Vehicle Description
The unique circumstances surrounding the vehicle you are looking at
makes it the rarest Four-Wheel-Drive VW that exists. While it was
built to be driven in the roughest terrains, perhaps this is the
once-in-a-lifetime chance for it to end up in a museum or private
collection! This is a 1991 Volkswagen Syncro DOKA TriStar with 49
Original kilometers (equals ~30 miles). Legend from the factory has
it that there were only 1500 TriStars ever built. This was between
1988 and 1991. 1000 of them were 2- Wheel-Drive. Only about 500
were 4-Wheel-Drive, of those 500 4x4's, less than 120 were 1991's.
While most DOKA's stayed in Europe, a few made their way across the
Oceans. One was even special ordered and sent to Australia and 19
of them made it to North America. Well, 18 actually, and here is
the story... In mid-1990 a Canadian mining company contacted VW
Germany with their needs for an off-road mining work vehicle and
the logical choice for the terrain they were working in was the
Syncro platform. The DOKA fit the bill because not only was it 4x4,
it could haul both cargo and 4-5 people comfortably at the same
time. The mining company signed a promissory note and 19 of the
DOKA's were ordered for the operation. As the story goes, 19 were
shipped, but only 18 made it. Now either #19 fell off the train
transport, or #19 caught fire once it arrived. Both stories are out
there. I bet it was both: it fell off the train, bounced twice, and
caught fire. Either way, there went about 6% of the existing North
American DOKA's. Now these weren't just DOKA Syncros, but they were
the Limited Edition TriStars. Luxury. This meant they would have
the extra door for passengers on the drivers side that neither the
DOKA 2WD or the DOKA 4WD standards had. Only the TriStar had the
following options as well which made it an even more comfortable
and utilitarian ride: Heated drivers seat, Rear passenger heat,
Sliding Windows in Rear Passenger doors, Front seats with arm
rests, Grey door to door carpet front, rear and all the way into
the storage bay instead of standard rubber matting, Light grey
cloth interior front and rear, Interior "Oh Scheisse!" handles with
integral map reading lights, Illuminated vanity mirror on passenger
side, Padded dash cover, Heated rear window, Door storage pockets,
Map pockets on back of front seats, Additional body insulation for
cold weather, Power windows, Rear differential lock, Twin
rectangular headlights, Wheel arch trim, and, oh yeah, cup holders.
So during the time the vehicles were making their way across the
ocean, the mining company that ordered them came into some hard
times and went belly up. Well VW Canada took those 18 units and
spread them across the country to sell at their VW dealerships with
1 of them landing at the Toronto location. That particular DOKA
landed in the hands of Karl at the Toronto VW Store. Karl knew a
fellow that was really into VW's and collecting cars and
motorcycles in general. Freddy was his name. Still is. So Karl gave
Freddy a call and told him what had just arrived. Freddy popped
over to look at it. Freddy had never seen one, but he knew it was a
rare bird and purchased it that day. That was back in the Fall of
1991. Knowing it was rare, and even though he lived less than 10
miles from the dealership, Freddy had it trucked over to his
underground storage space. Freddy hopped in it, drove it into the
parking spot, covered it, and that's where it was for 21 years. But
Freddy knew how to take careof his vehicles so every once in a
while, he would start it up, and on a few occasions he shipped it
on flatbed over to the dealer and get the oil changed and have it
looked over. All in all, of the 49 kilometers that are on it, he
says he put maybe 2 of those km's on the clock driving it out of
the storage spot and on to the flatbed for its check up. The other
km's were VW delivery km's in Germany and in Canada when it
arrived. Two additional unique features I need.
