Ron is right about the original North American diesels� they were only available for a few years (82 & 83).
http://www.gowesty.com/camper_model_overview.php
They had VW Rabbit 1.6NA engines with about 48HP, not nearly enough. Many of those have been converted to a 1.9 turbo (including mine). The diesel parts are in high demand for people wanting to do conversions for other engines (inline gassers, etc).

They are still very popular in Europe and diesels were available through the remaining years that the Vanagon was made. It is possible that it's an import. Most of the one's I've seen have a 1.6 turbo, which is reasonable. Here's a link to a place in Europe that rents them (some interesting non-westfalia Vanagon camper conversions too)
http://www.tour-europe.de/vanHANS.htm

Regards, Peter Kraiker
nextchapter.kraikerphoto.com
Toronto, ON, Canada
'82 L Westfalia 1.9 TD 5 Spd (Babe)

On 2013-06-01, at 11:21 AM, Eric Caron <ecaron1@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

> I'm looking at a add for a 85 diesel camper in Organ.  says it is clean with 50,000 miles.  I've read these motors are way under powered.  I could live with that but I don't want to live with more reliability issues then the gas engine.  Can someone let me know if these motors tend to last? I realize that because I have others drive for me this slow car would result in endless ribbing! "Eric, do you think you could have your guide dog pull us up the hill?"  Sigh, just like the old air cooled days!
> 
> Eric Caron 
> seriously searching