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Subject:Vanagon trivia
From:mdrillock
Date:Sat, 9 Aug 2008 17:51:06 -0700

What we call Vanagons were built from May 1979 till July1992, sold as
1980-1992 models.

The VW factory called them all T3 models, including pickups and special
versions like fire trucks and ambulances

More of them were built with 1.6 turbo diesel engines than with 2.1 gas
engines.

Many others had 1.6 and 1.7 diesel engines without turbos

Versions of the 1.9 gas engine were made until the very end,
outnumbering 2.1 models

Syncros were all built in Austria

2wd were built in Germany till 1991 when they moved to Austria as
production wound down

Typical annual production was  roughly 150,000 units

The last couple years much fewer numbers were made since the Austria
plant had lower capacity

After European production ceased, production started up again in South
Africa

T3 product in SA ran from 1995-2002, with 2000-3000 units per year

While still very similar the bodies had differences in addition to the
steering wheel on the right side

Only inline gas engines were used, from 1.8 liter 4cyls to 2.3 and 2.6
liter 5 cyls

The above was largely gleaned from VW sources and may not be completely
correct