It's Kombi season!

fragger · September 28, 2017, 05:43:32 PM

Our annual festival is on again this weekend, and out little community will swell from about 5,000 people to about 5 times that number. And once again, there will be Kombis galore as they try to up the world record for having the most Kombis in one place at one time (they managed to set the record a year or two ago, and more come every year). It's cool watching them all arriving, and the locals love them - not just for the rare sight of so many Kombis, but for the trade they bring to the local businesses. Some people who live along the main road set themselves up on their front lawns, have barbies and make a day of it, waving to all the Kombis arriving. The Kombi owners also get a kick out of the welcome. It's such a convivial atmosphere. I live right near the corner of my street and the main one, so I can wander out the front door and watch the Kombis roll past.

Because I don't like crowds, I usually stay away from the festivities, even though it's only a five-minute walk down the road from my place. But I might go down and try to snap some Kombi pictures this time around. There are some really cool ones that turn up.

There's live music, a big fete, rides for the kids and an aerobatics display. Sometimes we get an F-18 flypast from the fighter base 100 kays or so away (a few minutes flight-time for a Hornet

) They also have a surprisingly large fireworks display on Saturday night, which I get to see all of from my front yard. Last year's went for about twenty minutes, and proper big fireworks too, like New Year's Eve type stuff.

I just hope this doesn't happen again:

Spoiler

This was in 2011. An small light-plane crashed into a ferris wheel and got stuck there. It was an overcast day and the pilot didn't see the ferris wheel in time to avoid it. It didn't help that the ferris wheel had been set up almost right in line with the end of the airfield runway, which is about 200 meters directly behind the ferris wheel in this shot.

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Thankfully nobody got hurt, mainly because it happened right at the end of the day and there were only two kids on the ride at the time. They'd been sitting in one of the gondolas, not the highest one seen here but the one to the right of it. Still must have been pretty scary for them. If anybody had been in the two gondolas that the plane ran into... The wheel had been rotating counter-clockwise in this view, so if the plane had hit a few seconds later, those kids would have been right in the plane's path. There'd been two guys in the plane as well, and this photo was taken after the fire brigade had gotten everybody down.

And no, that's not snow on the ground, it's flame retardant. Like we ever get snow around here...

Art Blade · September 28, 2017, 09:50:40 PM

imagine an F-18 had blasted through that wheel

Well, let's hope for the best and all that, have fun

PZ · September 29, 2017, 08:11:57 AM

I don't like crowds either fragger, especially when I need to drive to, and find a parking spot. Then even worse is the mass exodus which sometimes leaves you hours in grid lock.

Hope you have fun anyway

Dweller_Benthos · September 29, 2017, 08:14:53 AM

Pretty cool, but, ummm... what's a Kombi? Some type of carnival?

mandru · September 29, 2017, 08:18:48 AM

Sounds like a good time. I'd like to see a few shots (if you get around to it) comparing base line Kombis to some of the more elaborate rigs. I have to believe that there will be at least a few eccentric modders among the purists.

There's so much irony in that photo. My initial impression of the Ferris wheel's proximity and being so near the airfield runway struck me as a savvy spider successfully snaring a fly in its web. Hopefully the event planners will continue to use better judgment to avoid a repeat of this sort of mishap.

fragger · September 29, 2017, 08:36:46 PM

No ferris wheel this time, I guess they learned their lesson

@D_B, a Kombi is a Volkswagen van, also known as a "Hippie Wagon". You'll see some in the photos below.

@mandru, I plan to go down again later today or tomorrow when there will be more Kombis to see. I'll try to fulfill your request

I wandered down the road to have a look around mid-morning, before it got too crowded. Man, the people pouring into town is unreal. They're expecting about 35,000 people to come, which is seven times the usual population of the place. It's a bit of a dull day, but it's not cold. Far from it - it's very warm and stinking humid outside. It's clearing up though as I write this. And getting hot.

Because it was early (Saturday) the Kombis have only really just begun to arrive, so there aren't too many here yet. But there is a nice array of other classic cars and hot-rods here (it's not all about Kombis). I snapped a few, and there were so many cool machines that I could have snapped a lot more, but I didn't want to be posting scores of images. So there's just a few here.

I put all the photos into this spoiler:

Spoiler

Traffic coming into town, looking back towards my place (which you can't see from here).
Normally there'd be like only two or three cars on the road at once, on average, and almost no cars parked along the street.
It's like a city street today though. Our house is several blocks from the festivities and it's half-full of parked cars already.
I'm glad I've got a double lock-up...

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Part of our little town centre.

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Right - some classics, then. Plenty to see. This is near the beach, on a big open $p@rts field with the airstrip to the right.
It's mostly flat around here so it's hard to get any good panoramic-type shots.

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A few of the Kombis that have arrived so far. No real stand-outs yet.

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I happened to run into my brother-in-law, John (in the white T-shirt, with his mate Dave).
This Ford truck, "Doris", is his pride and joy which he displays at car shows and such (it's not his regular day-to-day vehicle, of course. It's too precious for that).
John and my nephew Nathan painstakingly restored it over several years, and now it's immaculate.
Engine, chassis and bodywork totally reconditioned, tray rebuilt from scratch, and all the wood in the tray is new - lovingly cut, finished and fitted. They did an awesome job.

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And this is Dave's ride, his gorgeous Harley. I'm not an enormous Harley fan as such, but this one is a beauty.
I lost count of how many after-market bits and pieces are on it. And I love those white-walled tyres.

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And I also loved this classic T-bird.

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And finally, here's a hot-rod of yesteryear, taking people for rides up and down the road.

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Like I said, there were far too many to photograph. Among the ones that also took my fancy were a Corvette Stingray, a Triumph Stag, various 70s-era Holden Monaro and Dodge Charger muscle cars and an E-type Jag. There were also some really vintage numbers, like a 1931 Chrysler (left-hand drive) and an antique Maxwell. Too many others to mention.

I didn't venture as far as the beach, where all the rides and markets and such are set up. It was getting too crowded down there, so I called it quits and came home. Maybe later today or tomorrow, I'll brave the throngs again. I just can't stand crowds anymore.

Just had a peek outside and it's still bumper-to-bumper on the main road. Good luck finding a parking spot, folks...

Art Blade · September 30, 2017, 01:04:58 AM

beautiful, fragger, nice shots -- keep 'em coming

fragger · September 30, 2017, 05:58:46 AM

Cheers Art

I have more but it's getting late and I'm buggered from all the walking in the heat earlier

Will post some more piccies tomorrow. Right now I'm in blob-out mode...

Art Blade · September 30, 2017, 06:00:08 AM

cheers and have a good one

PZ · September 30, 2017, 08:53:38 AM

Nice pics fragger

mandru · September 30, 2017, 08:55:11 AM

Great photos fragger.

+1

I've always had a real soft spot for old trucks and your brother-in law's dumper is a real sweetie.

I was thinking you could quickly become one of the most popular guys at this event if you had one of these:
www.hammacher.com/Product/12991?promo=search&cmp=cel&trigger=ac&query=beer

I'm not sure what your local licensing requirements are but I suspect with this kind of crowd in party mode you could pay for the cart and product as well as ending up with a few extra coins in your pocket. It holds three kegs but I think the two taps are drawn from the same keg so you can't offer a brew choice. But hey, the progressive gearing set up will make it an easy peddle back and forth from home to load up refills.

All you'd need to add is a boombox and a CD burned to cycle popular drinking songs like "In Heaven There Is No Beer" and you'll have people running out to meet you.

fragger · September 30, 2017, 03:53:28 PM

Thanks muchly guys

That beer trike would have been a definite hit, mandru

It would have kept me busy alright!

I went back again yesterday afternoon and snapped a few more cool cars and checked out the Kombis. There's were more there then, but I didn't see any really super modded-up ones. Most of them are owned by purists, it seems. There was the usual smattering of rust-buckets but most of them are in prime condition.

Spoiler

I like this Kombi best:

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Here's a few more classic and vintage numbers.
Unfortunately, the Corvette, the Jag and the Maxwell were gone when I went back, but there was now a Model T
and some other noteworthy new arrivals. The '31 Chrysler was actually a '29 model.
Missed by two years

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Pity this one didn't come out too well, the old Chrysler. I doctored it up as best I could in Photoshop.
This is why I prefer an SLR digital camera to one with a LCD screen - on a bright day, you can barely see what you're snapping, let alone whether it's in focus.
(I'm one of those cavemen who don't own a smart phone). I think I shot before the auto-focus did its thing...
My Dad had one of these Chryslers back in the late 40s, and it was old then.

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At 4:00 Saturday afternoon, all the Kombis saddle up and have a group-drive up the main street, which, after leaving the town,
goes for about 15 kays to the freeway. They drive all the way up there, do a U-turn at the big freeway entrance/exit roundabout
and come back to the festival site for the night. Lots of "aah-ooo-gah" horns were sounding and peace signs being flipped from drivers and spectators alike, it was quite fun.

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Good fireworks show last night. Best part about that is that I only have to step outside the front door to get a nice unobstructed view of it.

I think I might sit this day out. Maybe I'll see how I feel later, but I've pretty much had my fill of crowds for one year $:-\$

Art Blade · September 30, 2017, 05:34:02 PM

cool, fragger

The last pic, the pic within the pic in the lower right corner, that's a cool-looking type of VW bus, with those thousands of windows

mandru · September 30, 2017, 06:05:37 PM

Nice shots fragger thanks for sharing.

fragger · September 30, 2017, 07:22:44 PM

My pleasure mandru

Yep Art, I tried to get that one but with the sun shining on the camera's LCD from almost right behind, all I could do was point and hope for the best

It's Kombi season!

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