it's funny how ideas or information circles you sometimes, perhaps like a vulture, or maybe like an angel.
sending you glimpses until it all collects together into a thought.
a few weekends ago there was an article in the travel section of the age, the road to damascus by sean mooney.
it got my attention firstly because it was about damascus (ah, the mystery-history of the name!), it captured my attention because it was so beautifully written. it worked its way into my head because it conjured this image: From a rocky outcrop on the top of Jebel Qassioun - a mountain so integral to history, it appears in the Book Of Genesis - I gaze down on one of the world's oldest settlements. On the plain below, partially obscured by a film of smog that, with the setting sun, lends it an apocalyptic hue, sprawls the ancient city of Damascus... I turn back to the road behind me, which is littered with decrepit VW Kombis now employed as roadside cafes. As the sun sinks below the horizon, strings of fairy lights illuminate a curious mix of social encounters. Men recline on ragged old couches smoking nargileh (water pipes) and listening to Arabic love songs played at full volume on laptop computers.
i tried to find an image of a re-caffeinated constituted vw, but found nothing. it seems the folk at vw's ad agency were way ahead of the clever syrians.
one of the reasons this popped out at me was that i had recently been on an overland holiday (just nipping over the border into nsw, but it counts) and just before we went on holiday i saw a
re-issued matchbox kombi for sale in the supermarket. i didn't buy it and therefore became obsessed by the thought of it. 
you can buy original matchboxers in the original packaging, but really i'm not an
enthusiast. the first thing i'd want to do is rip open the packaging and check out the car, anyway. i love the "matchbox" packaging of the 1970 van. ace.
kombis recall a different age of camping. black & white photos. young mums wearing 70s bikinis, kids wearing mullets,
families travelling in station wagons if they didn't have a kombi (because nobody had a 4 wheel drive unless they were onsafari!)
even the leyland brothers had a kombi (as well as a 4 wheel drive) and they did go on safari.
simpler days!
which of course is why folk still want the kombi experience
ke words
fakeords
fakeords fake words
fake words
there are also all sorts of mad kombi enthusiast pages - but you can find these for yourself if you care enough
(i found a kombi camping cookbook which excited me briefly, but it looked pretty crap on closer inspection so i let that one go)
Artist Lee Stoetzel has crafted this tribute to the classic Volkswagon motor bus. His spin on the environmentaly friendly automobile is as much a tribute to vehicle itself as it is to the hippie culture it was such a part of. more about the wood kombi
of course, the retro-eco-visionariness of kombis has been updated into the verdier eco camper - some have "wood-panelling" (possibly referencing the brady bunch station-wagon, but more likely a straight rip-off of lee stoetzel),
other models look more "space-age"silver bulletish.
an iconic mexico city taxi, poster via a few places via ffffound, originally here
most classic ever, tent in the shape and styling of a vw camper van, available via here
sending you glimpses until it all collects together into a thought.
a few weekends ago there was an article in the travel section of the age, the road to damascus by sean mooney.
it got my attention firstly because it was about damascus (ah, the mystery-history of the name!), it captured my attention because it was so beautifully written. it worked its way into my head because it conjured this image: From a rocky outcrop on the top of Jebel Qassioun - a mountain so integral to history, it appears in the Book Of Genesis - I gaze down on one of the world's oldest settlements. On the plain below, partially obscured by a film of smog that, with the setting sun, lends it an apocalyptic hue, sprawls the ancient city of Damascus... I turn back to the road behind me, which is littered with decrepit VW Kombis now employed as roadside cafes. As the sun sinks below the horizon, strings of fairy lights illuminate a curious mix of social encounters. Men recline on ragged old couches smoking nargileh (water pipes) and listening to Arabic love songs played at full volume on laptop computers.i tried to find an image of a re-caffeinated constituted vw, but found nothing. it seems the folk at vw's ad agency were way ahead of the clever syrians.
one of the reasons this popped out at me was that i had recently been on an overland holiday (just nipping over the border into nsw, but it counts) and just before we went on holiday i saw a
re-issued matchbox kombi for sale in the supermarket. i didn't buy it and therefore became obsessed by the thought of it. 
you can buy original matchboxers in the original packaging, but really i'm not an
enthusiast. the first thing i'd want to do is rip open the packaging and check out the car, anyway. i love the "matchbox" packaging of the 1970 van. ace.kombis recall a different age of camping. black & white photos. young mums wearing 70s bikinis, kids wearing mullets,
families travelling in station wagons if they didn't have a kombi (because nobody had a 4 wheel drive unless they were onsafari!)
even the leyland brothers had a kombi (as well as a 4 wheel drive) and they did go on safari.simpler days!
which of course is why folk still want the kombi experience
1973 westfalia at the beach
you can go kombi in australia, or you can choose from the classic campers in new zealand
you can go kombi in australia, or you can choose from the classic campers in new zealand
ke words fakeords
fakeords fake words
fake words
there are also all sorts of mad kombi enthusiast pages - but you can find these for yourself if you care enough
(i found a kombi camping cookbook which excited me briefly, but it looked pretty crap on closer inspection so i let that one go)
Artist Lee Stoetzel has crafted this tribute to the classic Volkswagon motor bus. His spin on the environmentaly friendly automobile is as much a tribute to vehicle itself as it is to the hippie culture it was such a part of. more about the wood kombi
of course, the retro-eco-visionariness of kombis has been updated into the verdier eco camper - some have "wood-panelling" (possibly referencing the brady bunch station-wagon, but more likely a straight rip-off of lee stoetzel),
other models look more "space-age"silver bulletish.
another kind of vw!
an iconic mexico city taxi, poster via a few places via ffffound, originally here
most classic ever, tent in the shape and styling of a vw camper van, available via herecomes in any colour so long as it's primary
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