At 00:07 15/03/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Subject: Re: the "Kombi" .... was:Re: my new 85 vanagon
>
>>vinyl seats, and rubber floor mats, no cloth or carpet.  no tach.
>>usually no power steering. in other words - a PANEL VAN WITH WINDOWS AND
>>SEATS.

 Yea!...and a sh*t load less stuff to eventually give trouble ;)

>And a great machine to take care of. Sand from the beach? Dirt from the
>trail? Mud from just about anywhere? No sweat, let it dry, sweep it out
>and its as good as new. After using this plain jane, I have a hard time
>convincing myself to upgrade to a vanagon with carpet (although I am
>hoping to get my cloth front seats cleaned enuff to use them) Maybe I am
>just slow to convert ;)

 Not at all!

 Kombi in German kinda means station wagon (they call VW Kombis"Bullis")
 so it doesn't really have to be a base line van,just not specifically
 a panel,camper,caravelle,carat etc.In can still have carpet and other
 percieved niceties but it's still a Kombi if it is basically a passenger
 van/station wagon,although Chris's comment that it is a panelvan with
 windows/seat belt anchors is indeed correct as that's the way a lot of them
 came from the factory.But if you optioned it up it's still a Kombi if
 essentially that's the configuration.I guess the US just didn't get a
 lot of them like that.It's a different story in the big ol' rest of the
 world.

 My '92 falls into that catagory as it is a 5 seater wagon.The fact that
 it has a rear seat that folds to a full width bed,sliding side windows,
 with screens,front bull bar,rear protection bar/tow bar,180 deg.swivel
 seats,15" alloy wheels,side mounting annex etc etc doesn't change a thing.

 As a surfer,skier, MTB rider & musician I love having rubber floor mats
 and a basic interior(it does have interior hardboard linings in the back)
 Without much to screw up inside,it can be used for anything and the simple
 utalitarian (sp?)nature of it means I can just sweep out the van regularly
 and it comes up still looking like new after nearly 9 years.
 I just had to add some interior attachment points so that stuff doesn't move
 about and hit the painted surfaces.
 I do have carpet squares that I have in the rear section when I want a more
 luxurious floor when camping sometimes but they can quickly be removed and
 there's the rubber floor again ready for a load.
 The only vehicle I have with carpet as such is the Beetle and it requires
 a lot more attention to keep looking nice & clean.

 Not knocking the fancier versions or other people's need for greater
 creature comforts but you can't get much more versatile & practical
 than the humble Kombi....No offense intended :)

 Das Kombi Uber Alles!
 Steve O
 Blue Mountains,NSW,Australia
'92 Transporter WBX 2.1 Kombi
'76 Transporter Double Cab 2.0
'68 Beetle w/1.6
'00 Transporter 5Cyl Double Cab 2.5 (work truck)
'48 Fairmont M19 Speeder

                     ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~