1974 T2 Kombi Westfalia. Lyne and I bought our Kombi in 1979 from a guy in Waikanae. He had bought the vehicle in Germany and it had actually been stored there for two years prior to doing a big European tour in it. He must have had many good memories of the vehicle as he and his wife had tears in their eyes as we drove off. At one stage Lyne & I had a 1302S Beetle, a Variant SW and the Kombi, but now just the Kombi. Before that we owned for 10 years a lovely blue 1200 Beetle which we did well over 100,000 miles without touching the motor. Our three sons were basically brought up in the Kombi, having travelled the length and breadth of New Zealand on camping holidays. I think they were looking forward to owning it one day as it has become a family heirloom, but hey guys you are going to have to wait many many more years yet, as your Mum and Dad still love it. There are so few on the road now and everywhere we go it becomes a talking point. We were driving alongside a train one day and the driver was waving to us and tooting his horn - he must be a VW nut. Had many memorable times with the Kombi - one was back in the 1980s when the VW Nationals were being held in Auckland. As we were driving north just passed Bulls I thought the power was dropping off. By the time we reached Flat Hills she was well down on power. A few phone calls later Arie and Brent (who were also heading for the Nats the following day) brought up a new exhaust valve, we stayed the night in the Kombi at Flat Hills and next day the motor was out, repaired (on a 40-gal drum) and put back in and off we headed for Auckland. My brother from England was gobsmacked by this Kiwi fix-it. The Kombi has now covered only 140,000 genuine kms (yes its in kms). We have done very little modifications to it and tried to keep it original. It has not been resprayed only touched up as little incidents occur. They say that cars are a depreciating asset but with a “classic” they can double or treble, as is the case with this Kombi. I had to have the windscreen replaced this year. Back in 1980 it got a stone chip and never failed a warrant tilll now. So insurance paid. Funny thing is that then I noticed a scratch on the new window, so they replaced the screen again and gave me the scratched one, so if you need bay screen I have a spare. Looking forward to the VW Nationals in Napier and also the big Kombi tour of the South Island the following year after the Nelson Nationals.