The Kombined VW Club has been around since the '80's!. Below is an article written by long time member Philip Coyle outlining the complete history of our club.

Kombi Club of Wellington

The Wellington Kombi Club was set up in February 1988 by Doug Hay and Brent Mewett. As the name suggests the club was for type 2 Volkswagens. The club was run on informal with no fees and a short monthly newsletter. The club grew to 26 members and the runs averaged 6 or 7 Kombi's. Some of the events included going to the Pinnacles in the Wairarapa, Steam train museums, swimming pools in winter and even a bird sanctuary near Masterton. Due to the club having a static membership it was decided on the second anniversary of the Kombi Club to trial a run for all aircooled VW's, 58 vehicles turned up ! The name of the club changed when it was decided to open it up to all VW's to the Kombined VW club of Wellington.

Kombined VW Club of Wellington

The structure of the club was set up in February 1990. The clubs main objective was to bring together people who share an interest in Volkswagens. The regularity of runs has varied from monthly to quarterly depending on the interest by members. The Kombined VW club has produced regular magazines and for the last couple of years the club has had a web site. At one stage the club had 110 members but in more recent times the membership has hovered around 50 members. The only foundation member still in the club is Brent Mewett.

The Club had a hand in organizing the first two Nationals (91 and 92) in Taupo through the involvement of Ben Spencer. This occurred out of a growing interest in VW's in Auckland and Wellington. It was decided to organize an event half way between the two centres.

Some of the Club's memorable events include a run where Porsche and VW owners drove each others cars including 3 911's (1991). The Kombined club organized the 4th Nationals in 1994 which were held in Masterton. In 1996 the club organized a run to protest at the substandard 96 fuel that was being introduced. A regular event that has been well attended is International Day of the Beetle on the 22nd of June each year. In 1997 we had 78 beetles attend. Also well attended and enjoyed have been a number of the overnight runs.

After attending the Auckland Nationals (2001) it was decided that the club would explore the possibility of hosting another Nationals. As the 2002 Nationals were being hosted by John in Nelson the Kombined VW Club decided to put up their hands for the 2003 Nationals.