hey all
this debate will prolly end in tears and howls but I've been hearing lately of T3 transporters being called kombis..
can this be true?
I only ever learnt in Sunday school that kombis are type 2 buses not T3 buses
I might not have drunk the cool aide of late but is this the new black in brain washing??
any enlightenment appreciated so I can sleep better at night
this issue needs clarification for the unbelievers
cheers n kombi on

yes it's true

Yes, I heard some of those whispers too.

Carrrnt be true could it?

Surely a transporter may want to be a kombi

If i remember correctly, my t3 caravelle has kombi stamped on the compliance plate, i will have to check and take a pic.

Doesn't Kombi just mean Kombinationkraftwagen... as in the one that's between a panel and a bus ???

They will never ever be a Kombi! Transporter yes, but Kombi, no!

the great debate: T3 Kombi - is there such a thing?

WHO CARES?

^ Mitchell I can't concentrate due to your avatar.. what were we talking about

Boobs

And here is another pic from the same site, just because I like it.



Regards,

Matt.

....and here is one from Port Macquarie

Oh what a feeling back in 1990 Hmmm.

Just a bit of trivia on the last 2 pics.

That was me driving the dual cab over the finish line on the beach at Darwin after a nine day Australian Safari from Sydney.
My late brother, John, can just be seen in the navigator's seat.

I took the pic of the Tristar with Dave Berry (Trakka) in the driver's seat.
We were at Oran Park on a VW test day and wanted to get a few good photos.
I sold the Tristar to Hartmut, who still has it, as a new vehicle from Northshore Volkswagen and yes gave him a poster size mounted print at the time so he knew what it was capable of.

The good old days!

Grazza.

Now if you really want to confuse things


call them T2.5 like the pommies do

at least theres no SAMBA model in the that range

erm no a T3 or the pommie speak is not a kombi to me
a Transporter or bus yes but not a "kombi"

c'mon off the cool aide, so my old T4 n my T5 are kombis then = fail
maybe a Kia kombi more like
a cheap as marketing campaign doesn't quite sell it or if it did we would not be having this great discussion

its pretty simple,
It doesn't look like chicken, it doesn't smell like chicken, it may have the same feet as a chicken, but it ain't chicken

I remember when these buses were like being sold new in the showroom and I was buying cars from the vehicle auctions, these T3 buses were there without fail every auction being pushed through as they didn't run, n most would have their engine pulled out n in bits in boxes on the back floor, as they always blew up n had more issues than a woman's weekly
many ex telecom ones as they were a primary buyer
I've never forgot seeing so many going for nothing and many being sold to the wreckers
as VW had no idea had to fix the myriad of problems they had as I nearly bought em,
but I stuck with kombis and beetles

the saving grace back then was throwing a Subaru up it's ass, and glad peeps did hence so many today have them

I wouldn't mind a subi syncro bus tho with air con, but I've never seen one

great pics especially the vertical model

When I had my T3, I didn't call it anything.

the great debate: T3 Kombi - is there such a thing?

Yes of course there is. EVERY generation of VW Transporter has a 'Kombi' version, including the T3, the T4 and the current T5. http://www.volkswagen-nutzfahrzeuge.de/de/models.html 

When it first appeared in the early 1950s, the VW Commercial range was designated as the Volkswagen Type 2, to distinguish it from the Sedan (Type 1). Within the Type 2 designation were the different Transporter categories - the basic Panel Van (Type 21), the Microbus (Type 22), the 'Kombination' (Type 23), the Deluxe Microbus (Type 24), the Single Cab and Double Cab Pickups (Type 26), and the Ambulance (Type 27). Within these categories there were further sub-categories. For example, a LHD Panel Van with loading doors on the right was a Type 211; with loading doors on the left was a Type 213; or loading doors on both sides was a Type 215.

For whatever reason, Australians took to referring to the whole range of VW Commercials as 'Kombis' in a colloqual fashion, even though technically only the Type 23 (a window van with removeable seats - the 'Kombination') is actually a Kombi (and still is). This is endearing, but not so unusual as other countries developed their own particular nick-names for the VW Commercial. Americans call them the 'VW Bus', but they were sold there as the 'VW Station Wagon', or the VW Vanagon, or even the VW Eurovan. To us they're all still Kombis.

VW renumbered and consolidated their model categoriies for the second-generation (T2) in 1968, so there weren't quite as many subcategories as before, but the basic categories were the same.

In 1980 VW switched to the new VIN numbering system. The 'model code' was still indicated in the VIN, in digits 7 and 8. The new 'third generation' T3 Transporter was now a Model 25 (Vans, Kombis, Microbuses and Caravelles), while the Pickups were Model 24. The larger LT van was a Model 28, and later a Model 2D, so technically you could still call them a 'Volkswagen Type 2'.

However for the T4 the VIN model code became 70, so it was no longer a Type 2. Likewise the current T5 is a Model 7H.

BUT - the VW Crafter is a Model 2E, the Amarok is a Model 2H and the Caddy is a 2K, so you could actually say they are still 'Volkswagen Type 2's...

We all understood it 'til the letters got involved.

f*****g letters!

I just love Hartmuts tristar, can't see it around Port often enough. It's one very, very special vehicle.

Regards,

Matt.

^^ Yep, amazes me everyday..

T3 Wbxr is a beautiful engine if maintained properly, and that's not hard.

t3 came out air cooled engine mounted in the rear . KOMBI sure is the last of them !

No, the last T3 Kombis had watercooled engines - the air-cooled was discontinued in 1983. The last T3 Kombis ('Volksiebus') were made in South Africa in 2002 - with five-cylinder engines.

Let the T3 owners call it a Kombi. I used to get annoyed with it, and the poeple that spell it 'combie' and 'kombie'. Then I realised it's because they don't have one, and I do. I love my bay window, and people want to call their T3's Kombis, let em have it. They know the truth.

Yes, the truth is that the T3s are Kombis too. I agree with you about the spelling - and we also still see people spelling VOLKSWAGON. Aargh!

My brother drives his kids around in a '96 T4 Caravelle - we still call it his 'blue Kombi.' It's just a newer one. Same with the T5 vans here at work - everyone calls them Kombis. And when the new T6 comes out in a few years time, it will be a Kombi too. Hooray!

I'm disappointed with people calling the '68-'79 Kombis 'Bay Windows' - a made-up name Volkswagen never used in any way, shape or form. UK journalist Laurence Meredith made it up in the mid-'90s; he must have never studied architecture as real 'bay windows' are multi-paned and multi-sashed. Do a Google Image search on 'bay window' and see for yourself. T2 Kombis actually have 'panoramic' windscreens. Thank God his nickname for the T3 - the wedge - never caught on.

I call them wedges. But then I also call them Kombi's which sparks debate between the missus and me every time.
I figure they are a lifestyle choice bus that is getting on in years, prodimiately air cooled in a hot environment. To buy it you must be crazy and you should never argue with a crazy persona bout what they call their bus.

I would never call a syncro a kombi though as I think Syncro has much more clout. Apart fromt eh redneck delica there are few affordable 4wd busses about.

Unfortunaltely Pauly, you are gonig to have to turn to the ginseng and horlicks for sleep as I think this debate will continue long after all our busses have returned to the ground.

Wow! I didn't even know the T3 was a Volkswagen?
Thought it was made by Renault or something.
Learn something new every day... I'll stop putting Shit on them now.