Now, here is an real "hen's tooth". The Wolfsberg Weekender was offered only in 85, 86, and 87 (2WD), and only 86 and 87 in Syncro (4WD). The best one is the 1987, like this one. The whole time we have been doing business, only four of these guys have come along, and three of us here (Taylor, Scott, and myself) kept the first three of them for ourselves. This one is not spoken for...yet.
With 190k miles we left no stone unturned mechanically: Brakes, suspension, cooling, engine, trans, clutch, exhaust, fuel--all systems thoroughly gone through and restored back to new. Plus, this one got a fresh GoWesty 2.3 liter engine, fresh GoWesty rebuilt transaxle with a little taller 1.14:1 3rd gear (7%) and 0.77:1 4th gear (9%), lower final drives front and rear (5.43:1 instead of 4.86:1--12% LOWER), 15" wheels with BFG 215/75-15 tires (about 12% taller), drive shaft decoupler and solid shaft instead of viscous coupler (switch from 2wd to 4wd on the fly, as needed), front and rear posi traction "torque biasing" differentials, Old Man Emu shocks, and 2" lifting springs. All we have done to it aesthetically is clean it thoroughly inside and out, treat some minor rust here and there, and put a set of our steel bumpers on it and a new three-window acrylic pop-top tent. That, plus a nice stereo and new skylight. In my opinion, it looks good enough and is perfectly functional, especially for a off-road going vehicle. But if you want it nicer, just say the work and we will go for it...
There is more to this story. As I stated, Taylor, Scott and I all have 1987 Wolfsberg Weekender Syncros just like this one. What is even more interesting is that mine is also white, and is only 2-digits off on the VIN number! That's right, these two Syncro Weekenders came off of the assembly line practically bumper to bumper. And, after all these years and all the way from Austria, and these guys end up at GoWesty! What a trip, I should buy a lottery ticket for everyone here...
There's more. When this vehicle first showed up it had a in-line 4-cylinder "Jetta" engine conversion. The owner was at his wits end trying to get it to run reliably and pass smog, even though he had spend nearly $9,000 in the process. He finally got fed up and decided to sell the vehicle to GoWesty with the agreement that we would remove the engine, put it on a pallet, and ship it back to the folks that sold it to him! He ended up getting back something like $2500. We gave him $8,000 for the vehicle WITHOUT the engine. Boy, that was a hard and expensive lesson! The price listed above is our cost plus 10% ($8800) plus all the work we have done to it. We just took this guy along on our annual Baja extravaganza over the winter break (click here for photos), along with four other GoWesty Syncros. So the shake down cruise is done and included in the price! But, sales tax, registration fees, smog and safety checks and certificate, and/or shipping (as applicable) is not included.