THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE VOLKSWAGEN CLUB OF VICTORIA
WAGENSVILLE VOLUME 63 OR 64? EDITION 1 – 2017
T H E VO L K S W A G E N S T A T E
VWCLUB.COM.AU VWCV COMMITTEE 2017 n President n Vice President n Associate Editor n Secretary n Treasurer n Web Master n Club Historian n Technical Officer n Membership Secretary n Club Plate Scheme Officer n Cruise and Events Co-ordinator n Constitution & Association matters n Day of the Volkswagen n Editor
Andrew Ermel president@vwclub.com.au Michael Cronin vicepresident@vwclub.com.au Mandy Turner associateeditor@vwclub.com.au Chris Scane secretary@vwclub.com.au Matt Reynolds treasurer@vwclub.com.au Julian Langlet webmaster@vwclub.com.au Chris Scane historian@vwclub.com.au John Goodison technical@vwclub.com.au Charmain Green memberships@vwclub.com.au Andrew Ermel chplates@vwclub.com.au Chris Jeffes events@vwclub.com.au John Stevens constitution@vwclub.com.au Lloyd Davies dovw@vwclub.com.au Andy RyanÂŽ editor@vwclub.com.au
SCHADENFREUDE! HA HA, BE IST LOOKING AT DER FUNNY PEOPLE IST RUN DA CLUB YA? I COULD ZE DO MUCH MORE BETTER. I WANT TO BE ON ZE COMMITTEE TOO... SCHNELL! We are always looking for new people to assist on the VWCV Committee. If you think you could help out at our club, contact Andrew Ermel at the email listed on the left. You could be the next Junior Vice President and make Volkswagen great again! Actually, it's still great.
VWCV MEMBERSHIP FEES Single Annual Full membership Single 3 year Full Membership Family Membership additional Membership Joining Fee
$60 $155 $20 per mem/per year $10 first year only
Wagensville is the monthly newsletter of the Volkswagen Club of Victoria Inc. Correspondence, articles and items of news or items for sale are invited and should be sent to: VWCV Editor: GPO Box 1215 Melbourne, Vic 3001 or editor@vwclub.com.au
Disclaimer: All material in this newsletter represents the opinions of the author(s) and does not carry any endorsement by the Editor and Editor Assistant or Committee unless otherwise stated. Any material advertised for sale does not carry any endorsement by the Club and the onus is on the purchaser to ensure the purchased goods meet their requirements. Each VWCV Member is a volunteer carrying out club duties in their own leisure time. The Club has no paid officials, only enthusiasts dedicated in furthering the interests of the Club and its members. Therefore, please bear this in mind when contacting Club Committee Members.
February 2017
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PRESIDENT ANDREW ERMEL Keep those old Volkswagens on the road and keep those club permits coming in
A A A
ANDREW ERMEL VWCV PRESIDENT
Contributions
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Wagensville News
February 2017
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1923 Kombi Auto Persu Dim Sim InterstateTransport Utility
Andy RyanÂŽ | 2017
2017 VWCV
EDITOR
REPORT ANDY RYAN
ÂŽ
Happy new year to all. Even though by the time I finish this magazine it's probably almost next year. Happy new year for 2018 as well! You and your car are now one year older. For my 1964 Beetle (it's really a 65), that's good. For me, that's bad. As the editor of what was a monthly magazine and now a quarterly, I often wonder what actual purpose the magazine serves. Is it to inform, entertain, share knowledge or is it simply just something you receive as part of your membership? Like being given a lollipop after getting a needle or a haircut. Or leprosy.
But what is the magazine? What should it be? I have been editor for just over a year now and I am probably still trying to figure out what it is that is required of the magazine. But the magazine couldn't be done without the help of firstly Josh Handicott for the past year and for the last few months, Associate Editor, Mandy Turner. Without their help and the assistance and the encouragement of Andrew Ermel (President) or Richard Graham (former President), I probably would have chucked it in ages ago. I am grateful for their assistance. While I appreciate that I often hear that the magazine looks good from VWCV Committee members, I don't think that that is enough and not really the purpose of the magazine. As a designer, when I first took on this role, I imagined I would be simply laying out the thoughts, articles and photos supplied by members. There have been some fantastic articles supplied throughout the year. My favourite was the most recent article by Jeff Ooi, who had remained the 'unknown' author for a while as we tried to establish who had written the article. Or Yauming Chiam's inspirational article that inspired the cruise to St Andrew's pub, not to mention numerous articles from our sister club in Canada. However, the December issue of the Wagensville News magazine did not contain any submitted articles or photos from members. Nothing. Deadlines approach and often all I see are empty pages. The Wagensville office building is not that big, but it's often hard to track people down. Often I can only find my son or two or three cats. Earlier last year, my son, who was 8 at the time, wrote an article about his trip to Volkswagens in the Square (VITS, Albury). But he is reluctant to write for the mag on a regular basis due to his media commitments.
Day of the Volkswagen day (of the Volkswagen) I know that not all 650 members went to the show, but I did see quite a few members there. Wouldn't you have liked to have read something about it? Joel Strickland, a professional photographer supplied some great pics of the DOVW but it would have been even better if it had of been accompanied by an article written by a member. The VWCV Facebook page called out to members who may have been interested in describing their experience on the day. Over 1,530 people viewed the message, I think three people 'liked' it and no one commented or put their hand up to write something. To come up with 500 words is not that difficult or time consuming. Writing 500 words and adding a couple of pics, fills up two pages. 1,000 words is 4 to 6 pages. And you become a published author. The magazine is not looking for facts and figures, but simply looking to share experiences among members, whether it be your time on a cruise, the love of your car, building it, fixing it, driving it, modifying it, cleaning it (well maybe not cleaning it) and so forth. I actually could write an article on cleaning my car. I do it a lot. Not very exciting though.
So if anyone has any ideas that they would like to share, please let us know. We would like to continually improve not only the magazine, but the club in general to ensure that it survives well into the future. This means having a wider range of people involved at all levels of the club. You could have your own blog every month. As long as it's vaguely VW related of course. You could assist in quite a few different areas depending on where your interests lie. Writing, photography, club secretarial or treasury assistance, technical advice or website assistance or contribution. You could be the official VWCV Photographer. Or become the Assistant Junior Vice-President Volunteer Liaison Commissioner and Duty Officer for the 2017 Victorian Day of the Volkswagen. Think of the prestige! Think of the extra money! Actually, there's no money, we are ALL volunteers.
How do we fill 32 to 40 pages without any content apart from regular committee members that contribute articles? I have listed some ideas below just to get the ball rolling: n Regular Bloggers n A column by an industry expert n Case studies or success stories n FAQs n Volkswagen world news n Personal profile n Be the VWCV Photographer! n Seasonal tips or advice n Ideas for upcoming events n Event recaps n Interviews n Resources n How-to articles n Contribute to VWCV website n Member of the month n Product reviews n New members cars n Top 10 Lists n Fun stuff, puzzles, quizzes, polls, trivia, etc n Social content n Refer-a-friend promotion n Social Media posts n A contest (not like the one from Seinfeld) n Inspiring stories (not like this one)
So come on!
Get involved and be proud of YOUR VW Club and YOUR VWCV Mag. Be a part of it, we're all busy these days, but try to spend an hour a month and see what you can come up with. I look forward to seeing your contributions! Let's try and get Wayne Lewis out of the magazine for good! regawrds,
Wayne Lewis (and Andy RyanÂŽ)
VW Gaz M-20 Pobeda Beetle
Andy RyanÂŽ | 2017
VW Tatra FTG Swagman Marina Zeta
Andy RyanÂŽ | 2017
Hi, about 40 years ago we donated a VW bug 1954 model to your club and I am curious if it is still in existence. Reg number was GGN 812. TORQUAY REPORT The 10th Torquay Rotary Motor Show had a great turnout, considering the weather was freezing and a bit a wet. Quite the opposite from the scorcher of last year. The club organised to meet at Avenel BP for a 7:30am getaway. After a top-up of hot drinks and quick catchups, around 20 Volkswagen’s were on their way down the freeway. Our next meeting point was the Surf Coast Shire Council office which was just outside of Torquay, so we could regroup. As we were driving out, Max and Min’s Beetle produced a giant spark under the engine and before we knew it, there was smoke coming from the air vents above the boot lid. Everybody immediately pulled over and a few raced to the car with fire extinguishers, knowing fully well how bad this could get. Andy Ryan copped a face full of extinguisher powder but managed to put the carby, that was on fire, out very quickly. Most of us haven’t witnessed a VW on fire before and it was quite a shock to see. The culprit was a loose fuel line. Amazingly, Max and Min drove the car to Torquay without any more issues, and displayed the engine bay to intrigued on-lookers. It was amazing to see how everyone stepped in to help. It makes you proud to be in the VW family. The judges combed over every detail of the cars and a few of us got a yellow sticker (shortlisted for a category). Jason’s orange Peel ended up getting a red sticker and won his category which was well deserved. Once the awards were finished after 3pm, most of us went on our way as the wind started to pick up and got even colder. The Volkswagen’s were a smash hit as always with the public and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.
CHRIS SCANE
HISTORIAN'S
CORNER T H E VO L K S W A G E N S T A T E
In this years ‘corner’, we have some more interesting tales from our club newsletter and other Volkswagen publications of that time.
FEBRUARY 2012 Michael Cronin was the Club President, Lloyd Davies was Vice President and Lyn Davies was Secretary, John Farlow was Treasurer and Xavier Larkin was the Editor, with assistance from Andrew Ermel and Mike Cronin. The highlights of February were the 25th Annual Picnic at Hanging Rock on 14th and the first General Meeting of 2012 at the Royal Standard Hotel on 16th.
The VWMA Sydney Drag Racing was on the 24- 26th and rounding off on the same weekend was the Ballarat Swap Meet. The coming events for the new year well organized as usual and plans for Kennett River Camping trip in early March were advanced with most bookings for sites done! The ‘News’ carried articles about the 2012 VW Golf Cabriolet, the 2011 VWCV Christmas Party and the Bosch Aftermarket Classic Regulator which was significantly improved with overvoltage and overcharging protection for your old VW Beetle. An interesting ‘For Sale’ was a White 1978 Golf GLS which was owned since 1987 and with rego until June 2012. It was not running but the owner was hoping the new custodian would restore the car. Finally for this year, the membership reached 500 and this new member, Michael Dietrich received one year’s free membership!
JAN/FEB 2005
FEBRUARY 1967
Paul Kinsey was the Club President, Richard Graham was Vice President, Andrew Ermel was Secretary, Andrew Donnelly was Treasurer, Ross Woolley was Membership Secretary, Group 5 and Motorsport Secretary was Jon Edsell, Editor was Matt Kinsey and Club Historian was Dave Evans.
Pat Whitaker was the VWCV President, Ian Williams was Vice President, Derek Fry was Secretary, L Mason was Treasurer, Competition Secretaries were Dave Evans (previous VWCV Historian) and Rob Mitchell with the Editor’s position again filled by Pat Whitaker.
The committee had just started their planning for 2005 club year and the magazine was full of good bits of a program finalizing with an exciting DOTVW!
The club was now on the sixth number of the new look magazine in which Pat gave an informed report on all things VWCV to fill in what was happening at the top end of 1967. The events for February included a General meeting at Volkswagen Australasia, Clayton, Plant 2. The news looked forward to March where there was a Bowling Night and a Motorkhana for activities.
The program started well kicking off with a Tech Day at Volkscare on 101 Things you wanted to know about RUST! Followed the next day on the 13th Feb with Picnic at Hanging Rock which was an all car show then and not the Ford Mustang predominance of today! The month was rounded out with the General Meeting on the 15th holding the Club Trophy presentation with free finger food at the RACV Club in the city and the first round of the Group 5 Motorkhana for the year held at the Geelong Motorsport Complex in Lara. Featured is a great story on Erika Behrendt’s wonderful trip the Cape York in a Beetle. Camping by the side of a river under the shade looked great but was probably mandatory in the heat! Jon gave an excellent page and a half motorsport report with all the dates for the Group 5 Motorkhana and Sprint Events as well as the Geelong Motorsport Complex dates. The club had 423 members and many adverts in the ‘For Sale section, one of note from John Stevens – 1960 Kombi, complete with Engine & Chassis numbers, restorable $1000.
The big format ‘News’ reported on the Young Motorkhana in the summer sun from Rodger Bonhome (who later went on to co pilot Harry Firth in many rally victories) together with an interesting report from Roger Backway on his recent trip to Pound Motors (where the Historian used to lurk in the early 1970s) and his frustration at being presented with a 1300 engine Beetle when the Germans got a 1500 with a new body!
T
he Bowling report for the event earlier that month and a ‘For Sale’ of a Geneer ‘Outlaw’ fiberglass sports racing car rounded for the month of February!
I look forward to seeing you all at the next VWCV event!
CHRIS SCANE historian@vwclub.com.au
R
andall’s Brewery, which has officially opened its La Piette Brewery at St George’s Esplanade at that time(where I was having my pint), had sealed a licensing deal with United Dutch Breweries and Inbev to brew the lager locally. La Piette Brewery is now the only place in the world where the brand is brewed for ‘on tap’ sales and is one of Guernsey’s best-selling pint.
Breda
A local brewery in Guernsey has a Volkswagen and Australian connection.
H
ere is an update of a good little story for beer drinkers and Volkswagen enthusiasts alike, I know there are many in our club. While in Guernsey in the Channel Islands off the coast of France a few years ago, I enjoyed visiting many of the local inns I could in the time and enjoyed partaking in a few ales. This was a great way to enjoy some time on the island after a long day of walking and driving around it. While I was having a pint of cold Breda, I spied out the pub window to see a beautiful T2 twin Cab Kombi going down the main drag with ‘Breda’ emblazoned on the sides of a Volkswagen icon we know and love so well! This got me thinking I need to do some more research and thought you would like to hear the story behind the ‘Breda’ Kombi and its brewery.
On average, 5,000 pints of the full-bodied 5% alcohol lager are sunk across the Channel Islands daily. Drinkers in several local pubs there have already unknowingly tasted the local brew instead of the Dutch brew. Brewery staff were sworn to secrecy about the deal. Mr Rogers from the company he believes Randall’s has pulled off a coup by preserving arguably the island’s favourite brand. He said the deal would also ensure that islanders were getting top-quality Breda. There had been complaints in the past couple of years, prior to my visit, about its taste. Ian Randall goes on to tell his story ‘We found out in spring 2007 that Inbev was going to stop doing Breda this summer. We saw it as an opportunity for us to continue the brand. ‘We approached Inbev about this and, unbelievably, they said yes, which means we are now the only Breda brewery in the world.’ In 2013 Breda won a silver medal at the International Brewing Awards in the 4.7 to 6% ABV (Premium Lager) category. The story continues in Holland with plenty of Breda Royal Beer produced in cans which is exported all over the world. I know it is available in New Zealand but I have not tracked down the Australian outlet yet! The story of the Breda Kombi was a difficult one to research as there was a picture on the Randall’s Brewery web site but no other mention of it elsewhere; it was only when I
got to the Breda Blog that I found out more. Accordingly, the story goes that the twin cab kombi was sourced from Australia and was previously used at Adelaide Zoo, maybe it helped to feed the local inhabitants! The vehicle was exported to Guernsey, restored to its present glory with the lovely Fuchs wheels and pressed into service for the local inhabitants again, but this time many thousands of kilometres away from where it started. Unfortunately the story of this RHD Kombi ends this year, this resulted from recent contact with Guernsey followed by an email from Matt at Randall’s Brewery. He told me that the Kombi was sold to a local Guernsey mechanic, who sold it and then I believe it was sold again and left the island most possibly back to the UK. I will do my best to find this Kombi again but it looks like an uphill battle in low gear! But there is sometimes a flip side, as more research found another two LHD T2 Breda Kombis on the web. One was noted cruising around the Channel Islands and this one had stock wheels and the familiar Breda paintwork! It turns out that this one is another promotional vehicle owned by a senior manager of United Dutch Breweries – Stijn Deelen. I am chasing him at the moment for the story about his Dual cab Kombi and I will keep you all posted on how the story is going! Hope you all enjoyed this interesting story again, maybe the new members have an interesting story involving a Volkswagen in their travels in Australia or overseas, we are all sure we would love to hear from you!
CHRIS SCANE historian@vwclub.com.au
Lettuce to
the editorS Senator Wayne Lewis
A RA. A Minister Wayne Lewis
FOR SALE:Â A
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Wagensville News
February 2017
V O L K S W O M E N
Semi-extended non-boat tail VW Beetle Shooting Brake Prototype No. 2,398
Andy RyanÂŽ | 2017
February 2017
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V O L K S W O M E N
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VWCV | CHARMAIN̢۪S NO 'E' CHALLENGE
TOP TIP | SPRING CLAMP CALAMITY!
CROSS OUT ALL THE LETTERS THAT APPEAR MORE THAN ONCE.
SO WHY DO A
WHEN YOU HAVE DONE THAT, THE LEFT OVER LETTERS, READING LEFT TO RIGHT AND TOP TO BOTTOM, WILL SPELL A LEFTOVER WORD.
BA
A
LLOYD DAVIES Write the answer backwards on your forehead and then read it in the mirror to see the correct answer! (Wayne Lewis)
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE VWCV COMMITTEE
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Wagensville News
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VWCV MEMBERSHIPS oming Soon In Memberships……..
IS YOUR MEMBERSHIP UP TO DATE? VISIT VWCLUB.COM.AU
By the beginning of April, the Volkswagen Club of Victoria are going to be able to begin to give our members a new membership card.
Login using your membership number. If you have forgotten your password or membership number, email us at memberships@ vwclub.com.au and we will reset it for you. Payment is via PayPal. Alternatively you can post in a cheque or money order to: VWCV Memberships PO Box 1215 Melbourne VIC 3001 Renewal notices are sent out via email. If you have unsubscribed, you will not get this email. Members that are out of date lose the entitlement to vote, to stand for a Committee position, to receive copies of the Club Magazine and to utilise the Club Permit Scheme for their vehicle. It is a requirement that all vehicles on the Club Permit scheme (CH & H Plates) are current financial members. If you have a vehicle on Club Permit registration and
If you were at the Christmas Party last December, you would have heard and seen the proposal and voted on allowing it to go ahead – which was unanimous on the day. you are not a financial member – you are deemed, by law, to be driving an unregistered vehicle. Memberships overdue by 60 days will be removed from the database to maintain privacy and you will have to re-join as a new member.
To update your postal address, your email address or phone number, it’s as easy as going online at vwclub.com.au and signing in. As the Membership Officer, I am happy to take you through this process. Charmain Green
Membership Officer
Email: memberships@vwclub.com.au
Basically we are moving to a more professional card which eliminates the need to be hand written, which with over 670 current members can be quite laborious. It will be the same size as a credit card with the artwork pre-printed. For all future renewals and new members you will receive the new cards and a lanyard which is to be used for all meetings and events where you may need to have your membership provided. It’s also a great way of getting to know people, other than just by their car. If you currently have a 3 year membership don’t worry, a new card and lanyard will be sent out to you in the month that it expires whilst the roll out is occurring. I.e. Your membership expires Nov 2019, your new replacement card will be sent in Nov 2017. All new cards should be out by end of March 2017. Please take the time to ensure all your details are correct. If you have a family membership or kids listed on your membership, please have their ages next to their name. They will then receive their own card and lanyard. To update your details go to www.vwclub.com.au and login using your membership number and when first set up by me, your password will also be the same number. I’m really looking forward to these new cards and I hope you are too. It is my biggest contribution to the club so far in organising and implementing it, bar the normal day to day running of memberships. Charmain Green Membership Officer
put mockup card in here
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Wagensville News
DECEMBER 2016 VOLUME 62 ISSUE 24
WAGENSVILLE If not received, please return to: Volkswagen Club of victoria Inc. GPO Box 1215 Melbourne Vic 3001 Print Post Approved 1000018822
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