A variety of Vanagon & Westfalia discussion forums and message boards, blogs and personal enthusiast websites, and other helpful links for learning more about maintaining and enjoying your own Westy.
TRAVEL: Essential Navigation and Travel Apps for Van-Travel
CAMP: VW Camper and other Campout Events
CHAT: Discussion Forums & Message Boards
HELP: Mechanics & Volunteers
SHOP: Online Parts Vendors
SURF: Personal Vanagon & Westfalia Websites & Blogs
CAMP: VW Camper and other Campout Events
Get out, and get together!
Camping in a VW van is fun, but camping with other VW fans can be even … funner! These US and Canada events feature or include VW Camper Vans of all eras.
Some are Camper-dedicated events, while others are simply Volkswagen shows/events which also offer camping, either on-site or nearby. Just look for an event near you or your destination, check out the date & location info, then click the link for the event host for even more info.
Most of these are annual events, and since the exact dates vary each year, I’ve listed each event as “Early May,” “Late July,” etc. so refer to the respective event links for exact dates this year.
NOTE: Due to ongoing COVID-19 protocols, some events may be restricted or cancelled; be sure to check the events’ website or social media pages for the latest info.
Submit Your Own Event!
Have a Camper Van or Volkswagen Campout event you’d like listed here? Just complete the form and I’ll get it listed!
Navigation and travel apps for your mobile device to help you find campsites, points of interest, and the routes to get there, or even to make reservations while you’re still en route.
CHAT: Discussion Forums & Message Boards
The Samba Vanagon forum
This is the Internet at its best: helpful, contentious, immediate, argumentative, hilarious, vastly experienced, and self-contradictory. Like most online discussion forums, it’s only lightly moderated and so is a mixed bag of advice both good and bad, and spans the complete range of personalities. And personality disorders …
The Vanagon.com Mailing List
Sign-up for this free service and your Inbox will be flooded with dozens of daily emails from the 1000+ subscribers, discussing all the Vanagon-related minutae you can possibly imagine. And lots you didn’t imagine.
I personally subscribe to the list in ‘Digest’ mode, which automatically sends me 3 or 4 convenient ‘chunks’ of daily emails, indexed by topic so I can easily skim the contents for postings which interest me.
Yahoo Autos Groups: Diesel Vanagon
This mailing list is similar to the Vanagon.com list, but with significantly less traffic, as it pertains only to the relatively rare diesel-powered vans. Still, it has attracted a loyal and growing group of avid and knowledgeable members, and is an excellent resource.
HELP: Mechanics & Volunteers
VanAlert
The new VanAlert app helps Vanagon owners find the nearest Repair Shops, Campsites & Driveway Hosts, Events, report stolen Vanagons, and more.
Need roadside assistance for a breakdown while traveling? Search by City and State/Province or ZIP code to find a helpful Vanagon Volunteer. Keep the karma going by joining the volunteer list yourself! Now also available as an Android or iPhone smartphone app for mobile use!
Available for: Android and iPhone
Vanagon repair shops map
A dynamic map of North American repair shops willing/able to work on Vanagons.
VW Bus, Vanagon, EuroVan Shop Reviews
Need professional help? (Most VW drivers do.) This is the largest review listing anywhere of independent VW van mechanic shops.
SHOP: Online Parts Vendors
If you enjoy watching tattooed, lip-ringed hipsters’ eyes roll back in their heads, just walk into your Friendly Local Auto Parts Store (FLAPS) and ask the counter-person for a muffler mount for a 1983 Diesel Vanagon. In all likelihood, his central database (and certainly his warehouse) peters out somewhere in the dusty recesses of the pre-Grunge-Rock era …
Most online Vanagon- or VW-specific parts vendors will be infinitely better stocked and more knowledgeable than your chain automotive stores or even your local VW dealer. Thanks to Volkswagen’s famous penchant for parts standardization, many components on your Vanagon are also used on other VW cars of that era—Rabbits, Jettas, Sciroccos, etc.—so parts should continue to be available for some time.
A few other online VW Vanagon parts vendors:
Buslab VW van parts and service experts
Campervan Culture Everything you need for your campervan adventures
California Import Parts LTD — US Your Source for Restoration & Performance Volkswagen Parts
California Import Parts LTD — Canada Your Source for Restoration & Performance Volkswagen Parts
Dr. Björn’s Auto Quality and original parts for VW busses, Vanagon and Eurovan campers
Frank Condelli & Associates VW Vanagon & Vanagon Westfaila service, repair, restoration, parts & accessories
Parts Place VW Diesel Parts
UniWerks Design 3D printed parts & products for vintage Volkswagen and Porsche
SURF: Personal Vanagon & Westfalia Websites & Blogs
Let’s face it—driving and maintaining a 30-year-old oddball van is a bit of an oddball pastime, enjoyed only by … well, oddballs. So the opportunity to vicariously enjoy the exploits of other oddballs who share your obsessive love of VW Campers and the #vanlife can be quite comforting and encouraging.
Some Vanagon nuts are fixated on installing an endless number of handy accessories and modifications such as satellite dishes, photovoltaic solar panels borrowed from the International Space Station, and scooter/moped racks for extra-vehicular activities. Others are compulsive maintenance freaks who lie awake at night listening for the sound of coolant dripping from their van’s leaking head gaskets. Still others regale us with stories and photos from their many road trips in their Westy Campers.
Below is a mere fraction of the many such sites I have enjoyed, though you will undoubtedly discover many of your own favorites …
Vanagon Maintenance
Vanagon.org A “concise, easy to access source for Vanagon information and DIY repairs.” Featuring a small but growing collection of mechanical articles and unique Vanagon products.
Vanagon Rust Never Sleeps Camp Westfalia reader Larry Saavedra’s major rust-oration on a common Vanagon problem area.
VW Diesel Glowplugs VW diesel glow-system info, “Diesel Cheap Tricks” page
WestfaliaT3.info offers a detailed model history of the Vanagon & Transporter, a Buyer’s Guide, original Owner’s Manual downloads, and more!
The Vanagon Life & Epic Westy Roadtrips
Larry Saavedra’s “Shifting Gears” Travel, Vanagons, and other cool cars
Larry Chase’s Roadhaus The spirit and charm of small town, rural North America
Drive The Planet 30,000 km from the Netherlands to Beijing in a VW campervan
That Baldwin Life Simple Living Big Adventures: Weekend getaways and adventures near and far
Travesia Panamerica Four months and 21,000 km from Oregon to Buenos Aires
Women Who Wander: The Journey 25,000 miles through North America
Women Of Westfalias Facebook group An eclectic group of women who love travelling the road and camping in our VW Campervans!
If you’d like to suggest your own favorite link, or if you notice a broken one here, please let me know.
