KEL'S BEDTIME STORIES

The archeress · KEL'S BEDTIME STORIES

Hi all i thought that seeing as i have loads of stories to tell about kombi adventures in the 70's with my family and perhaps a couple from when i had this lovely vehicle. I might as well amuse you all (or make you yawn).
HERE IS MY FIRST BUS..

The archeress

So...Here we are driving our mazda 929 down the gateway freeway in 1999 doing a 110 clicks and vehicle shuddering a bit going round the long curves of the road when i realise i am so happy to be going to look at a potential kombi purchase....now i have always been impulsive and tend to overlook minor and even major details when in the midst of buying goods...
We make it to holland park in brisbane and there she was....oh mannn she was beeutiful...I am sure if i look hard enough i shall find those first pics...
She...did i say she?...unfortunately said bus never had a name nor gender...just..."the bus"...A 1973 mustard microbus to be exact...Celia and i looked it over and of course with glazed over eyes we missed heaps of detail....The defining moment was when we sat in the back seat in silence and just looked and thought.....We both realised we had a blank canvas.
The motor was a 2 litre recon and automatic and there was little rust, that i do recall. Needed a new windscreen and tyres....
Ohhh yes baby....1500 kombi dollars later and we organised a towie to bring it to caloundra...
In a later excerpt you will just love hearing how i disposed of the mazda (too poor to keep 2 vehicles on the road )
More later...Now WAKE UP... It wasnt that bad......

The archeress

HERE IS ME SAYING A VERY GOOEY BYE BYE TO MY BABY.

The archeress

We sold her to a family of danish Jehovah witnesses from Hervey bay for around 1300 kombi dollars so i could buy my son his first real pc..We saw a future in him so it was necessary....we were given an old "87 Ford falcon s wagon....for free...so the decision was made....BTW....this danish family had a couple kombis already and a couple of beetles....big VW family....

Diddlie

Oh that is so sweet Kelly, selling your pride and joy for your sons pc (make him go to the library thats what I say!!)

Looking forward to the next chapter (you sound like me with your dodgy impulse buying!)

Piratekombi

Great story Kel! I bought my kombi (Woger) on impulse too (with Alice's approval...)

It looked like a great kombi, and it sounds like it went to a good home... well done on trading for a computer for your son... I love the photos!, and look forward to the next installment too.

Brookie

Hey Kel,

We have had 2 more sleeps and no more bedtime stories Sad

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The archeress

Gee whiz boss....I was planning maybe 2 a week to keep them going otherwise i will end up making things up...LOL..

Diddlie

Make them up LOL, then you could make them into a book!

splitfamily4tune8*

keep m comin kel..........

The archeress

KELS BEDTIME STORIES ...PART 2

Now the year is 1978...Picture it....Serial killer ted bundy was finally captured in Florida....American porn publisher Larry Flynt is shot and paralyzed in Lawrenceville, Georgia. ....Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour. Remember that one?....and my dad had yet another accident...oh yes....
I was a spry 14 year old and just getting into the whole kombi thing....I secretly loved being up front rather than down the back...Mum Dad and i were on our way to Ballarat....Sebastopol to be exact to see my brother tony (who just happened to have a green split...dont know what year)..we planned a weekend..Now from the sth east burbs to somewhere out round the western burbs i was troubling my good father for some travellers..(no not beers..lol) lollies to be precise...hey lollies were cheap as chips back then..A dollar bag would keep me going to ballarat and back....I digress..My dad having had well and truly enough of me..pulled over and let me get out and buys some from a milk bar...the last one before getting out onto either kensington rd or ballarat rd...cant recall.....I go back in and settled myself between the two front seats on a milk crate....Dad pulled out from the kerb and proceeded level to a side street when this..MINI COOPER roared down this side street and at the end point of brake failure ..slammed into the sliding door of our kombi..this pushed dad into oncoming traffic and i recalltually vividly seeing dad lean over the wheel and heave that bus to the left....way to far left to tell truth...he went completely left and up the kerbside , flattened a glass telecom booth and straight into a brick wall....Steam, to which i thought was smoke was pouring out of underneath our bus and i was yelling.."everybody out"...It turned out to be from the air con...lol...no one was hurt and our bus was towed back to sth east burbs...a sorry sight....He obviously got her/him fixed as we had many more adventures..I never really thought back then that there was anything special about kombis except that i loved riding in them. Dad obviously thought they were special as he kept repairing it time after time after time.......
Now off to bed peoples and dream of kombi adventures.......Nite nite....kel
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THE ARCHERESS

Archeress

Wanna hear a story?
Right well here it is…….a few months ago I put up on a forum a free bull bar.
Eventually someone wanted it and this fellow and his wife arrived in their recently acquired bus to pick it up..they gave us a bottle champagne too witch was nice.
Anyways a few weeks ago this fellow rocks up and asks to stay on the front lawn for a day or two..i said yeas…We were very hospitable too. Now…when he was here last time he was told that my sons mitzi van had a cooked motor…this fellow said he would like to have a shot at fixing it if he is up our way again…we said ok.
Now he comes back and inquires as to the state of the van..i tell him its still not fixed…
For a $100 he says he will pull off the head and have a look…we said ok.
He does this and discover the head is cracked…he makes inquiries and finds a place that has a rebuilt head for $600…he also sorts the gaskets ans new rings too…..all seemingly good. Then he says he is going back home way and will be back our way in a week to put it together…we say ok.
Anyways he comes back in a week with another whole engine and says the head is ok…$150.
Then we sort the gaskets and the rings at “car bits”. This fellow then says he will start on it next morning…Next morning comes and early he is under the van pulling off the sump..He has bits everywhere and luckily he numbered the cylinders…I thank him and say I am off to work and he says it should be running by me getting home…I say great.
I get home and he is gone…bits under the van, in the van, in the back yard and in the garage and a note…the note says…sorry I cant do this. Bugger me.. I was soo peeved off but also a little sad and disappointed…We had given him a few hundred to organize it and thankfully he was honest to leave my son with what was left over from what was needed. I sent him a text saying good bye and good luck…basically hining that he don’t come back…Celia organized with car bits to find us a guy to come out and look at the situ…A mobile mech of some worth did arrive..he whistled a bit…sussed out the head that was in the replacement engine…organized it all…turns out the “new” head was cracked also…so if this fellow had put it all back it wouldn’t have worked anyways.
This new mech was reasonable in price…did it all in a day and a half…and my sons back on the road…The moral I guess is to not be so trusting. And not all members of forums turn out all they are cracked up to be….i will never name this fellow or his circumstances…but just wanted to highlight what occurred.