perth motorplex | Brian White Photography

We had a bit of a road trip heading from Perth four hours south to Albany to collect John’s first Kombi. John’s a great local photographer and volunteer at Perth Motorplex for their drag racing events. He’s a cool long haired hippy and the universe has been out of alignment until the recent purchase. VW‘s are a bit like pets, they seem to find us, not the other way around.

We travelled to Lee’s place in Albany where we got to check out his man cave of Imperials and Cadillac, bikes and bits. As he says “cool is as cool does” :)

We picked up the beast, got an early night and headed on the haul back to Perth. As all dubbers know, it’s the trip that’s the adventure and John’s first experience (kind of a rite of passage) was lined up pretty quickly where only 45 mins from home Ratticus threw a fan belt. No phone coverage, no spare, and now a lovely pair of cooked tappet cover gaskets and the quick trip home turned into double the time and a tow truck ride for Johns VW.

All’s well now and Ratticus is on the mend. John’s purchased his essential survival tools and a copy of John Muir’s ‘How to Keep a Volkswagen Alive’ bible. He’s got some cool ides for the future and I’m sure he’ll get many years of cruising and travels from his new air-cooled buddy.