Well we had a great idea and plan to go a few thousand kays away and buy a squareback on the long weekend, we got it done but the amount of things that went wrong made us wonder if we were on candid camera or something.

The plan was:
Drop kids off at 3 different places for 2 nights sleepover.
Catch the red eye flight on Sun am Adelaide to Brissy.
Hire a car from airport, drive to near Lismore NSW, check it out, pay for it and generally chew the fat for a bit.
Drive back to Brissy, stay the night and catch up with friends on Monday.
Fly home on Monday evening, just in time to get our shit together for getting the kids to school on Tuesday.

Sounds simple right?

But what happened was:
Got to the airport really borderline on Sunday morning, c'mon the sun wasn't even up.
Handle on bag broke when I lifted it up over a kerb which cut every finger on my left hand (not major though but enough to annoy me)
Got to checkin 3 minutes late, had to re book a flight through Sydney which was 3 hours later, took twice as long too with the detour / transfer.
Got to Brisbane 5 hours late so didn't get to see the car on Sunday. Took a while to figure out how to get the GPS to find QLD addresses instead of SA. Checked in at hotel instead and had drinks with friends.
It seems the tropical mozzies really like my wife's fair skin, she got eaten alive Sunday night, around 100 bites on her arm between elbow and shoulder alone and her arms were covered with a top!! We are keeping the stingose factory in business at present.
Got up early Monday, went to see the car with a look around the Gold Coast on the way there, never been there before so that was good.
Finally made it to Gary's place around lunchtime, a cool guy with a house in a really picturesque spot and the longest dreads you will ever see, guaranteed! Did the car thing and paid for it etc.
Jumped in the hire car to head back to the airport and shat myself at the time, how did it get that late?
Fanged it all the way to Brisbane airport (legally), followed the signs for rental car returns and ended up at the international terminal.
Caught the shuttle bus to domestic and bolted to the check in counter, again missed check in by 3 mins or so. Sound familiar?
Had to break the news to the parents that they had another night with the kids, not happy as they couldn't go to work and kids couldn't go to school.
Had to pay through the nose (again) to change my flight to 24hrs later, only one without changing airlines and costing even more. Had to find accommodation.
This meant we had a spare day in Brisbane and since the DFO was open my wife was dying to go. Went to Mick Motors after that since they were so close (thanks GPS)
Actually made our flight that afternoon so home 24 hours late, thankfully the parents are still on speaking terms, the kids didn't drive them totally nuts.
Got Krispy Kremes so kids are happy.

All in all we got done what we had to, but what we thought was going to be a simple and fun trip turned out to be a real "adventure"

We got another VW out of it which is what its all about hey?

Sorry if its a bit of a long post but just thought it was an amusing story to share. We need a holiday now

, glad it was you and not me!
sounds like you could have bought 2 type 3,s after all that, funny story to tell

i usually look at pics, make sure the price is fair, keep in mind the car will always have more rust than whats described, then organise a truck to bring it,too much stuffing around going to look at it!

So what sort of VW did u purchase and have to go through all the pain n suffering ???

It was this one.

Yeah I still need to organise a truck even after all the stuffing around. Keen to get it on our home soil now.

It was a fun trip between all the drama, one of the main reasons we went was for an excuse to get away for the weekend as we never do that. 17 years together and we have never been on a plane together, only separately for work.

Great yarn, looks to be a good buy anyhow

haha sounds like my life

Quote:

Originally posted by annosL Great yarn, looks to be a good buy anyhow

Great score though, looks like it was totally worth the effort.

It is always great to get away with your wife for a weekend even when things don't pan out as they were supposed to.Looks like a nice type 3,glad things worked out in the end and as a bonus you got to go to micks which your wife would have been ecstatic about.. Cheers Les

Ah the fun of buying cars interstate... pretty much why i dont bother anymore!

Square looks good, what are the plans for it? Looks as though it has wide rims on the rear....

haha same deal for us same weekend! and same sorta car.

left here 2am on friday morning hoping to get to our destination by 7 am,rocked up just after 9.

loaded car on trailer had a chat bought some stuff headed home. neither of us had slept since wednesday night too excited!

drove about 4-5 hours with the wagon on the trailer car loaded up ect about 5 km out of tailem bend "whats that noise" pull over wastegate lines gone off the turbo on my jackaroo! so we pull a bit of hose off the wagon drive about an hour further towards home noise gets worse, then loss of power car wont go over 80 on the flats then goes back to normal.

We drive about another 5 minutes all good car feels normal again then the sound of turbo fins grinding the inner housings seals blew ect motor fill`s up with oil (so it`s running on a mixture of diesel and oil) and decides to take off! there we are doing 130+kms down a hill fully loaded turned the car off it kept going.

Had to jam it back in 3rd hand brake on brakes locked up and we finally stopped on the freeway about 5k`s out of murray bridge.

we wanted to be back home at 3 mates dad picked up the wagon n trailer we waited for a tow truck i got home at 8 with a absolutley buggered without a running car.

but with that said id do it again tomorrow if i had the chance!

Ain't life grand!

Mattie that's nuts, what a disaster!! So you got a squareback too? What's it like?

Doctor, since the square will be for my wife to use as a daily, most of the plans are general tidy up and slight upgrade along the way.
There's a new TMI interior being made, a banjo wheel to put on, and I'm just about to get a retrosound radio so it looks vintage but can play iPod etc.
You are right the rear wheels have been widened with 195s from memory which were a nice fit. Whilst they look OK they are nowhere near as nice as gasburners but I have to sell my other work car before they get ordered. At that point I'll be getting some motor stuff too for a 1745 mild motor (76 stroke x stock bore), better than stock but still has to have good manners for daily duty. There's a little bit of rust to get rid of in the sill on the passenger side but aside from that the body is really good.

When I get the car I'll start a thread on it to show the updates. We both can't wait!!

Hey Mattie.....heard about your escapades yesterday from Andrew....glad you made it home safely in the end!

Greg, nice pickup on the square.....looking forward to a thread with LOTS of pics.....gotta love a nice Type 3!!!

Scarab (aka: Paul)