How many people on AVD own a bay Kombi camper coversion by either Trakka (formerly Trakkavan), or Modular Camping Industries?

I'm particularly interested in finding out how many Trakka kombi's still exist in Australia... as they seem very few and far between... and how many are owned by AVD members.

The only ones thus far that Ive seen are mine, baybuscamperkids, and a white one on ebay a few months ago... a grand total of 3! :duh... plus the one on the Trakka site.

They have a similar configuration to the common "official" Sopru camper, however they do not have a gas cylinder storage compartment on the drivers side, and the poptop is lower profile and has a black rubber seal a few inches above the gutters when closed, as the poptop edge stops short of the gutter. They have chrome 1920's style hood-catches to hold down the poptop... which seems to lift higher than the Sopru unit when up.

Here is a couple of pics...

This IS a Trakkavan camper.






This is NOT a Trakka!




I'm also as mentioned before, interested in the Modular Camping Industries conversions and how many are around... they seem to be particularly obscure. I think kombikim has one?

ANyway...this probably seems pointless...but i wont be happy till ive asked hehe .. If ya got Trakka pictures, please post em up! :bounce

if you happen to have a trakka.. maybe also find time to go to this here thread on BWM...http://s3.phpbbforfree.com/forums/baywindowmafia-about9.html

Cheers lads and lasses!

[ Edited on 12-6-2006 by Schmoburger ]

good luck! i know there is a short - roofed one out near me in Lilydale, used to see it around a bit, had stickers on the roof, and one of the others on here has a trakka as well because he was making up stickers for them (cant remember who) besides that i have seen maybe 5 in my travels, which is crazy, since they were so nicely made, all that marine ply, the best long-term layout as far as i am concerned (take a look in their new VW campers, they still use the identical layout - swing stove behind passenger, sink and fridge behind driver, wardrobe covering one rear window, drivers side, and mini shelves in the corner behind that,only now the mini shelves house a hot water service)
unfortunately you wont get any help from Trakka, i went to their plant in NSW when i was travelling, and no-one from the 70's works there anymore and most of the paperwork from the time was either destroyed or lost in a big shift to their current premisis. an interesting read though, i have a magazine artical from about 78? from a 4x4 mag on the aacross Aus van that they made.

hmm, so camper bays were never standard were they?

they were never built 'in-house' but each country did have an 'official' builder. Westphalias were the German OEMish manufacturers and VW even made vans with custom roof supports to match the westies needs, over here VW released official brochures for CampMobiles so i suppose they were the recommended fitter over here, although i have a feeling Soprus were sold at VW dealerships as well. so far as i understand Trakka came on to the scene a little later (1974) and did new vans, (which i believe mine is one of), customers vans and possibly even sold diy kits.

yep Campmobiles were all built by Sopru

oh yeah, our 75 camper is Modular, a microbus, converted by them, the only other modular ones I have had a close look at were microbuses as well, very goos quality fitouts

[ Edited on 13-6-2006 by kombikim ]

So do all campers have an engineer certificate???

neither of mine did/does the Sopru had a plate affixed by sopru saying it was a four seater , whereas the compliance plate said 2
& both are registered as "motorhomes" which means that is what the RTA determined they are, I think if you have a poptop Camper VW in NSW & the rego does not say "motorhome" then you are somewhat in trouble without an engineers certificate

[ Edited on 13-6-2006 by kombikim ]

T'was the ONLY reason i did it

Hey.... no fair!

You changed it!!! :cussing

sorry? changed what?

(rings home to let dogs out & secure possessions & hide kombi)

[ Edited on 13-6-2006 by kombikim ]

Sopru were the Aussie equivilant of the Westy and Canmpmobile in the US and Europe... and hence the most popular... Trakka came onto the scene in 1973 and made a camper similar to the Sopru... but IMO rather more aesthetically pleasing because of the lower top and the lack of crappy bits attached to the side (gas cylinder storage etc).

Trakkavan were quite an innovative company and as bbcc said, they made very high quality conversions... using good marine ply instead of crappy chipboard unlike some other companies, and other small details such as metal hood-catches holding down the poptop instead of ties or straps. They even patented a design for very low power consumption camping fridge... which was almost perfected when Electrolux came out with a comparable unit... which went into trakka campers from then on.

They also introduced swivelling front seats in mid-1976 which turned the front cabin into a part of the van's living space.

I believe sunliner also came onto the scene around the same time as Trakka, building vans similar to the westy in their interior layout and appointments and external appearance. Many Sunliners came with such items as mirrors, full length cupboards and electric water pump... presumably in an effort to rival Trakka and Sopru in luxury... and I suppose it is for this reason Sunliners seem relatively common.

As ya say, it's a shame Trakka's arent more common these days... cos they really are a well-designed, comfortable and nice looking van... IMHO the best looking of the poptop kombi's.

Ive never seen another one aside from my own in person

Hey kim... fekkinel showed me a pic the other night of him and a few of his uni mates kombis, and I believe one of them also to be a Modular...

As for the certification plate... I dont believe Sopru's were required to have the conversions certified and plated for whatever reason... something to do with being the official VW-approved converter or something i think... but all other companies conversions like Trakka, MCI, Sunliner etc did require certification and a plate to be considered a legal modification and pass roadworthy.

That said I as yet have not been able to locate a plate on my Trakka bus aside from the normal vehicle certification plate behind the seat... but its been happily registered in NSW for at least 20 years...

Would still love to see some more piccies of some Trakka buses if anyones got any and like to know if anybody else has a Trakkavan...or is it just me and baybuscamperkid? :alien

Cheers