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well heres my story of my epic road trip .me and my buddy dan left melburg about 11am fri morning loaded up extra fuel cans as the karmann fuel tank
isn't the largest and the 1916 can be a litle thirsty when you give her a tickle.We planned to hit Sydney first night meet some old Sydney friends a
little dinner and a few drinks early start and off to Sawtell 10 min from Coffs Harbour the next morning.
We were motoring along quite nicely with the only problem the new breather kit i had fitted the day previously was throwing a little oil .It was
becoming dark when we were about 100 km from sydney when as we came around a bend there was a short grinding sound followed by a total loss of power
.I pulled to the side of the road and quickly realised i could not select any gears !We didn't have a torch but i knew the problem was terminal and
couldn't be fixed with the limited tools we had so we called the ever faithful RACV ,i cannot recommend being a member of total care enough they
really looked after us.
It pays to keep an eye on where you are the whole time as we stopped in the middle of nowhere no signs no one stopped to help .Luckily we still had
service on our phones and we had been writng down the miles travelled at each fuel stop so we could calculate fuel consumption as we have no fuel
guage in the ghia .We were exactly 46 km from our last fuel stop so the nice scottish NRMA who was amazed to see a Karmann Ghia and not the kia ghia
they told him he had to pick up .We had organised accomodation in Sydney so i didn't want to stay in Mittagong so we towed the car back to the NRMA
holding yard i was alot worried about leaving my car there but the owner of the yard was a vw nut too and it was kept company by the beetle he is
currently restoring.
Handly located next door was the local cab company who would be taking us to Sydney .The driver said he didn't particularly want to drive the journey
in one of the cabs so he would take us to Sydney in the fairlane limo as it would be more comfortable for him too this trip $350 dollars worth was
RACV covered too.We got to Sydney after midnight had a shower and hit the local german beer hall in the rocks ate bad shnitzel drank copious amounts
of Lowenbrau from our half litre stines served by busty beer hall girls we were asked to move on when the restaurant closed closed to there upstairs
bar .I couldn't believe the bad hits of the 80's and tragic crew there ,needless to say a couple of greasers like us stood out like an asshole on
your elbow so we decided to call it a night .
I messaged hertz, beer doc ,rossko and Jnr 356 of my plight and they set about helping with the ghias return to melburg town.Beer doc posted up about
our delema in the hope someone could help with parts locally .The VW gods must have been smiling upon us as i recieved a call from Steve Muller saying
if i got the old girl to his place he would get her going again ,his over the phone diganosis suggested a stripped out brake drum and sure enough he
was right .The NRMA then transported the car to steves northern Sydney property there we were warmly welcomed by quite a few of the local DSK boys and
even Bruce who was down from Byron Bay .We Got the guided tour of Steves collection wow what could i say i nearly died from a fatal erection .Steve
and i had spoken previously several times and i had sold him a bus but we had never meet .Steve a huge thankyou you a star very generous guy and a
clown .Steve had got stickers made up for the Karmann Ghia some stage during the night/daywith DSK (Der Shit Karmann)on it i happily put it on the car
.We helped the guys load a bus up on a tralier had quick beer and we were back on the road again .
The torrential rain had started to set in on us and we struggled on up the coast towards Sawtell .The rain belted down relentlessly and with no heater
and the car quickly filling up with water we were soon freezing our proverbiles off .One of the wipers gave up just out of Sawtell but we got there
about midnight had a hot shower and went to bed .We kind of missed the show but got up early chatted to a few of the guys and girls i think the flat
black ghia with the couple of Elvis impersonators caused quite a stir as it did whenever we stopped for gas .We were asked to sing at a restaurant but
we politey declined along the way .It was like we were the blues brothers but we were on a mission from the devil!!
We went for a cruise with a couple of guys nice to meet you DUB 61 i really like your bug very neat.We stayed the night got a bit pissed at th local
and headed back in the morning the rain ,the trucks and 1 windscreen wiper forced me into taking an inland route we just couldn't shake that rain and
as the car was filling up with water we decided to stop at Tamworth for the night managed to get the last room in town as there is currently a massive
agquip show on .We loaded the car up and deceided to do one long straight drive home i figured about 12 hours but it turned out to be 18 on this
stretch .
We lost the speedo cable this was devastating as we could no longer work out when we would run out of fuel ,only had to use the emergency tank once
.Judging your speed limit only by the humm of your motor can be quite th challenge but i guess i will find out if i get any speeding fines in a couple
of weeks .Plod didn't catch us so i hope i was on the money .As we pulled in to melburg i was deleriously tired i did the 7am to 1am stretch solo as
Dan didn't know the car hes a bit more used to the creature comforts of his new turbo Jetta .The journey did harden him up though so thats a positive
,once the karmann was unloaded i sat down to a nice cold beer in front of the heater to defrost what a trip nice to see the glorious sunny victorian
weather NSW is for suckers mexico is where it's at i'm glad that trips over maybe there was some merit in Dan suggestion to take the Jetta now that
i think of it but as a wise man once said you can't put a price tag on cool .
[ Edited on 22/8/2007 by CAFFINEPUSHERMAN ]
[ Edited on 22/8/2007 by CAFFINEPUSHERMAN ]
Great read. Yeah Steve's one of the good guys. Der Shit Karmann sticker is a classic. Glad you made it back ok, but that's a heck of a stint back
from Tamworth. Yeah I'd rather be in Mleb myself somedays...
fatal erection
great story, was good to meet you guys and the beer was sweet
Classic, at least you got a great story out of it (as well as frozen bollocks!)
Chris,
If you had gone in the jetta, just think how boring and uneventful your trip would have been. Not to mention the great people you got to meet & have
beers with.
The Karmann was just trying to spice up your life a bit & give you an interesting trip.
Regards,
Matt.
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great to catch up, next time we want to see the sparkle suit!..
glad you survived an eventful and interesting journey. It's the trips that go to shit that you will always talk about, not the boring 12 stint you had in a modern mobile(air,comfy seats,elevator music) Harden up and drive your dubs. nice to meet you you guys and welcome some true enthustists who drive there classics not polish them. Karmann looked very HARD when I was following you back from the parts stash. don't take the Jetta, take the road less followed. Cheers Guys
Sounded like a fun trip much like VWFools trip to the Vic Jamboree last year but as Marc AKA Dubb61 said its trips like that that you don't forget
and you'll laugh about for ages afterwards.
I bet i cop it for saying this but REAL DUBBERS drive old air
Older the better...
Great story, thanx for sharing. Road trips are full of memories and fun. The pain of breakdowns wears off with the fun u have!
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:thumb Top story. dont know if you remember us but we certainly remember you (flat black ghia with an Elvis impersonator!) maybe, but more like a rat
rocker, you certainly made an impression (being an ex rocker from years back) when you came roll'n into the camping grounds of Sawtell. We were
packing up at the time when you drove up to us asking us where all the action was. When we heard you drove up all the way from Melbourne in the rain,
we knew, man this rockers a legend.
I felt so sorry for you that your destination was a wash out . Your Gia although a troublesome critter, was hot and the overall coolness was !!!!
COOL, VERY COOL.
Yes thanks for sharing your story with us all makes my snapped off wriper on my 63 Beetle look pathetic.
Lets hope we'll meet you again
Stay cool
:thumbRACKIE
great tail of woe but i must say i am a bit jelous as i have always found with any desternation it's always the trip or journey thats remembered a
desternation is just another place to leave from keep it going
steve
haha, will keep looking for you...
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i don't think the dd is for sale went there for a look
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Everything is forsale...
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Chris, you already know I think you're a legend!
I am getting a mental image of the sort of splitty you would end up driving....MAN its full on!!!
Great to meet you in Sawtell ...great read ...great??? road trip one you wont forget ..thanks for making the effort to come !!!...this weekend the weather has been perfect ...we had over 400mm sunday to friday last!!!...need rain just organise a VW meeting!!!...
it appears to be so