Margie Maccoll
Everyone had a story to tell about their Love Bugs and people flocked in to share the affection and tales of the vehicles at the Noosa VW Show at the Noosa Marina last Saturday.
“We got up here on duct tape,” Michael said of his journey from Brisbane to the show in his Baja buggy. They’re easy to work on and reliable, he said of the VW. Michael’s first car was a VW and he’s never lost the love for them. His mate Ashely brought along his 1960 model Karmann Ghia, one of several VWs he owns.
Marcus Vass has been a VW enthusiast for about 30 years. He came to the show this year with brother Miles, a recent convert to the VW.
“It’s the smile it gets you when you drive it,” he said. “People wave at you, they high five you at the lights. And they’re good to drive, very zippy.”
Elliot Winter tossed up whether to buy a hot rod or beach buggy for his next hobby three years ago but, living on the Sunshine Coast, the beach buggy won out and his has had plenty of use on Noosa’s North Shore ever since.
Laurie Gooley bought his 1968 country buggy “just for fun” but is proud to own a slice of Australian history. Only about 850 of the cars were built in an Australian factory in Melbourne. Originally designed for the Australian Army they ended up in dealers around the country with Laurie’s bought originally by a St George farmer to drive the kids to the school bus.
Matthew Read bought his Kombi van about 10 years ago and has a long list of modifications and upgrades he has done or plans to do, including the installation of solar panels to run the fridge, to get it to the standard he wants for a trip around the country in about five years time.
Already sporting a Nissan 350Z V6 engine, Matthew, who is also a racing driver, is proud his VW “is insanely fast” and “doesn’t break down”.
The Sandflys entertained event goers as they inspected the vehicles lined up throughout the marina.
