A little craigslist browsing this morning brought up a Westy for sale in Texas:
http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/rvs/3306388769.html
In case the ad comes down, here’s the writeup:
2004 Airstream Westfalia , 56K mi. Mercedes diesel engine 22MPG one owner, new tires special alloy wheels in excellent condition asking $45,000. Call or text 972 – 841 -3044 thanks for viewing only serious buyers only NO DEALERS!!!!!!
It’s hard to tell condition from a few photos, but it looks to be in decent, if not great, shape. It has some sort of aftermarket alloy wheels – Ronals, perhaps? (Ronals were available for a short time in the US as a possible aftermarket rim for Sprinters.)
If there’s nothing wrong with the van, the price is definitely right! They’re asking for $45,000 in the ad – recent sales that I’m aware of have been $52,500 and up. It seems like some owners aren’t aware of the low availability / high demand for these campers, and price them according to standard RV depreciation.
Prices are staying high for these vans, and I don’t see them dropping. Consider the Vanagon Westfalia – nice examples are selling for over $70,000!!
I like ’em when they have been rebadged back to Mercedes emblems. This one looks a little half-baked, however. It it has a MB logo on the grill, but I think the 2nd part of that is the chrome strip at the edge of the hood. The MB one (or at least the MB one that the previous owner put on my van) had a notch to allow the MB star to “poke” up into the chome. See how on this one, the upper edge of the logo is hidden by the chrome strip? Would not be a “deal breaker” by any means, just the first time I’ve seen it thusly.
Great site, by the way. Thank you for hosting it!
You’re right – I hadn’t noticed that! Good catch. I’ve heard that removing the chrome strip is hard work, since it’s glued on pretty tight. Perhaps the owner gave up after a while?!
Thanks for reading 🙂