Geelong Sleeping Beauty

Here is a late bay window kombi we saw last November somewhere in suburbia in Geelong, Australia. It is a Sopru campervan which may have started its life in yellow and was then re-sprayed in light green. Sopru pop-up roof and Sopru roo bars at the front. Front wall panels and bench matrasses in the rear newly upholstered at some point. Furniture in there rear looks a bit self-built, but then I do not know the Sopru conversions in detail. Another customer of “V-Dubs Only“. Looks like put away and waiting for the next holiday season. Hope it has a lot of holiday trips ahead!

 

 

 

VolksAir, a Geelong-based VW Garage

Three weeks ago I had a chance to visit VolksAir, a garage specialised on air-cooled Volkswagens in North Geelong, where a wrecked blue-and-white kombi at the entrance shows the way. For those interested, I will add the address and telephon number in the VW garage list above. It is always exciting to enter a workshop filled with kombis, and it was great chatting with the owner, Frank, who has been a kombi mechanic and fan for decades. I had already visited this garage during our last visit to Australia in April 2014, so below are some photos from December 2015 (with a blue and white Sopru camper on the left) and two snapshots from April 2014 (with two campers and a highroof kombi). The yellow Sopru camper is from 1975 and there are some more photos of it in this older blog post. Thanks to Frank for taking the time to show me around!

Marino Yellow Geelong Campervan

Here is a late bay Volkswagen campervan spotted some weeks ago in Geelong. It comes with a massive, more modern looking roo bar at the front which includes the front bumper and replaces the original one. The color is probably Marino Yellow and Creme White (more buses with this beautiful color scheme here). No pop-up roof, but with a door for a gas bottle and with ventilation slits for a fridge on the side. Peeping  in the drivers cabin showed it comes with an automatic gearbox, an additional oil temperature gauge under the instrument unit and it was originally delivered as a deluxe or L bus (airvent channels along the front doors and seats with the respective basket weave pattern). Cool bus!

 

Kombi Spotting: The Next Generation

When the four-year-old has become a better VW bus spotter than the parents: Casual comment from the backseat while we were waiting at a traffic light in Geelong, “Look, there is an orange Bulli over there.” And there it was, hidden from our view by other cars, and spotted early enough for daddy to take a snapshot. Very proud of my big girl!

P.S. Beautiful Aussie campervan with pop-up roof, small front roof rack, windscreen visor and the full roo bar set-up with front spare tire. But not sure from which campervan conversion company. Looks different from the Sunliners and Dormobiles I have seen so far, but this type is also quite common down here.

P.S.S. It is a Sopru! Thanks to Bevan and Inheritanceorg for pointing this out. I had learnt about Soprus 18 months ago, see the beautiful Sopru campervan in this older post, but did not make the connection.

Beautiful Geelong VW Bus

Super clean and shiny late bay window kombi spotted some weeks ago on the water front in Geelong, Australia. Someone has invested quite some time and money, but in a subtle way. The paint job may be new and could be Bahama Blue Metallic, VW color code L99F, which would date it to 1978 (see this Australian colors summary). Overall a very original look, but in detail refined with Fuchs wheels, front indicators colorless instead of yellow, non-stock exhaust system, and new sliding windows on all four side windows in the back. The windows come without the aluminum or chrome rim of the seventies originals, so are probably the new ones one can still get, produced for Volkswagen do Brasil. It has a Victorian Club permit registration (see also this older post). What a beautiful VW bus!

 

Our new residence

This is our home for our second month in Geelong. Thanks to the family here for letting us use their beautiful caravan! And for enduring the German invasion of their house for the first four weeks of our stay.

1975 Geelong Late Bay Kombi

Here is a 1975 Volkswagen microbus, spotted a few days ago in Geelong. Color is probably Flipper Blue (CLR529), one of the Australian-specific colors. Chrome trim line along the sides, front lights with after-market eye lids. Interesting that the front seats are with head rests but the back bench is without. Otherwise a no-frills minibus. The registration sticker says it comes with an AP engine (1.8L, 51 kW/68 HP). Blind front indicator glasses probably tell from a long life in the Australian sun. Keep on driving!

1973 Geelong Early Bay Camper

I saw this beauty at the National VW Bug-In at Geelong this April. It was delivered as a new car to Geelong in 1973 and is still in the hands of the first owner. How cool is that? The complete history of the car in one hand – no previous owner to blame if something is somewhat wrong. Not that anything is wrong with this car. The owner had it restored recently and it now beams as if it has just come from the production line. Perfect in every detail. Minimalistic campervan conversion with bed-bench-combination (very neatly re-upholstered) and a kitchen block with sink and fridge behind the driver’s cabin. Interesting installation of the 220V-inlet, hidden on the left side within the engine bay, avoids cutting any extra holes into the body of the car. Super-clean engine bay and engine itself (AP motor). Dashboard with a series of additional instruments below the radio. Some kind of non-original exhaust system. The color could be Sierra Yellow (L11H). The bus is actually an early bay/late bay (T2a/T2b) hybrid, with the front mask and the bumper bars still from the early bays and the rear air intakes and rear lights already from the late bay window version. I understood these models came from the transition period around 1971-1972. But that would probably also fit with delivery of this car to Australia in 1973. What a wonderful bus!

Added July 1st, 2014: I wasn’t at all aware of this, but VW buses of Australia actually feature some original colors which have never been used by Volkswagen in Germany or Europe. You can find a list of a these colors and their paint codes at this page of the Australian Club VeeDuv. Bottomline is that the color of this bus is not Sierra Yellow but probably Mustard (Dulux colour code 13974). Thanks to Greg for pointing this out in the comment below!

2014 National VW Club Bug-In

We are back to Australia for a couple of weeks, visiting family and friends in Geelong and Melbourne. From German spring to a still very warm and sunny Australian autumn. There are less and less VW buses on the road each time we come over, but you still see many more than in Germany. And last Saturday all my wishes came true and we found a VW festival with show and shine event right here in Geelong, at the water front. Lots of people from the VW Club of Western Australia. Just learnt from their web site that this was the National VW Club Bug-In, a Volkswagen meeting hosted by a VW club from a different state every year over the Easter weekend. Great buses, great weather, and fantastic to speak to fellow VW fans at the other end of the world! Below is a first set of snapshots, including a beautifully restored VW type 3. Will post on some of the buses in more detail soon!

Early bay window, first registered in 1973 in Geelong

1974 Rat-look bay window

Pre-1970 VW 1500 / type 3

1977 Sopru Campervan

Beetle parade

Geelong Rat-Look Single Cab

Here comes a split-window pick up truck, spotted November 2013 in Geelong, Australia, by kombi correspondent Campbell. Still with semaphores instead of indicators, so pre-1960. Does not seem to have much in terms of rear lights at all. Just realized that I actually had seen this bus already in Dec 2011, also in Geelong, at that time with a registration that said it was from 1956. Here is the link to the old post. Seems the bus has changed hands since then. Now it comes with a club permit registration. And someone replaced the original wheels with shiny chrome ones. Looks like a lot of work to get it back to rust-free condition. But then the rat-look also is pretty cool. Thanks to Campbell for the photos!