The original Volkswagen Bus is an automotive icon. It’s as famous for its art deco good looks as it is for its budget-friendly (and slow) powertrain. But because it came to symbolize the hippie movement, the original VW Bus now commands vintage exotic car prices. Overlanders have long said its replacement is the “vibey” new hippie-mobile—namely, the T3 Syncro Westfalia. Now collectors are moving on to the boxier 1980s buses as well. And they’re threatening to kill the vibe.

What the heck was a Volkswagen T3 Syncro Westfalia?

While the “Beetle” was officially Volkswagen’s body Type 1, the Bus offered maximum cargo or passenger space on the same chassis—and the same wheelbase. So it was called the Type 2. The first generation of the Type 2 had a split windshield (1949–1966). The second generation kept the rounded body but included several upgrades, including a windshield that was a single piece of glass (1967–1978). The third-generation Type 2 (often just called the T3) featured a much boxier look, though it was VW’s final vehicle with the Beetle’s famous rear-engine layout (1979–1991).

Most of these boxy T3 buses were rear-engine, RWD—just like the earlier Volkswagen vans. But VW turned to Puch in Austria (the company that still assembles the G-Wagon) to build 4WD versions. These were called the T3 Syncro. Some even have big “4WD” lettering up front.

That’s not the only external company Volkswagen enlisted. The automaker also sent many vans (including T2s, T3s, and T4s) to Westfalia. The German company converted the vans into tiny campers with a pop top or hinge-up top. This increased standing room in the kitchen area and even created space for an upper bunk.

For decades, the T3 Syncro Westfalia has been building a following as an overlanding camper and surfing van. They are small and came from the factory with as little as 66 horsepower. But they are lightweight and nimble, which allows them to go places many larger overland vehicles can’t.

Is a 30-year-old van the best overland vehicle ever produced?

YouTuber Maxx Powell expected a lot of things when he went to visit fellow YouTuber GrindHardPlumbingCo. The channel is known for absurd choppers with monster truck wheels, 100-horsepower Power Wheels Jeeps, and other gnarly homebuilt projects. What Powell didn’t expect was a 30-year-old grandma van trouncing everything else on the trail.

While Powell watched, Ethan Schlussler bombed up and down off-road trails in a T3 Syncro Westfalia camper. One particular hill defeated a Ford Super Duty. After the lifted truck was towed away, Schlussler drove down it, turned around, and then drove back up through the slick mud. Just to show off.

Powell hopped in for a ride and found a small but comfortable kitchen in the camper that had once belonged to Schlussler’s grandmother. Powell admitted, “I never thought I’d like a van so much.”

Schlussler says the only modifications he made were longer-travel springs and a tiny turbodiesel engine in place of the tiny VW Beetle engine. He calls his T3 “pretty much the pinnacle of vans… Taking a Sprinter off-road isn’t even vaguely realistic… They’re too long, too tall, too everything.” Schlussler has enjoyed countless trips in his heirloom VW and doesn’t ever plan to part with it.

Early VW van prices are sky high

The original Volkswagen vans have morphed from budget-friendly rides for beach bums to nearly priceless collector’s items. A pristine 1965 example set the record on the Barrett-Jackson auction block: $302,500. The Classic.com website has tracked multiple Type 2 buses listed above $200K in the past five years. Projects occasionally still go for a few thousand, but often, vans that run and drive sell for $40K or more.

It’s no wonder that enthusiasts seeking a humble #vanlife migrated to the square T3 vans of the 1980s. But now the price of those is climbing higher than a Westfalia pop-top. Schlussler says he’s seen T3 Syncro Westfalias sell for $60K. He said this during the COVID pandemic, when van conversions were in demand. The prices may have fallen a bit, but a T3 Syncro Westfalia is easily worth more than $30K, with multiple vans currently listed for $40K.

Sid of the Campovan conversion company bought a T3 Westfalia (2WD) when he was in college. He says he and his wife fell in love in that van and even featured it in their wedding photos. They sold it to upsize to a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter camper. Eventually, they sold the Sprinter and bought their original 1984 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia back from the collector who’d snapped it up.

The downside of a van becoming a vibe

Sid admits, “These rigs are known for their unreliability.” Space is always an issue. And Westfalias are overpriced. But he just can’t quit his old van. Here’s why:

“It’s the vibe. You will not experience driving next to the Pacific Ocean on a windy, beautiful road the same way in this car that you would in a Sprinter. A Sprinter you’re going to be—you know—your A/C is blowing, you’re just kind of in your zone. You’re doing your thing. Another Sprinter passes by and you’re like, ‘sick rig.’ But in the Westfalia, you’re fighting the wind, you’re constantly engaged, you’ve got Mac DeMarco playing on the stereo, you’re in the zone, you’re vibed out, you got your shades, you got your marine radio telling you what the weather’s doing. And then a Westie passes you—or any other old Volkswagen—and they give you a huge shaka, you give them a peace. You honk, you flash your brights. That can’t be recreated. That’s why you get a Westfalia.”

—Sid of Campovan

The investor who paid $302,500 for a T1 VW may have been chasing its iconic Summer of Love surf van vibes. But those vibes can’t exist in isolation. They could only exist inside the community and used vehicle market of the ’60s and ’70s. By bidding classic VW vans sky-high, collectors may have actually killed that moment sooner. And it won’t be long before T3s meet the same fate.

Check out Sid’s love letter to his T3 in the video below: