Newbie VW Westy question

[ghohn]

I am looking at buying a 77 Westy but amd having a hard time identifying this particular vehicle. It has a straight-up pop type and all I have ever seen are the angled pop-tops. In my brief readings a website said something about ASI manufacturing them out of Washington State. Are these full pop-tops more or less desireable then the angled ones?

Thanks,
Garrett

[libbybapa]

A 77 wouldn't be a diesel and so not really appropriate to the forum, but I will answer your question regardless. A "Westy" is the only camper conversion that is a "factory" VW. There are several other conversion companies that bought VW vans and converted them to campers. ASI is one of them. They are nice vans. Both ASI and Westphalia did conversions through many years. I currently own an '83 TD ASI camper and an '85 Waterboxer Westy, and so have my opinion. The 77 will obviously be different from either in layout and function, but here's my opinion regardless. I like the Westy layout better. The angled roof gives plenty of room to sit on the edge of the top bunk, whereas on the straight-up ASI, it is not tall enough without ducking down. The angle at my feet in the westy is ample and does not cramp the feet at all. The layout of the cabinets in the Westy is better than the ASI as is the fact that the '85 Westy front seats swivel around to make a very nice "living room". I believe they started the swivel seats in '79. However, despite my preference for the Westy conversion over the ASI, I plan on selling the Westy and keeping the ASI because it is not that big of a difference and the TD engine in my ASI is far superior to the 1.9 Waterboxer in every way and makes up for any of the conversion shortcomings. All of the things that VW changed when going from the bus to the vanagon were distinct improvements. The vanagon is superior in every way that is different from the bus, the only debateable item being style. I would seriously recommend checking out vanagons as opposed to buses as they handle better, are safer, have more interior room, have heat (if they are watercooled), have more power (again if watercooled), last longer, have better seatbelts, smell better, etc...

Andrew

Andrew