I am in the process of joining the list, but thought I would jump start with a question.  Reply's to the list and my personal email are appriciated.

I am looking to purchase a 84 Westaflia that appears to be in good condition.  The head gaskets were just replaced by a local VW mechanic, whom I use regularly.  I am not sure if there is something I should be suspect of??  I think that if there were any cooling problems the mechanic would have taken care of them at that time.

My real questions are:

1. My wife wants to be able to drive it.  It doesn't have power steering and during my trial run it was a beast to move around in the parking lot.  Can one add power steering to an 84??  Does anyone else have a wife or someone not that strong who regularly drives with manual steering?

2. It does not have AC.  Are there any aftermarket ACs for Vanagons or campers out there? Any suggestions??

As a final note, the guy is looking for around $4500, I would probably offer $4300.  It has no rust, except for the body seem (minimal).  The stove, sink, and refridge supposidly work (will check before I buy).  It appears clean inside, but certainly not new.  160k miles and needs about $500-$600 worth of body work for the rust and a crunch in the door (window mechanisim also broke).  Does this sound reasonable??  It is not in an area where there are alot of Westfalias (7 Vanagon's total in 250 mile radius on trader online).

Comments and suggestions are appriciated!!

Thanks

David

P.S. I have rebuilt watercooled VWs (scirocco and Jetta Diesel) from the ground up so I am not concerned about handling mechanicals myself, but the Vanagon is certainly a different beast!!