22-11-2022, 07:24 PM
My first post on this new site.
Well here goes, time to bore you all silly
Some may know me from quite a while ago and I think some things need clarifying and put in perspective regarding the Original Kombi Club, from my hazy recollections.
In about 2000 there was no Bookface and hardly any forums specifically for Australian aircooled VW,s, remember it was also the time of Dial Up Internet.
Aussieveedubbers was started about 2000ish, I was one of the first members as the forum owner invited me to join his new forum as he saw me on the Split Screen Van Clubs forum in fact my username name on aussieveedubbers was "Dave in Adelaide" as I am certain I was the first member in South Australian, after a few months this changed as the membership increased I went to "Kombi Dave" and eventually to "57komb"i as more kombi owners joined
There where no Kombi specific retailers in Australia in fact there was really only two parts retailers being Boris at Vintage and George at Classic VW.
Boris did not really do much in regards to Kombi bits and so most people used George. The problem being his cheap and nasty parts where just that South American and Brazilian rubbish.
As my username at the time suggested I was restoring a 57 Split Screen Kombi and I ordered some metal panels from George and when they arrived they went straight to the scrap metal pile.
I had just been married and I convinced the new wife that a honeymoon back to the UK would be great, I did fail to mention that the best split parts at the time where produced in the UK.
I had been a member of The Split Screen Van Club before emigrating to Australia and at the time the most restos of splits world wide was carried out in the UK so they knew their stuff.
Whilst on "Honeymoon" I ended up going to Creative Engineering and Alan Schofield and ordering a pallet of stuff to be shipped back to Australia and my carry on luggage was 40Kgs over, ( it was worth the extra charge).
Now this is where Roy gets involved.
I could not get anyone to ship the Deluxe beltline trim as it was about 5m in length.
I had seen the stuff the Australian retailers had and it was from the USA and was no where near the same profile as the original, where as Creatives was a perfect copy.
In about 2004 I mentioned I was trying to source some Creative Engineering trim and some new bloke on Aussieveedubbers said he could get me some Creative stuff and the price was a hell of a lot cheaper than shipping it out myself, dont forget it still cost me a couple of grand or so in 2004 which was a hell of a lot of money then.
This bloke was called Roy, he was a fellow Pom and was restoring a couple of Kombis himself up in QLD and he was getting stuff for himself shipped out as it was cheaper and better quality then was available here.
I actually called him a scammer and that he was full of crap when he told me the price, it was that much cheaper.
He turned round and said if he can get it for that price would I buy it, of course I said yes and he then said "well dont pay me till it arrives at your door"
About 6 weeks later and yes it arrived attached to a wooden board as it was about 5 meters long, it was paid for that day.
He told me he had started the business as he needed the parts himself and was not happy with the quality of parts available locally and was getting stuff from Schofield and Creative ( mind you we both knew that Creative was the worst company to deal with but their parts where the best in the world)
They said they had shipped my safaris 6 times, all rubbish but there were worth the wait. ( I don't know what the quality is like now but then they were unbeatable)
We became very friendly talking on the phone a couple of times a week discussing our restos and parts ect and just to set the record straight his business was not started to make money to live on it was to help restore his own vehicles, his hobby.
I also remember we bonded over the fact we hated that people called every two tone kombi a Microbus, to set the record straight a Microbus has a heater tube under the back seat , same as Deluxe's
If a split hasn't got the heater tube is a standard generic "Kombi"
As Bert stated he then had a lot of trouble on Aussiveedubbers, I can vaguely remember it was about he time the forum was sold and they where trying to get more money from advertisers and George was not happy that Roy was advertising prices (that he could not match) I am not certain what went on in the background but Roy asked me about starting his own forum just for Kombis.
Obviously I though it was a great idea and his original intention was not to use it as a full out advertising tool for his goods but to offer discounts to forum members and then get people to organise runs and meets in each state.
He offered to pay for it and let members run it themselves, he never stopped people mentioning if they used others parts or if something was available from other sellers, it was about getting more kombis back on the road
I honestly believe a lot of the kombis you see on the road today would not be if it was not for Roy.
Not just his parts but the forum.
I only attended one Bus Stop and we brought a few splits with us, we all had a great time
I have not been on this site for a decade or so and I feel so bad that he is sick, also if my memory serves me well its actually his son in law that took over the business?
I believe I was one of the first members and logged on the first day it went live, I left after going through a divorce and then also selling my 13 window splitty, I needed a break from kombis as I don't tend to have a filter and I can be too honest at times. I have been building motorbikes and I also restored a 64 Beetle, I don't like Beetles but it was smaller and I had the room and after 30 odd years of being involved with VW's it was easier than any other car.
The reason for this post is there seems to be a bit of animosity towards Roy, and even though I have not spoken to him for over a decade I still thank him for the great times I had due to his site.
Dave in Adelaide, Kombi Dave, 57Kombi, Split1
Well here goes, time to bore you all silly
Some may know me from quite a while ago and I think some things need clarifying and put in perspective regarding the Original Kombi Club, from my hazy recollections.
In about 2000 there was no Bookface and hardly any forums specifically for Australian aircooled VW,s, remember it was also the time of Dial Up Internet.
Aussieveedubbers was started about 2000ish, I was one of the first members as the forum owner invited me to join his new forum as he saw me on the Split Screen Van Clubs forum in fact my username name on aussieveedubbers was "Dave in Adelaide" as I am certain I was the first member in South Australian, after a few months this changed as the membership increased I went to "Kombi Dave" and eventually to "57komb"i as more kombi owners joined
There where no Kombi specific retailers in Australia in fact there was really only two parts retailers being Boris at Vintage and George at Classic VW.
Boris did not really do much in regards to Kombi bits and so most people used George. The problem being his cheap and nasty parts where just that South American and Brazilian rubbish.
As my username at the time suggested I was restoring a 57 Split Screen Kombi and I ordered some metal panels from George and when they arrived they went straight to the scrap metal pile.
I had just been married and I convinced the new wife that a honeymoon back to the UK would be great, I did fail to mention that the best split parts at the time where produced in the UK.
I had been a member of The Split Screen Van Club before emigrating to Australia and at the time the most restos of splits world wide was carried out in the UK so they knew their stuff.
Whilst on "Honeymoon" I ended up going to Creative Engineering and Alan Schofield and ordering a pallet of stuff to be shipped back to Australia and my carry on luggage was 40Kgs over, ( it was worth the extra charge).
Now this is where Roy gets involved.
I could not get anyone to ship the Deluxe beltline trim as it was about 5m in length.
I had seen the stuff the Australian retailers had and it was from the USA and was no where near the same profile as the original, where as Creatives was a perfect copy.
In about 2004 I mentioned I was trying to source some Creative Engineering trim and some new bloke on Aussieveedubbers said he could get me some Creative stuff and the price was a hell of a lot cheaper than shipping it out myself, dont forget it still cost me a couple of grand or so in 2004 which was a hell of a lot of money then.
This bloke was called Roy, he was a fellow Pom and was restoring a couple of Kombis himself up in QLD and he was getting stuff for himself shipped out as it was cheaper and better quality then was available here.
I actually called him a scammer and that he was full of crap when he told me the price, it was that much cheaper.
He turned round and said if he can get it for that price would I buy it, of course I said yes and he then said "well dont pay me till it arrives at your door"
About 6 weeks later and yes it arrived attached to a wooden board as it was about 5 meters long, it was paid for that day.
He told me he had started the business as he needed the parts himself and was not happy with the quality of parts available locally and was getting stuff from Schofield and Creative ( mind you we both knew that Creative was the worst company to deal with but their parts where the best in the world)
They said they had shipped my safaris 6 times, all rubbish but there were worth the wait. ( I don't know what the quality is like now but then they were unbeatable)
We became very friendly talking on the phone a couple of times a week discussing our restos and parts ect and just to set the record straight his business was not started to make money to live on it was to help restore his own vehicles, his hobby.
I also remember we bonded over the fact we hated that people called every two tone kombi a Microbus, to set the record straight a Microbus has a heater tube under the back seat , same as Deluxe's
If a split hasn't got the heater tube is a standard generic "Kombi"
As Bert stated he then had a lot of trouble on Aussiveedubbers, I can vaguely remember it was about he time the forum was sold and they where trying to get more money from advertisers and George was not happy that Roy was advertising prices (that he could not match) I am not certain what went on in the background but Roy asked me about starting his own forum just for Kombis.
Obviously I though it was a great idea and his original intention was not to use it as a full out advertising tool for his goods but to offer discounts to forum members and then get people to organise runs and meets in each state.
He offered to pay for it and let members run it themselves, he never stopped people mentioning if they used others parts or if something was available from other sellers, it was about getting more kombis back on the road
I honestly believe a lot of the kombis you see on the road today would not be if it was not for Roy.
Not just his parts but the forum.
I only attended one Bus Stop and we brought a few splits with us, we all had a great time
I have not been on this site for a decade or so and I feel so bad that he is sick, also if my memory serves me well its actually his son in law that took over the business?
I believe I was one of the first members and logged on the first day it went live, I left after going through a divorce and then also selling my 13 window splitty, I needed a break from kombis as I don't tend to have a filter and I can be too honest at times. I have been building motorbikes and I also restored a 64 Beetle, I don't like Beetles but it was smaller and I had the room and after 30 odd years of being involved with VW's it was easier than any other car.
The reason for this post is there seems to be a bit of animosity towards Roy, and even though I have not spoken to him for over a decade I still thank him for the great times I had due to his site.
Dave in Adelaide, Kombi Dave, 57Kombi, Split1