Well, for me anyway. While doing the rounds at the local wreckers I saw a few strange Kombi bits.
1) Micro switch on '74 throttle lever. What's it do??
2) Original VW metal panel to fit a type 1 motor in a post '72 Kombi. Were they common here in Oz?
3) A Bay Kombi with high mounted indicators on the front, and the older Bay front bumper!!! It looked original. Is it?
:alien
as in high mounted indicators do you mean next to the grill ?? i have a 79 model bay bus and thats where mine are my mate also has a 74 model and his are there to?? dunno if thats where you ment they were
That's what I ment Pyro.
'73 & on indicators, pre '73 bumper. (at least I think that's the cut off year).
No signs of patching or cutting under the dash to suggest it's modified. Didn't look for a year model though.
As the bumper part is very different between these years, if it was modified, it would have to have started as a pre '73.
Hi Andy,
I think the switch on the throttle is to do with the kickdown for the auto trans. My auto kombi has one.
The 1600 engines were sold in Australia, alongside the 1700 and 1800 engines, until 1976. The upright engines were more common in pickups, but Telecom Kombis also had 1600 engines up to that time and many of the army Kombis did as well (they were cheaper).
No, as far as I know the later square bumpers became standard when the blinker lights were moved up in 1973. Sounds like someone has fitted an earlier bumper to that one.
Thanks Phil,
I knew you would have the answers!!
As for the last one, very strange. The bumper looked factory fitted, and with the differences in mounting, and no 'step' in the cab it must have started life with that bumper.
Must investigate next time.
Another question for you. How much, if any Oz content is in a '77 deluxe? It has securit glass etc. Were they fully imported?
Just thinking re early type chassis with High indicators
Go back & check the whole chassis number for the best answer
i think ive seen a similar bus to the one your talking about, looks pretty darn strange, the one i saw had had some work done re rust in the nose so maybe it was a transplant.
Reimagined/Recycled/Upcycled Cool
I also had an early bay, 71 I think with the later model front blinkers and someone suggested it might have had a new nose cone fitted maybe after an accident?
I also had a 74 kombi with a factory 1600 I think it was the econo model?
marcel
Thanks Marcel, that sounds the most likely case!!
:thumb
Hi Andy, yes I guess a new nose graft is a good explanation for that last one.
'77 Kombis were fully imported, as no VWs were assembled in Australia after the end of 1976. Nissan had already owned the VW plant for a year, but VW contracted Nissan to assemble VWs for them for one more year (the plant also assembled Datsuns, Volvos and Mercedes trucks in the mid '70s). The VW models assembled in '76 were Beetles, Kombis, Passats and Golfs.
After that, all VW models sold in Australia were fully imported. Beetles were no more, but you can tell '77 and later German Golfs by the black panel between the rear tail lights. German Deluxe Kombis had chrome bumpers and flipper windows in the front doors (which Aussie ones never did).
Having said that, I don't know precisely when the Aussie cut-off occurred - there may have been some left-over CKD kits put together in the early months of 1977 as VWs were phased out. The last Aussie Beetle, for example, wasn't sold until March 1977. This is something I'm trying to research at the moment.
Thanks Phil,
That's what I had guessed. Mine has the chrome bumpers and front 1/4 windows, and a number of other bits that made it look like a full import.
The funny thing is they were apparently sold as a Deluxe here (chrome trim inside, clock etc), but still had a Kombi chassis number (mine is 227213**). In England at least, Deluxe's had a different chassis number.
So what did Australia get in the way of Kombi's from '78-'82??
Series 2 Kombis were imported in good quantities in 1977 and 1978, but prices had climbed such that they were twice the price of Hiaces and so forth by then. Sales dropped. A much smaller number were imported in 1979, and these took until early in 1980 to sell out.
LNC Industries then stopped importing Kombis. In 1980 and '81, they only imported Golfs and Passats, and only with diesel engines. In 1981 LNC only sold 280 Volkswagens in the whole of Australia.
The new T3 Kombi was introduced here in March 1982 and, thankfully, things have been on the improve since then. The water-cooled engine appeared in 1.9-litre form in 1985 and LNC lost the Australian VW franchise to Ateco Industries in 1987. TKM got the franchise in 1991, which became Inchcape a few years later. VW Germany took over the Aussie franchise in 2001.
Thanks Phil.
:thumb
