Vehicles I Have Known and Loved: PART One 1987 VW Vanagon Syncro
/
This is the first of a multipart series on whips that I’ve lived in and traveled in. The first vehicle I lived in was a 1987 VW Vanagon Syncro. I lived in mine from the summer of 2011 to the late spring of 2013. Mine had front and rear locking differentials and a lot of room to live in and store gear than any other van on the market. The Syncro seemed like a really capable option. At the time I was looking, there really weren’t many good options for four wheel drive vans. Ford Conversions were running easily north of 30k. Toyota 4x4 vans were too small. Japanese Hiace and Delica’s weren’t old enough to import. GMC/Chevy Astrovans didn’t have the living space. Long before I had any real intention of leaving New York and jumping into my van, I started searching Craigslist and forums for vans.
I Found my Syncro on the Samba in the spring if 2011. It was listed for $15k by the original owners and had 275k miles on it. They had babied it and had it totally tricked out with an engine swap, the Tica South African Conversion, 16 inch steel wheels, front and rear lockers, skid plates and a tire swing and rack. It was love at first sight. We agreed to a price on the phone and I bought a one way flight from NYC to Reno to Pick her up. My first night somewhere near the Nevada and Oregon boarder changed my life forever.
There are things about Syncros that I love. The model I had is called a Weekender, which means it had a fold-down bed, but didn’t have any of the fancier addons that came standard in Westfalias. For me, as a single guy in my mid-twenties, that was actually a really good option. There's a lot of things that are antiquated about the Westphalia interior — specifically the refrigerator, which is a propane/electric hybrid. Those things suck. They never work. And they take up a lot of space in the front.
I knew I didn't really want to cook that much in my van. You do that a couple of times and everything you own ends up smelling like what you cooked. I used a Coleman cooler to store my veggies and meat. For the stove I used a two burner Coleman stove with the little canisters. You don't need anything fancy to cook for a bunch of people. For one month in 2012, three and sometimes four people traveled, slept and cooked out of my van in Baja.
I installed a little storage box and put some storage racks on the top for clothes and wetsuits and surfboards and stuff like that. I also put in a power inverter and a new sound system. One thing that’s really nice about Vanagons is they have tons of windows. The visibility is amazing. When you’re camping, though, that can be kind of problematic, because people can see right into your space. So I got a tint in Watsonville, CA from this Mexican body shop. They put on a super dark limo tint. Other than that the majority of the modifications I made was adding storage on top for other people's gear when they would travel with me. That was pretty much everything I changed.
The previous owners coated the front in truck bed liner to protect from rocks and brush.
One of my favorite parts of van dwelling is camping in places in the off season. In fact, summer high season was my least favorite time to travel in my van. This was during the fall of 2012 in the Eastside of the Sierra.
The great thing about this set up is that I could sleep in parking lots in Santa Cruz or I could sleep on 4x4 access beaches in Mexico.
If these musings interest you, make sure check out two phonebooks I’ve worked on on the topic Home Is Where You Park it and VanLife.
Baja was the first and only time I really needed to carry extra gas.
Here are a few of my favorite trips I took in the van from circa 2012.
In 2013 I sold the van to my mom. She used it on a few trips and then sold it in 2014. Last I heard the Syncro rolled over in an accident in Bend and was on the chopping block to get totaled. That van sure brought myself and few others a lot of joy. Is a Syncro right for you? I think they are an amazing piece of history. I'd love to own another one someday. I'd use it for special occasions and the occasional week long trip. With all the options available today, I wouldn't recommend one for full-time van life. They are an amazing vehicle and will always make me rubber neck when I see one.
