Welcome to Little Car in the Big City, where I highlight fascinating cars I found walking around a town that is known for being bigger than everything else, but where every car is fighting to stand out: New York, New York.
One of the true joys of driving a car is going on a roadtrip. Roadtrips are not only the ultimate expression of freedom in its purest from, but they also allow you to enjoy life at a bit of a leisurely pace. The purest of ultimate expression of form of pure of expression of form, then, is to be able to go on a road trip and take your hotel with you. And that's what the Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia Edition brought to the table.
The Westfalia editions of VW vans were always a marvel of packaging. The top would pop up, offering extra space in the vertical, while somehow VW's Westfalia-Werke somehow managed to find room inside for a fridge (running on propane or electricity), a stove, a sink with onboard water supply, and two beds that could sleep four adults. You basically ended up with a full RV in the footprint of a Dodge Caravan. Which is not bad, considering that the VW Vanagon came out nearly half a decade before the American version of the minivan debuted.
Somehow VW was still making air-cooled rear-engine models into 1991, which is very impressive if you consider when the German company stopped selling the Beetle. Even still, the Volkswagen Type 2, as the Vanagon was known outside North America, was actually still produced in South Africa until 2002.
Though if you want the freedom-iest freedom, I'm sure you could pick up one of these on the cheap. And hey, how else are you going to get the style of plaid seats without paying for a brand new VW?