Some things I've found in my wanderings:

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/hippie-shakers-20100513-v049.html 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/columnists/jamesmay/7652453/Happiness-is-...

Bugger!,I am coming down next weekend,on the upside there will be some good stuff at the the Nat's.

Looks like the first one only appeared in the Drive (SMH) section today.

Tony Davis is something of a 'smart arse', in that he likes criticising old cars for humorous effect. Unfortunatley his research skills are not up to the same level as his one-liners. His father, Pedr Davis, tested a VW Transporter for Wheels magazine in 1955 and raved about it - as you would, when you compare what other equivalent vehicles were around then - Morris, Austin and Commer vans. Tony Davis is judging a 1950s Kombi by 2010 standards - a bit unfair. He also made some mistakes:

* Kombis did not have thin sheet metal, as Tony implies. They used 0.8mm sheet, and being a unitary body (not bolt-on like the Beetle) it was very strong.

* The original Kombi had the 1100cc engine not because 'VW didn't feel it needed a bigger engine'. It was because that's all they had. It was little more than a year since the Germans got the factory back from the British Army, and they were still recovering from the war in 1950. Again, a lack of perspective.

* The T2 Kombi appeared in late 1967 as a 1968 model, and not in Australia until March 1968. 'Affecionardos' don't call them 'Bay Window' models; only people who don't know any better (a real bay window is a double-sashed three-panel window). And no one calls the T3 Kombi a 'wedge'. And it was air-cooled for two years until water-cooling came in 1984.

* Tony implies that early Kombis were 'cheap' and 'unsophisticated' - hah. VW Transporters were actually quite pricey on the Australian market. In 1956, when a deluxe Beetle was £945, a Kombi panel van was £1,166 and a Microbus was £1,310 - more than a FE Holden. Kombis have always had four-wheel independent suspension - 2010 Hiaces still don't - and Kombis have had full syncromesh since 1961, and Y-frame chassis members and front deformation elements since 1968. What other 1-tonne van has front-rear walk-through? Four-joint rear suspension? VW Kombis were the only 1-tonne van to pass Australian front impact crash tests in 1984 (which Toyota tried to halt with an injunction). Kombis have always been far more sophisticated than the cheap and cheerful Jap vans.

* NSW might have a couple of 'major' VW clubs - Club Veedub and Flat Four - but Leanne's club isn't one of them. However, I'll be supporting their event by showing my Kombi on Sunday - even though it's uncomfortably close to the VW Nationals.