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Caravelle seats T3

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mike malli Casual Dubber

22 posts · joined Jan 2010 ·

#759467
Hello there,
my Caravelle CL T3's seats and benches are a bit "used" and I am thinking of upgrading to the GL seats/benches with the arm rests. Where would be the best place to look? My local wreckers only can shake their heads. Is my idea that weird?

Regards

Mike
Ich mag meine Bullis 😊

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#759599
No it's a pretty reasonable idea.

The only problem is that the 1980s were VW's 'death period' in Australia, so there just aren't the old VWs on the second-hand market or in the wrecking yards for that time. You'll just have great difficulty in finding a donor vehicle. Between 1981 and 1990, VW did not sell ANY passenger cars in this country, and the Transporter was the only new VW available. Even then, Transporter sales were a mere trickle:

1982 - 435 Transporters (in the whole of Australia for the whole year)
1983 - 179 Transporters
1984 - 262 Transporters
1985 - 393 Transporters
1986 - 123 Tranpsorters
1987 - 48 Transporters (VW's lowest ever sales year in Australia)
1988 - 82 Transporters
1989 - 1,097 Transporters (VW's relaunch by new importers Ateco)
1990 - 1,075 Transporters
1991 - 665 Transporters
1992 - 326 Transporters (the year the T4 Transporter replaces the T3)

So it's no wonder the wrecking years shake their heads!

vw54 Administrator Always Waiting 4 Friday

16,723 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#759601
Mike where are you located at

I have a few seats avaialble
I read it on FACEBOOK so it must be true


http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=91278&page=1#pid848630


http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=63561&page=1#pid624099


http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=4832&page=1#pid452603


http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=60650&page=1#pid574409

rustguard Casual Dubber

45 posts · joined Mar 2009 ·

#761300
I have the same problem, but i hate the seats in there. what have others replaced the seats with? something that is a close fit the the original bases?
dak dak dak dak dak dak

mike malli Casual Dubber

22 posts · joined Jan 2010 ·

#761323
Wow, only 48 transporters per year, that is less than one a week. That must have been the poorest marketing since Eva. Pity I don't like the T4s too much. They are plentiful in supply. Regarding the question of rustgard.....well, I would not have a clue what could fit, but these seats suit me like a glove, best seats for my size and build. If you don't like them, I'll take them gladly :-)

Regards

Mike
Ich mag meine Bullis 😊

whitey Learner Dubber

3 posts · joined Feb 2009 ·

#761869
hi, i 'm only a first time Forum user , but i have run into a local guy ( wodonga vic ) driving a caravelle who bought a whole vehicle roadworthy (with cloth seats and arm rests) as a spare parts kit for his .. i will pass your concerns to him and if he wants to off load his extras he can also contact you via this forum ..good luck p.s he only paid a grand for a pretty straight and serviceable vehicle.. 👍

mike malli Casual Dubber

22 posts · joined Jan 2010 ·

#761901
whitey wrote:hi, i 'm only a first time Forum user , but i have run into a local guy ( wodonga vic ) driving a caravelle who bought a whole vehicle roadworthy (with cloth seats and arm rests) as a spare parts kit for his .. i will pass your concerns to him and if he wants to off load his extras he can also contact you via this forum ..good luck p.s he only paid a grand for a pretty straight and serviceable vehicle.. 👍
Hello Whitey,
that would be great. He can send me a PM or contact me at mikemalli et web dot de or give me a ring under 07 46 989 125. your help is much appreciated.

Mike
Ich mag meine Bullis 😊

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#761935
Keep looking, hopefully a donor vehicle will turn up somewhere. If not, a good motor trimmer might be able to spruce up your existing seats and panels with new padding and new material - your old seats in new cloth and leatherette would be pretty good.

After 1985 LNC Industries (VW Australia) basically stopped marketing VWs at all; they were the Subaru, Fiat, Renault ad Lancia importers too so that's where their resources went. 1986 was the last year of imports and the 48 sold in '87 were just old stock. They gave up the VW business in 1987 and Ateco took over in 1988. LNC went out of business in 1991, bought out, broken up and sold off by the Libermann investment group. Then it was TKM and Inchcape and VW struggled through the '90s here too. It took until 2001 before VW Germany took over the Australian business again - thank goodness.

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Bug_racer Officially Full-On Dubber

351 posts · joined Sep 2002 ·

#765705
Phil74Camper wrote:Keep looking, hopefully a donor vehicle will turn up somewhere. If not, a good motor trimmer might be able to spruce up your existing seats and panels with new padding and new material - your old seats in new cloth and leatherette would be pretty good.

After 1985 LNC Industries (VW Australia) basically stopped marketing VWs at all; they were the Subaru, Fiat, Renault ad Lancia importers too so that's where their resources went. 1986 was the last year of imports and the 48 sold in '87 were just old stock. They gave up the VW business in 1987 and Ateco took over in 1988. LNC went out of business in 1991, bought out, broken up and sold off by the Libermann investment group. Then it was TKM and Inchcape and VW struggled through the '90s here too. It took until 2001 before VW Germany took over the Australian business again - thank goodness.

I dont think VW struggled until VW Germany took over . It was more of TKM's killing of dealers apart from their own that VW Germany had to step in . AFAIK there were only 4 dealers in Metropolitan area of Sydney in 2000 . City Automobiles , Chatswood Classic Cars and Denlo . Denlo did go into receivorship around that time and I dont think they were trading . Dale European was Commercial dealer only . Once VW Germany took over they opened up new dealers everywhere and there is rumour of a new dealership being opened in Blacktown 😎