There’s not much out there if you’re a row-your-own kind of driver who needs to have a van to accommodate family, furniture, or other bulky items. If you narrow it even further to a vehicle you can sleep and eat in fairly comfortably, there’s not much left, particularly in the modern car segment. So it’s nice to find a VW Eurovan with manual transmission. These early Eurovans didn’t have the VR6 of the late 90s to early 00s vans; instead, they featured a 2.5-liter 5-cylinder, ostensibly to make up for the power deficit of Vanagons and Type 3 buses. Unfortunately, they were not outrageously successful, and the manuals are pretty thin on the ground. Of course, you can trust San Francisco to have any oddball for sale, so check out this 1993 VW Eurovan for sale for $3500 in San Francisco, CA.
The color is definitely from the early 90s, and the Kragen-spec hubcaps need to be replaced. In the vee-dub community, it’s pretty popular to upgrade your car with parts from a later model – see the various Rabbit pickups featuring Cabriolet trim, or the Golfs with Jetta front ends and vice versa. So how about updating this van with wheels, bumpers, and front end from a second-series van? You’d probably add a decent amount of value, and frankly, the later vans have a less bargain-basement look.
Realtors always say to stage your home to get the best value out of it – why not apply the same rule to cars? Aside from fold-down seats, the van also features a dining table. The seller has spent some money on the van lately, including new shifter cables, starter, and ignition switch. Upholstery is said to be clean, and the pictures seem to support that. No mention is made of service to the instrument cluster, which is prone to failure, but there is a problem with the odometer. Perhaps this is the beginning of complete failure, so it’s worth considering if you’re up for a little soldering to try to bring things back up to snuff. Or continue with the update and find yourself a complete second-series dashboard and steering wheel.
Well that’s very early-90s VW – look at any contemporary Passat or Corrado and you’ll see the family relationship. It looks like there are multi-zone climate controls, and the rear-view mirror has liberated itself and is now resting peacefully on the dashboard. Among the van’s other issues are a cracked windshield, dent on the driver’s side, missing rear bumper corners, sticking front door, and failed front fans. However, it’s nothing unusual for an early-90s VW – are you up to the challenge for the pleasure of saying you use both your hands and both your feet to drive?
Rusty But Trusty 
January 7, 2015 at 11:21 pm |
If you want really rare, this one’s a VR6 converted to European 5-speed. http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/4834999189.html