Issue 7 of the Australian Built (by me!) Aircooled Classics - VW & Porsche magazine is out now.

As you're probably already aware, Kombi Life, the sister mag (also built here in QLD, Australia), was launched a couple of weeks ago too. Busy times.

More info at Pitstop Publishing

Makes you proud to know Australia now has three VW magazines.

Awesome stuff Paul!

Awesome ! Who stocks it in Sydney CBD? I have never seen it.

Where do we get a copy?

Online only, I subscribe to it through AppStore

Quote:

Makes you proud to know Australia now has three VW magazines.

Its an ezine, better than noth'n I guess. Better have a gander online then

If its an Aussie mag how come it costs almost 1/2 price if I am pay USD?
Price: US$3.99 / £2.99 / A$5.49
Please explain. Mitchell

I just want to add a big thank-you to all those who have bought a copy of either Aircooled Classics or Kombi Life interactive digital magazine through iTunes or wherever. Starting up in business is never easy - and we're bound to have our knockers, even though we're all in the same game. Go figure.

Australia is our third largest market, with the USA and UK leading the pack. Most magazines are available in digital form these days. All the big UK VW mags are, although they remain as digital reproductions only so lack a bit of quality. Australia can claim to have the only interactive digital VW magazines in the world, built specifically for the digital platform.

I will say this. We seriously thought about starting a paper VW magazine. But Australia doesn't have room for two paper VW magazines. It would have caused friction and the demise of one or both, given advertising revenue to support both wouldn't exist. We chose not to go the paper route, and we're offering free or very low cost advertising to Australian-only businesses too.

Not going paper and offering low cost advertising will enable Craig to keep producing VWMA as advertisers can still afford to help him pay for his paper costs, etc. We have deliberately steered away from 100% Australian content for the same reason. This way we can all be in business and friends at the same time. I hope this makes sense.

Coincidentally, we're also based in Queensland.

Cheers,

Paul

Paul...
Mate massive credit to you & the team for bringing this to the Australian VW family...
Forget all the above crap, business, magazine etc etc... what i admire YOU for the most, is that more then once you mentioned VWMA (Craig). Take balls mate i dont care what anyone else says... your both in the game to make money... keep us lot all happy etc etc
keep up the great work.
cheers matty

Hi Paul, fantastic effort, the covers look great. Yes you are a probably right, the Australian market is probably too small to support two air-cooled VW magazines at the newsagents. While Craig's VWMA is going really well, there have been lots of other earlier magazines that have folded after a few issues. VW Power, the Geoff Paradise 'Volkswagen Australia' series, VW & Porsche Power, Aust VW Scene, Aust VW Magazine, etc etc. Even VW Australia's own magazine from the 1960s, New Horizons, folded after only 4 issues. I once described and catalogued them all, and you can read the summary here :

http://www.clubvw.org.au/oldart013#cul11 

Sadly the number of air-cooled VWs on our roads is steadily shrinking. The last Type 3 was sold here in 1974, the last Beetle in 1977 and the last air-cooled T3 Kombi in 1984. In 1987 the Bureau of Statistics' vehicle registration survey recorded 170,000 Volkswagens on Australian roads, the survivors of the 420,000 or so sold up to that point. Almost all were air-coolers. Since then the number dropped to less than 25,000 by the mid-1990s, and less than 10,000 by the mid-2000s. Today there are probably less than 5,000 left, so we are a declining market in terms of numbers participating, even if our individual enthusiasm is as strong as ever.

There is a market opportunity for an Australian 'modern', or water-cooled, VW magazine. VW sells over 50,000 new vehicles here every year nowadays, so there are plenty of potential new customers who may not have any interest (yet) in the classic air-coolers. And of course there are also plenty of air-cooled VW owners who also drive and love modern VWs (I'm one). Maybe something to consider.

Good luck with the Kombi Life magazine. The Brits do well with their 'VW Camper' magazine, so hopefully you can capture similar enthusiasts here.

Glad you're including T4 and T5 Transporters, as they are all the same family. However please note that only T1, T2 and T3 Transporters are 'Type 2'. After 1965 all these have a '2'-based code in their chassis number or VIN to indicate their type - 21 for panel van, 22 for Microbus, 23 for Kombi, 24 for T3 pickup, 25 for T3 van/microbus, 26 for pickup, 27 for ambulance. But the T4 Transporter is a model '70', and the T5 is a '7H', so they're not Type 2s. Interestingly however the Crafter is a '2E', the Caddy is a '2K' and the Amarok is a '2H', so really they ARE VW Type 2s as well!

If some of the stories come from the UK, I hope you'll edit all the references to T3 Kombis being 'Type 25s' or 'T25s'. Yes the full-body T3 is a model 25 from the VIN, but the single and double-cab pickups are Type 24s. There is no such thing as a T25 pickup -it's a T3 pickup.

Also I HATE the term 'bay' or 'bay window' and refuse to use them. T2 Kombis have panoramic windows, not bay windows, which are mullioned, multi-paned and multi-sashed. VW never used the term. It was a pure invention by UK journalist Lawrence Meredith, who worked for VW Motoring in the late 1980s. He wrote some books about Kombis in the early 1990s and first used the term then. They were published by BAY BOOKS ! It was his sneaky way of promoting his publishing company, and unfortunately it has stuck. But I won't use it.

I edit Club VW Sydney's magazine Zeitschrift. You are welcome to download old issues and reuse any articles and photos you wish, so long as you acknowledge where they came from - 'Zeitschrift, Club VW Sydney'. Download old isses here:

http://www.clubvw.org.au/zeitschrift 

Can you subscribe to get back orders? And are they available to print at all

Thank you.

Yes, back orders will always be available. Download the free app and I believe you'll see what you want.

Phil - so much info... OK, let's get the Bay Window issue out of the way first. The name has stuck and so it's going to stick around in Kombi Life magazine. Sorry, but it's on the front cover for good reason. I know, I know... When I last spoke to Laurence Meredith, which was a long time ago back in the late Nineties, he never mentioned his 'Bay' claim to fame. The thought never occured to me either.

I'm with you on the T3. The 'T25' is banned. The odd one gets through, of course...

Did you meet my wife in Sydney on the Australia Day celebration week. You guys were in the centre of Sydney as part of a display of classic cars. I wasn't there - just holding the fort up here and doing my best to fend off the cyclone. She said she spoke tp a few members on the day and one, I forget his name, was kind enough to give us a copy of the NSW club magazine. Was it you by chance?

Well, between the two magazines we cover a lot of aircooled cars and some watercooled ones too, so I guess we're Australia's other VW air and watercooled magazine now! Even so, by being what we are we're ensuring Craig can keep producing VWMA for the good of Australia and we can supplement the VW scene with a more global magazine that covers different aspects. It's good to have two magazines that don't compete. Three's even better, now that Kombi Life is alive and kicking. Of course we will cross paths sometimes. Take for instance the 356 pre-A covered in an early issue, and we've got Tony's Ace Antenna van coming out soon, but we lay things out differently and being digital design the features really do come to life. Plus the ability to zoom in for detail is a bonus, as is carrying video content and slide shows.

As for an all encompassing VW magazine the thought has occured to me; right now the workload would be immense. Having said that, I've started work on something interesting, but it's very much in its infancy. Das Dub Magazine

Thanks for the links and offers. I'll follow-up in due course!

Perhaps meet up at the Nationals on Sunday? Doing the Porsche meet on the Saturday at Eastern Creek. We were thinking of having a trade stand at the Nationals - bit difficult to do when you've got no paper to haul around! Oh well, quite beneficial in a way. Less excess baggage at check-in I suppose...

I may as well prove the point... Sorry. World Exclusive - seeing as it's no where else on the WWW right now. Here's the new front cover for Kombi Life - Issue 2 - magazine in development.

Two Aussie vans being feature in this one. Tony's Ace Antenna Split photographed on a Victorian pier and a nice Blue Bay pictured around Sydney

Content in this issue from Australia, UK, Belgium, France, USA and the Netherlands (so far). We may be Australian based (QLD), but we're making Kombi Life (and Aircooled Classics) as global in terms of content as possible so as not to tread on anyone's toes. I'm sure Craig's OK with this.

Paul

I don't mind the term 'Bay Window' as a description or term to identify a kombi.
We all have real names that our parents give us and most have a nickname that your mates give you.
If it fits, it sticks. If not we all forget it and you keep your real name.
PS well done on the magazine. Nice to see the old dubs are keeping up with technology!
Dave

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your comments. Yes in previous years I used to display my Kombi at the NRMA Australia Day car show in Sydney; Club Veedub had been displaying for over 20 years. But in 2011 I got into a nasty argument with the little Hitlers from the Sydney City Council who insisted we take down our folding shade marquee - they 'weren't permitted.' We (and our kids) had to be there from 7am to 4pm in the sun without any shade allowed. I haven't been back since, and the NRMA didn't run it this year. But yes some of our members still went along this year, so I'm glad you picked up a copy of Zietschrift.

I'll have to agree to disagree over the 'bay window' thing - I hate it and won't use it. Lawrence should have called it the 'Pano' Kombi (for 'panoramic' window) and that would have been better. Volkswagen tried to call the T2 the 'Clipper' but Pan Am took legal action to stop them. The Americans would know them more as just 'VW Buses', while to Germans they are 'Bullys'. It seems to be Aussies who refer to the whole range - vans, Microbuses, pickups - as 'Kombis', and the bay window thing is a very recent kewl trend. Lawrence also tried to label the T3 as the 'Wedge', and others have tried the 'Loaf', but neither (thankfully) have caught on.

Years before creating and popularisig the 'bay window' nickname for the T2, Lawrence Meredith once wrote a letter to Safer Motoring in 1982 objecting to the use of the terms 'oval' and 'split' for early Beetles. I remember him writing that he never used the term 'can of coke', saying it should always be 'a tin of coca-cola.' He also objected to the term 'vintage Volkswagen', saying that there was no such thing and only cars made from 1919 to 1929 were 'vintage' (older ones were 'veteran'). Now he is entitled to argue these semantics and correct usage of certain terms, but then to turn around and invent 'bay window' years later ... it smacks of hypocrisy to me.

Ultimately, a T2 Kombi simply DOESN'T HAVE a bay window. This is what a real bay window looks like. Sure anyone can use the term for a VW if they wish, I can't stop them, but I personally won't succumb to peer pressure, or the dumb sheep mentality - 'everyone else does so I will.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_window 

Yes I'll be at the VW Nationals, running the audi-visual at the Club VW stand and doing voice-overs. My T2 Kombi will be there, my 12-yr old daughter will be helping me, so come and say hi.

but can it be called a bay window if its not facing the bay? Otherwise its just a window....