Still livin’ in the ’70s

Greg Wane
A chance meeting in the surf at Urquhart’s Bluff during Easter, 2008, led Volkswagen fanatic Dee Gray to buy a run-down old VW camper van begging for a makeover.
Dee had already completed an original restoration on a VW Beetle.
“I saw the old Kombi parked at the beach and while I was waiting for waves I started talking to this surfer who owned it. He said it had been in his family for 26 years and was originally owned by his father.”
Dee asked whether he would sell the Kombi.
“He wanted too much money. I think he was asking about $500,” Dee remembered.
“ I thought it would be a good restoration project but not at that price. Then about six months later I got a call from a friend who knew the Urquhart’s Bluff surfer and said the 1977 model Kombi was now on the market for $800.”
“The surfer’s name was Daniel Hanlon, from Altona, so I called him and he told me the old van was on its last legs and was overheating badly.”
“We went up to Altona, had a look at it and I bought it on the spot.
“My theory on old Kombis is that if you can pick up a van in any sort of condition they’re all going to take the same amount of time and money to fix up.”
Dee’s brother arranged a flat-top tow truck to pick up the Kombi and bring it back to her South Geelong backyard.
“I rang my trusted mechanic and VW expert Henk and he came around and gave it a quick look over and diagnosed the problem,” she recalled.
“VWs have two dip sticks and one is wired up to the oil cooler, so the problem was that both dip sticks were not calibrated and it was showing a false overheating signal – it was just all wired up wrong.”
Dee said little bits of rust were in all the panel corners and in the lower panels but the body was straight.
“I had a good project to start with,” she said, “plus the price was right, so I could afford to spend more to get the van just right.”
The Kombi spent six months at an Anglesea panel-beating firm, which Dee described as the VW experts in the region.
“These guys specialise in VWs and they’ve done lots of splitties (spilt-screen Kombi vans) restorations and they really know their stuff.”
The Kombi spent nearly six months at the panel beaters.
“I had to get two new front doors that were badly rusted out and fit them,” Dee said.
She also replaced all the rubber door seals and rubbers right round the van with genuine German seals.
“I also decided to change the colour of the upper-half and the roof. Originally it was a yellow-ochre colour all over, what Volkswagen called Marinogelb, but I changed the roof colour to a Volkswagen off-white.
“I had a lot of powder coating done and I was able to colour-match the bumper bars with the roof colour.
“The original wheels came with it but I’m a bit of a tip rat and I found set of Outlaws wheels a few months earlier. These are like a poor man’s Sunraysias and were made down in Fyansford.”
Dee had the wheel’s colour-matched as well.
“I also had the original pair of front Hair Raiser spotlights that were sold with the Kombi but the reflectors were too corroded, so I managed to match a set of Holden reflectors that fitted inside the original Hair Raisers. I had the outsides polished and they came up like new.”
Dee pointed out that the correct model name of the Kombi was Camp-mobile.
“They were built in Australia in the 1970s as Micro-buses and the campers were converted by various firms around Australia like Swagman, Sunliner, Tracker,” she said.
“Mine was converted by a company called Eisopru in Blair Athol, South Australia.”
Dee’s Kombi still carries the original Eisopru window sticker.
“Fortunately, the camper conversion hadn’t been butchered as many of them are, so I have only had to clean up the parts and recover the bed.”
Inside, Dee has retained the original camp-mobile features including a hotplate stove, an Esky-style refrigerator, a mini-wardrobe, a pop top and an upper bed.
Since finishing the restoration she has won a couple of trophies at local and national car shows for the Kombi but these day she prefers to just enjoy driving and using it as a camper.
“I don’t have the best Kombi in the world, but it’s mine.”
Dee offered a tip to any one wanting to live the dream and do-up a Kombi.
“Get the cheapest you can buy or the one in the worst condition. They can be brought back to life easily because all the re-manufactured parts and panels are available from most VW dealers and over the internet,” Dee advised.
“Don’t even bother welding and bogging up panels, just get replacements and fit them – it works out a lot cheaper.”
Dee has been a Volkswagen fan since childhood.
“I’ve loved VWs since I was a kid. It was the dune buggies at first and the surf scene that got me into Kombis especially.”
So what does she think of the latest crop of Volkswagens?.
“They don’t blow my hair back,” Dee said.
“To me a real VW has got to be air-cooled and have no air-conditioning.”