fell together. And besides, not having anything else to do with my time, I really needed another project. :confused2:
Vans that have been rebuilt, particularly the Westfalia/Syncro version like the one I'm working on, are skyrocketing in price:
TheSamba.com :: VW Classifieds - 1991 Syncro Westy Full Camper with 2.5 Subaru
Mine won't have all the gee gaws of the one in the ad, but I'm starting with a new Subrau block that will have all new internals as well as either new or rebuilt everything else. So it will be a brand new van, with all the known weaknesses of the original Vanagon/Westfalia/Syncro addressed. If I end up not liking it or wanting something different, I don't think I'll have any trouble getting my investment back.