Aussie VW magazines

Rather than hijack Craig's post about the upcoming issue #22 of VWMA, I'll start another one.

As we determined, this will make VWMA the longest ever series of professional Australian VW magazines, by the same publisher, with the same name. Well done Craig!

The previous record was by Australian VW Power, 1988-92, with 21 issues. Here they are:

Then we have the 'Paradise' series, put out by Express Publications. There were 20 issues published in a continuing series, from 1994-98, one every two months, but as you can see they did NOT have the same name each issue.

The photo shows all 20 issues, in the actual order they were prublished (left to right in three rows, top to bottom). If you have tried to collect these, check to see which ones you are missing:

In addition to those 20 'regular' issues, Express also published four 'specials', which were collections of repeated and reprinted articles, with the photos and mistakes untouched. Sometimes these were included in a plastic bag, with one of the regular issues:

After this series folded in mid-1998, Express Publications had a 6-month break, then relaunched a new Australian VW magazine, edited this time by Nathan Ponchard.

Instead of being called 'Volkswagen Australia Magazine', as the 'Paradise' magazines were, it was now called 'Australian Volkswagen Magazine'. It only lasted four issues before folding, this time for good:

have you got a pic of all the VWMA issues??

Then there were some 'one-offs' or even 'two-offs', put out by other publishers attempting to cash in on the VW enthusiast movement. These were utter crap:

Then there was Australian VW Scene magazine, published by Lex Cowley in Queensland. This was a very good effort as Lex was a genuine enthusiast, but it only lasted eight issues.

I have seven of them but I'm missing the first one. I know Dave Birchall has all of them!

Yes I do! Since you asked, here are all the 21 issues so far for VWMA. As you can see, the first issue was actually called 'Volkswagen Magazine Australia', changed to 'VW Magazine Australia' after that.

So - we have now had a 'Volkswagen Australia Magazine', an 'Australian Volkswagen Magazine' and a 'Volkswagen Magazine Australia'. All three possibilities!

I have also included a copy of the 'VW Action Day' program from the QLD show in 2003, only because Craig was the editor!

whats scarey is still i have all of those
except i missed 4 of the original vwpowers and never got into that vwscene. i do have the one off with the flame bug on the front but the others i never saw
altho wasnt that vw/porsche power another geoff paradise attempt?

There was also two issues of OZ VW Magazine #1 Nov 1987 & #2 March -April 1988

Cheers Jason

^^^ dude, thats 21 years ago..... have you got any pics of those??

Well done Phil I will have to get the camera out now and do some shots of the other magazines

hope vwma goes a lot longer & with not just bugs but kombi's,type 3 & gias adorning the
covers it deserves to have a long history.

Well done Phil great pics and info, I was surprised I almost have all the VWMA magazines myself

Regards

Well done Phil.

I got most of those. Also a pretty good Hot VW's collection.

I made two cover shots above too 😵

Rohans red devil golf thats on the covers of vwpower #15 and red hot volkswagens #1 is still buzzing around here
altho its got a huge body kit on it now
its often in my mates fibreglass workshop getting the front spoiler repaired cos its so low to the road

I have pretty well all of these magazines as well. mostly the ones I don't have are one's that I have lent to other people and havn't been able to get them back.

I must say though, that I reckon Craig's are the best Australian VW magazines by a long way. Keep it up Craig.

Phil74Camper wrote:In addition to those 20 'regular' issues, Express also published four 'specials', which were collections of repeated and reprinted articles, with the photos and mistakes untouched. Sometimes these were included in a plastic bag, with one of the regular issues:

I remember buying a few of those..
One of the magazines i already had so bought them for one...

My VW magazines are all over the house so I'm not sure what ones I have and don't have...

The ones that i remember were printed on terrible newspaper type paper... terrible black and white or really black and grey photos... I think I still have those...

Lee

PS: those weren't really the good ole days.. lol

Jason I only vaguely remember 'OZ VW Magazine', and i don't have copies of the two issues. Haven't seen them at swapmeets recently either otherwise i would have snapped them up. No doubt Dave has copies - hopefully he can post a photo.

Does anyone (apart from Dave) have copies of 'New Horizons', VW's own owners' magazine from 1966-67? Only four issues were ever produced. I have photocopies only. You can browse the four originals in the Mitchell Library.

Yes magazines have come a long way. Craig's VWMA is way better than past efforts - some of the old ones shown above were terrible. Geoff Paradise (who also did that one-off VW-Porsche magazine) used to write and complain when we pointed out his mistakes. Tony Glynn, who was the editor of VW Power, once threatened to withdraw his sponsorship of the VW Nationals unless we 'apologised' for pointing out his mistakes. He had published an article (in issue #3) that said that VW Beetle and Karmann Ghia floopans were identical, and completely interchangeable, and that Ghia bodies were completely handmade. What nonsense!

Phil

Looks like i have a challange for this arvo

meeeh I gave away most of my collection years ago at a nationals swap. Couldnt sell them for $2 each/ 3 for $5. Couldnt sell them for $1 each. At the end of the day I couldnt even GIVE all of them away and ended up throwing probably 2 milk crates worth in the bin. My collection included wheels, motor + FF&R.

I have several years worth of old FF&R again, because I had to buy the lot to get just one magazine. Will try to flog them back on ebay I guess.

Ok Phil heres the number one issue of VW Scene it was A3 size and not very good to read or keep in this format

OZ VW Magazine 2 issues only the guy hit up heaps of companies for several issues of advertising which they paid in advance for then did a runner with the cash

heres a couple of one offs for the VW and Mini enthusists both copies have the " Quickest Beetle in the World " stories talking about one Mr Peter Kegan

and some early Sand buggy magazines

These were produced by Volkswagen in the mid 60s

very interesting reading only 4 published

""" I got most of those. Also a pretty good Hot VW's collection. """

and one for Matt

The number one issus of Hot VWs Magazine from 1967 pity i did pay the cover price of $0.75 cents for it BuggARrrrr

I am starting to realise that I have joined a forum of fruitcakes ! Phil I reckon your levels of enthusiasm was wrong. There is no where on that for Fruitcakes who collect evry possible magazine lol
But jokes aside well done and thanks for the pics of covers. For a none fruitbat person like me its good to see them all. I must admit I have probably owned quite a few of them over the years but they would all be well and trully recycled by now.

Chris I would have taken your Wheels and Modern Motors off you if they were 1982 or earlier - newer ones don't interest me. One of my ambitions is to go through ALL the original issues of these, back to the 1950s (they are in the Mitchell Library) and photocopy all the Volkswagen stuff. A project for a rainy holiday week maybe.

Does any one else have any Australian VW magazines or specials that haven't been posted here yet?

Thanks Dave, love that hvw's #1, mine start in '75. Cheers, you also brought my cover tally to 3 (cars that I've built)👍

I've got all of Lex's mags and used to have two or three of the New Horizon's but long gone now I'm afraid. My brother may have some old oz stuff stashed...

I also have a few early Trends, 2, 3 and 4 are worthy of mention.

I also have a few early Trends, 2, 3 and 4 are worthy of mention.

Matt yes i have every copy of Trends as well

my "other" magazines would have started in the late 80's. The only early one I have is a '56 edition with the oval in it. No idea where it is at the moment though. We should have show and tell club meeting where you bring in "a few of my favourite things". Or a new thread to make it national, and that way birchall wont have to charge everyone a security deposit.

Dave you haven't even begun to show them your stuff. Haven't you also got every issue of VW Greats, VW & Porsche (etc), and Safer Motoring? I've got lots of them, but not all of them. VW and Audi Car was another good (UK) magazine but it was more watercooled than aircooled.

And when it comes to VW magazines, there's nothing like a Gute Fahrt. http://www.gute-fahrt.de/

yep all of the above LOL

Phil74Camper wrote:Then there were some 'one-offs' or even 'two-offs', put out by other publishers attempting to cash in on the VW enthusiast movement. These were utter crap:

Phil, nice work on the magazine history but jeez calling the two FF&R specials 'crap' is a bit harsh!! Both were a mix of fresh cars and ex-FF&R feature cars and both mags were put together by enthusiasts under the eye of journo/editor Todd Hallenbeck (now Ford's Asia pacific PR dude in Thaialnd) and (then) a keen Beetle owner..

There is a surprising of 'mainstream' Aussie motoring journos who love and own VWs (and Porsches)

Big, big congrats to Craig for the work on VWMA

Dave your shed must be bloody huge!

Is 'crap' harsh? Sorry, maybe I should have said 'not very good.' Perhaps if FF&R had persisted with a VW magazine it would have developed into a good one, but then FF&R have since gone right away from VWs.

Actually only the first one was edited by Todd Hallenbeck. The second was by 'FF&R staff', but Dean Evans wrote the editorial. I know Mark Moes (Production Manager) pushed hard for more issues, but it didn't happen. The second issue WAS better than the first - it had writers like Leanne Brkovec, Lance Plahn, Glenn Torrens (your brother Craig?) and Steve Walmsley doing some good things.

Here's some quotes that came from the first FF&R 'Hottest VW' magazine (Todd Hallenbeck, editor). Spot the mistakes:

"Manly valves". "Connoloy leather". "36-hp crank from a Superbug." "Added to this danger is the fact that Volkswagen manufacture their engines cases from magnesium alloy...once ignited magnesium is virtually impossible to extinguish."

"Factory coolers have a habit of impeding air flow to the number three cylinder, commonly resulting in heat-induced cracks around the spark plug bosses."

"There are no conventional gaskets used to seal the crankcase/barrel mating surfaces."

"The semi-auto '69-'70 chassis was the only one factory equipped with front disk brakes and independent rear suspension."

"Looking back to 1970 and the 1600cc powered Bug..."

"(the Golf) will more than likely not become the cult car the Bug has become - it lacks stand-alone individuality."

not very good LOL

the "36hp crank from a superbug" cracks me up.

OK here's some more rare Aussie VW magazines for the collectors out there.

These are the 'VWA Review' magazines, published by VW Australia's public relations department. These were made for dealership staff to keep them up to date on company developments - it was an in-house magazine, not available to the public.

I have these issues, from 1958 to 1963. They are hard to find - not even sure if Dave has any of these. Any one else have any?

At the same time, there was Sydney's LNC Industries, owners of Lanock Motors. Initially they were the NSW VW distributors, and then they became the distributors of VW in all of Australia from 1968 on. They bought VW Australia's distribution and finance companies, and the state distributors in QLD (Annand and Thompson), SA (Light Motors) and WA (Western Motors). They owned the Australian VW business until 1987.

I have the 1961 LNC annual report as shown, plus several of the 'in-house' staff magazines that had some interesting VW stories and photos. In the last one you can see Subarus mentioned - LNC also had the Australian Subaru franchise from 1973 to 1988, which is why they were sold in VW dealers during those years.

I also have the LNC annual reports from 1958-1982, but only as photocopies. The originals can be browsed in the National Library in Canberra, where i found them.

These are some more recent 'official' Australian VW newsletters.

The top two are the only issues ever produced of 'Volkswagen Driver', published by the then VW importers TKM Automotive in 'Winter 1997', and 'Autumn 1998'. The first issue was a glossy 16-page effort, while the second used cheap cardboardy newsprint and it was only 12 pages. TKM lost the Aussie VW franchise in 1999.

'Accelerate' was the 'Volkswagen Group Australia Official Newsletter', published from April 2001 to March 2003. There were 12 issues plus a 'Xmas 2001' issue - 13 in all. I am missing issue #1 but I have all the rest. They are usually only one sheet of A3 paper, folded in half.

You learn something every day. I was looking at the Wikipedia article on Golfs. Gee there's a lot of information missing there. But I learnt that the Mk1 is still being produced in Suth Efrika. So I went to the VW.co.za and found that they have e-zines if you're interested Phil. http://www.vw.co.za/magazine/ You probably already know this, but being an aircooled tragic the vw company websites wouldnt normally get me in. Only when I am seeing how many lifetimes away I am from being able to afford one.

http://www.vw.co.za/magazine/

Thanks Chris, yes I knew about the Mk1 Golf still being made in Seth Effrica, called the 'Citi'. They also still make the ute version there. But I didn't know about the e-zine - will check it out. Thanks. The Polos they sell here, and the Jetta now, and the previous Mk4 and Mk5 Golfs, were made in Sth Africa.

OK I'm just about finished posting photos of Aussie VW magazines, as I'm running out of them. This is the current collection of 'Volkswagen Magazine', published by Volkswagen Group Australia. It's a glossy 'coffee table' lifestyle magazine for buyers of current VWs. Apart from stories on the new models, there are travel articles, cooking, celebrity interviews - a bit like a Qantas in-flight magazine for VW owners. It's not bad. A bit hard to get though as it's not on sale at newsagents - VW Australia posts them out to all buyers of new VWs over the last few years (that's not me. I get one for other reasons)

Phil 74 you are a wealth of information,it just shows you are never too old to learn something.Well researched Cheers Les