“I must confess to feeling somewhat nostalgic when I saw the photo of the delightful old Kombi in the most recent edition.
Yes, there’s many good Beetles and Kombis here in Chiang Mai; some quite visible and others hidden away.
‘Nostalgic’ because a 1957 Kombi was my first vehicle, Australia 1969.
I had been working part time delivering cool drinks to help pay for uni fees and the vehicle given to me was a Kombi. After driving it for a few months I got to like it and saw the potential it had to offer.
Not a ‘trendy’ vehicle for a young man to have in the late 60s (yet it really was!) and all my friends laughed. But it had an ice chest, table and bench seats which converted to a bed. I sat in there and typed assignments for exams.
1970 I was appointed to a rural school in South Australia and took the Kombi. It would transport an entire Aussie Rules football team of 20 school kids from venue to venue.
It ran out of petrol near a farm once and was actually topped up with kerosene! No worries.
Then in 1971 I was transferred to Central Oz, just south of Uluru, to work at an Aboriginal community. The loyal Kombi handled those rough and dusty road beautifully, as long as it was loaded. I actually took it to remote water-holes so my students could swim. They told me that ‘Mr Mac couldn’t take his Series 2 Landrover here’. The clearance and having a wheel at each corner really helped get it into tight spots. The, for that time, large 15 inch wheels and tough suspension dealt with the merciless corrugations.
That Kombi just went on and on. The only thing I had to be careful with was the air filter. My model had the engine vents low down, which tended to suck dust into the engine compartment. Later models had those vents raised.
The big minus was that it was so underpowered with its 1200 cc engine and high gearing that a head wind would necessitate driving many miles in 3rd. A side wind would force one to drive with the steering wheel at about 30 degrees off center; somewhat like sailing!
Then in 1974 I was transferred again. A dear Aboriginal Elder loved my Kombi. I had taken him hunting in it many times. He wanted to buy it. Because old Charlie had been so kind and helpful to me, both professionally and spiritually, I weakened and sold it to him.
I later learned that Charlie got it bogged in a dry creek some months later and burnt out the clutch trying to extricate it. Rather than hunt around Alice Springs for a spare clutch, then have it fitted by non mechanics, old Charlie used the Kombi as his home for the next few years. Whenever he had to relocate because of a death or ceremonies he would have it towed to the new location.
Charlie was not only a Tribal Elder and ceremonial leader, he was also a Christian and a Church Elder. I visited the community one Sunday and he was sitting in the Kombi, parked under a gum tree, preparing his sermon.
The dear old fella eventually passed away in that Kombi. Because of that and the traditional beliefs, the inside of the Kombi had to be burnt to chase Charlie’s spirit away to another location. So the old Kombi is resting in peace, as is Charlie, out near the Northern Territory, Western Oz and South Oz border area.”
Thank you Ron Lister for that delightful tale of an old Kombi.
