Apologies for the novel;
We bought our Westy in 2004, after leaving Edmonton and moving into my girlfriends parents basement in PG.. Maybe not the most responsible purchase, we had two mk2 Jettas and had been involved in vw clubs so we had been dreaming about having a Westy for a few years already..
Ours was a nice one, owned previously by a Dr. who had taken it up through Atlin and into the Yukon. To prep he had it Rhino lined, re-painted and A/T tires mounted. I met up with David at Fastforward in Quesnel and he looked over our van. Not as nice as his Syncros Tristars or Lts but it was good for us.
It always had something going on, a short list off the top of my head;
-On Our first camping trip the fuel pump started leaking.. puddles of gas under the van..
-Next trip the rear heater core popped and soaked our gear under the bench. I ended up connecting the lines and taking out the heater completely. Fixing it with a set of vice-grips on the side of the road between LaclaHache and 100mile.
-We had some idle/digifant issues; running rough and slow response in traffic made for good times. The vw dealer unplugged the o2 sensor and cranked up the idle instead of figuring out what was wrong. After I undid that and got everything plugged back in ran much better.
-Lifters would stick, van would sound like a machine gun until they loosened up- frightening children and getting dirty looks from their parents.
-Fixing the dist cap and rotor in the day use parking lot in the dark at 10:55pm so we could get out of the provincial campsite before they locked the gates..
-Replacing all the fuel lines, and carried multiple extinguishers, after seeing how many vans end up on fire.
-Replaced brakes a few times; coming down the hill into the ferry terminal with the van loaded makes you think about new brakes..
-Transmission seals always weeped atf, and eventually went in for a rebuild after a few trips to the coast.
-speedo/odo broke - sent it out to Busdepot in Pennsylvania for a rebuild.
We had it for almost ten years, I learned a ton about the 2.1 Wasserboxer, made good friends on local vw forums and theSamba, found a bunch of vw shops like Fastforward, Axels here in Kamloops, and Vallywest in Summerland, and got lots of goodies from Gowesty and the Busdepot..
Our Westy parked at Davis Creek;
It went all over BC and Alberta, from Fairview to Cranbrook to Port Alberni; We drove it to and from our wedding, spent our honeymoon in the West Kootenays with it, and went back and forth to the island and the sunshine coast as many times as we could.
One at Cathedral Grove;
Eventually we bought a house, got a dog, and started having kids. Space was an issue, also the seat belts and safety improvements since 1986 became more important than before. Breaking down and fixing it on the side of the road mid-trip lost it's charm, and the constant possibility of spending the night with a one year old on board wasn't as easy as it once was.. The call was made and the ad went up on theSamba. Three days later a nice member from Seattle flew up and drove it home with him. We sold it for the same amount we bought it for, and see people getting much more for less than our van.
Now we have a Tacoma DCLB and a 19ft Trailer, it is very nice to drive, easy to take care of, fun to mod a bit, and very family friendly.
But every time we see a Westy we smile, try to remember not to wave, and then remember how awesome our westy times were.
With the family daily sorted (Forester) and the truck/camper/4x4 sorted I'm looking again for an interesting project. Our Tacoma has to stay pretty level-headed, It tows every summer and is usually our traveling vehicle as well. We are a vw family between projects right now, and I've been watching for the right early 60s beetle to come along..
But I'm also getting more interested in something that can spend more time exploring and getting out to the bush. I'm on UO, OLC, EXPO, and a few others, Addison and some of the other regulars are great inspiration to what a cruiser can do.. I've met Andrew (asutherland) and had a tour of his LC80, plus drooled over a few of the other local rigs. Have some plans with Jason for some work for the Tacoma..
I have friends with Delicas, Subies, Evos, Aristos.. Some went through importers, and others brought them here themselves. I've been quizzing them on importing, and trying to get info on what it would take to get one here. But you are right, there is a 100 series up the street that was for sale for $10K last August, and I've seen a few 80 Series go for less than that, both without the hassle and risk of importing or living with RHD..
The hundy is a very capable land cruiser as well and holds the family in plush leather! 
