Why this Website?
Here are the main reasons:
Bruce without a project is not a pleasant sight (according to Sue anyway...) Especially true now that the MightyBoyEV project has been completed.
After our extended travels in Canada and the USA in 2010, we decided that small self-contained vans suit us well, after all we are small people. If fact we plan to go back to Canada and the USA and continue travelling in unexplored areas for the next couple of years.
Sue and our 1985 Dodge camper conversion in Canada - Our trip put on just over 16,000 km on this machine
It was 19 feet long and top heavy so not too nice in the wind....
After looking around at other vans suitable for conversion, we decided upon the VW Transporter (or Kombi). We rented one for a week (a Kea T5 conversion as shown below) in late 2010 and found it great to drive on the open road and very stable in windy conditions. We also feel we had enough experience now to come up with a very good design for the camper that will suit two people. The ability to swivel the two front seats was paramount in making this design idea work in practice.
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We had the opportunity to purchase a low mileage used van purchased new by a work colleague (and a bike riding mate) from the University. Sadly Geoff past away a few years ago. For a number of reasons the van remained in the family but largely unused for the past couple of years. Geoff's partner mentioned socially a few months ago that she would now like to sell the van and the timing worked well for us as we had decided to start looking about the same time. So a new battery was soon fitted and the vehicle was assessed to determine any work that needed to be done. The result is we purchased the vehicle and have decided to name the Kombi "Geoffrey" in memory of a good friend and colleague.
Because we like them! Just ask yourself how did the VW Kombi ever become a cult car?
This quote from David Morley of Drive Blog @ drive.com best sums it all up...."You can understand how a prestige car or a high-performance model could become a cult item. After all, they’re designed to tug at the heart strings when they’re new, so there’s a decent chance they’ll have the same appeal when they’re a few decades old. But how did a vehicle designed in the late 1940s by a car dealer and destined to work out its life dropping off parcels, hauling frozen fish or delivering cut flowers became one of the biggest automotive cult hits of all time? We refer, of course, to the humble Volkswagen Kombi and its surprising rise to become one of the most-loved vehicles on our roads. Kombis are hotter than lava lamps and cooler than Frank Sinatra. If you need proof that everyone from teenage girls to 60-something surfies wants one, sit down and take a look at the current crop of magazine and TV ads. Companies from tyre makers to internet service providers (that’s a ‘‘splitty’’ in the Big Pond ad) want to be associated with the brand. Surf shops now feature spruced up versions in their entrances and every second T-shirt worn in trendy suburbs seems to bear a VW surf wagon motif. The reason for this outpouring of love is relatively simple: Kombis are a feel-good car. Just think of the family vehicle in the movie Little Miss Sunshine - an air-cooled Kombi. As a cheerful counterpoint to the mixed-up psyches of the family members, the old VW (in happy, sunflower yellow no less) was perfect. Part of the Kombi’s current appeal is also to do with its unassuming appearance. There’s not a single aggressive line or a solitary curve that’s calculated to suggest speed. In older, split-window Kombis the effect is pure art deco, a variation of the design style that gave us classy New York apartment foyers and the New Zealand city of Napier. And if ever a car had a benign face, the Kombi is it."
Check out the dude with the weird hair and the biggest bell bottoms in Sydney back then!
Enjoy.....