Our Story


Hello and welcome to OEM Van Parts, your source for OEM parts for your van.

I’m Ryan Welty, Founder & Owner, and I’ve been in the VW scene since the age of 12 in 1992 when my eldest brother brought home a 1985 VW Golf and immediately started modifying it. Two years later, my older brother bought a 1987 VW GTI, and the modifying continued. So when I turned 16, I picked up a 1986 VW GTI and began modifying it while fixing anything that needed to be fixed. In 1999, I bought a 1990 Mk2 VR6 GTI  unfinished project car, which I meticulously finished and ended up on the cover of PVW magazine in October of 2001.



After hooning around in this for a couple of years, I had a strong desire to travel and see the world. After selling the Mk2 VR6, I traveled around looking for surf and getting into photography. One day, I stumbled upon a 1993 Eurovan sitting in a field for sale and bought it, quickly naming it The Womb for how comfortable it was sleeping inside with the heat on. This spurred the road-tripping bug, and eventually, I ended up finding a 1982 Westy with an AAZ Turbo Diesel swap. With no money and a strong desire to buy this van, I decided to sell my Stanley Cup ring. How did I have a Stanley Cup ring and not enough money for a 1982 Westy? I was a professional hockey player, right? No, I attained my Stanley Cup ring by being a professional Zamboni driver for the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2000-2004 when the Lightning won their first Stanley Cup.


 
I flew from Tampa, FL, to Austin, TX, to pick up my 1982 Westy with plans to surf the Gulf Coast all the way from Texas to Florida since the surf forecast was showing that to be a possibility. Unfortunately, the van quickly had issues, one being a rear main seal leak, so I decided to just get the van home. The leak got so bad I barely made it over the Corpus Christi bridge due to the clutch slipping. Continuing on to Florida, I pulled off the interstate for gas, and the van would not come out of 4th gear. I don't know how, but I was able to get back on the interstate and home to Tampa. Once home, I found that not only was the rear main seal bad but also the transmission input shaft seal. In turn, I lost half the transmission fluid. So my mechanical knowledge from owning many water-cooled VWs over the past 18 years paid off. Once the rear main seal was replaced and the transmission rebuilt, the travels began. I spent two years as a shuttle driver on the Appalachian Trail and one season on the PCT.



During those three years of shuttling hikers, many things broke and many parts were needed. Here’s my list of what I can remember: radiator, head gasket, full engine rebuild, injection pump, fuel tank, axles, wheel bearings, ignition switch, expansion tank... Luckily for me, my brother Justin started UroTuning, a performance parts website for VW/Audi, so I could get any and all parts mailed to me while racking up a parts tab I’d have to work to pay off when returning home for the winter. While shuttling on the hiking trails, I met my partner Kim, and we quickly made plans to drive from Florida to Alaska.



On that trip, more breakdowns and more parts were needed, so by this point, Kim and I were very attuned to fixing the van and knowing what parts were needed. After Alaska, we ended up in Southwest Montana for the winter and spent the summer in Maine. Eventually, Southwest Montana became home, with both Kim and I settling down away from home for the first time in our lives. With no ice rink around, I hit up my brother to see if I could work for UroTuning remotely. A few months later, Justin made me full-time, and within a year, I was promoted to OEM Catalog Supervisor for my vision and expertise in the OEM parts sector. After almost five years as OEM Catalog Supervisor for UroTuning, I noticed a lack of quality OEM Van Parts websites, especially for parts geared towards the ever-expanding camper van culture.

Our Mission at OEM Van Parts is simple:

  • Offer high-quality OEM & aftermarket parts for your van.
  • Provide the highest customer service possible.
  • Ensure that if you order a part, it is in stock and will ship either the same day or the next day.
  • Ensure all part listings have correct fitments so it is impossible to order the wrong part for your van.
  • Offer kits that provide all the parts you need to service a particular component.
  • List the OE Part # & MFR Part # for every part we sell.