Cool surf wagons

[hewey]

A thread dedicated to cool surf wagons, pretty simple really Doesn't have to be an actual wagon per se, but rides that just have that surf wagon vibe goin on




This is a HR/HD (?) sedan, looks like a tidy stocker from the outside but has some cool surf stuff inside. Love that mirror!

[hewey]

Type 3 wagon with woodslat rack is awesome



This pickup used to be a bona fide surf wagon. The previous owner used get to the beach before the sun had risen and used the spotty on the a pillar to check the surf!


Fantastic Buick woody. If the surf is flat take the boat for a spin!

[hewey]

[hewey]

Also found this cool article online

Tarmac Surfers
Stephen Lacey
October 14, 2008 - 4:20PM
SMH

SINCE the halcyon days of the 1960s, the surf wagon of choice has been a home away from home for boardriders on "surfari". When it comes to cars and their place in surfing folklore, the Kombi is right up there at the peak of the wave. One of Australia's best-known surf photographers, John Witzig, owned a Kombi in the late '60s, using it to get to the beach to capture his images.

"It was a very well-set-up unit," Witzig says. "I even had a couple of bunk beds in there with individual mosquito nets. It made two trips from Whale Beach to WA, long before the Nullarbor Plain had a paved road.

"The Kombi was the quintessential travelling car for surfers, unquestionably. Wandering around Australia throughout the '60s, you could pull over and camp anywhere. No one bothered you. Now we've become a quite authoritarian community and you can't do any of those things."

Witzig remembers when his friend, surfer Bob McTavish, lived in an old 1936 Hudson at the North Avalon Beach car park in NSW. "It didn't have a proper driver's seat," Witzig says. "Just a lounge chair for more comfort. One day the council bulldozed his car into a ditch, covered it up with soil and built a toilet block on top of it. I think it would make a great archaeological dig."

Throughout the '60s, the car became a means by which boardriders could go on a "surfari", exploring the Victorian, NSW and Queensland coastlines. The car enabled surf pioneers to discover such legendary breaks as the world-famous Bells Beach, Gunnamatta, Crescent Head, Angourie, Lennox Head and Byron Bay, which at the time was little more than a village with an abattoir, spilling its blood into the brine.

For some people, the surfari never stopped. Barry "Magoo" McGuigan, of Norah Head, NSW, still enjoys travelling north looking for waves and entering longboard competitions. These days his transport is a Nissan X-Trail. "It's good for one person because you can lay the passenger seat flat and put your board inside," says McGuigan, who turns 80 next year. "I entered the Crescent Head longboard competition in April and slept in the car for four days. I've got a mattress in the back. It's pretty comfortable."

This remarkable bloke started surfing as a child in the 1940s at North Bondi. His first "surfing car" was a 1953 VW Beetle, on which he'd sling a couple of 16-foot plywood monsters. He graduated to a green-and-white '62 EJ Holden wagon, which he'd often take to Noosa and back. During the 1980s, McGuigan owned three VW Kombis - "a terrific car for surfers".

Another Kombi lover is 34-year-old landscape architect Jacob Stuth. He owns two Kombis: a 1973 2.0-litre Microbus with a fold-down queen-size bed in the rear, and a 1967 1.6-litre split-window model. "Kombis have great ground clearance and because the engine is over the rear axle they have good traction," he says. "They also keep everything dry and secure and boast heaps of space. As long as you keep a check on the oil . . . they're the perfect vehicle for surfers." Like many surfers, Stuth also owns a Mercedes-Benz - a 1977 300D with a five-cylinder diesel.

One of Australia's most influential surfers, Nat Young, has sat behind the three-pointed star since he was 17. He got around in a 280SEL coupe for 20 years, lumping his boards on the roof. Now he drives a 2004 ML350. Young says his favourite surfing car was a 1938 Dodge in which he had shares when he was a teenager. "Nine of us each put in 10 shillings to buy it," he says. "I loved it, it was just so big. We only ever used it to get around the northern beaches because none of us had licences . . . we were only about 15. It was the perfect surf car because we didn't have to worry about looking after it.

"Another early car I got to the surf in was an ex-bread delivery van. I think it was an old Morris or Austin that was owned by my next-door neighbour. It had Murphy the Surfie cartoons painted all over the side of it. We'd all pile into the back. It was terrific fun."

Vans have always been popular with surfers. The humble panel van was developed by Holden in 1953 for tradesmen but during the '70s, surfers took to them en masse, not only as a secure place to store boards and wetsuits but a semi-private zone for young lovers. Who can forget (although we'd certainly like to) the image of Bruce (Jay Hackett) trying to deflower Debbie (Nell Schofield) in the back of his Holden HT Belmont panel van in the coming-of-age surfie girl flick Puberty Blues (1981)?

One of the most desirable panel vans of all was the Holden Sandman. Launched in 1971 as an HQ derivative, it wasn't really until the HJ in 1974 that the Sandman garnered attention. And with lurid paint jobs such as lime green or banana yellow, it was pretty hard to ignore. Artist and surfer Gerry Wedd, based in Port Elliot, South Australia, immortalised the Sandman in an image for Mambo surfwear in 1995. The car on which he based his drawing was owned by a friend.

"It was loud and brash and almost something to make fun of," Wedd explains. "I've always been interested in the connection between surfing and cars and the characters that drove them. I don't think real surfers ever really owned a Sandman; they couldn't afford one. It was always the pseudo-surfers who had them and I don't think their boards ever got wet."

The first car that four-time world surfing champion Mark Richards owned was a HQ Holden panel van. It wasn't a Sandman, he is quick to point out. Like many surfers, he eventually traded up to a Kombi. "The thing you look for as a surfer is a car you can store your surfboards inside, because of security, plus it's not good to leave them on roof racks in the hot sun," Richards says.

Nowadays he drives a Toyota Kluger, mostly using it to get himself and his boards from his home above his Newcastle surf shop down to nearby beaches. "It's a great car. I can fit five boards and four people in there - myself and my three kids. My wife, Jenny, doesn't surf at all, she doesn't even really like the beach."

Richards reckons the Kombi's title as the ultimate surfer's car has been usurped by small four-wheel-drives, station wagons and hatchbacks. "If I'm going anywhere, I rent a Toyota Corolla," he says. "It's amazing what a load of boards you can put in one of those things."

Take a trip to a beach car park in 2008 and you're more likely to see a mix of soft-roaders. Surfing Australia chief executive Mark Lane says 4WDs have opened up a lot of previously inaccessible coastline. "There are some parts of the country where 4WDs are critical to get to the waves," he says. "There are places just two hours north of Perth where you can drive your 4WD along the beach and pitch your tent in the dunes. It's pretty special."

Robyn Harvey, founder of Women in the Waves (women-in-waves.com.au), an organisation devoted to female surfers, has a Nissan Murano. "I wanted something that was sleek and sexy and could fit a nine-foot Malibu inside," she says. Harvey, 58, started surfing when she was seven. Her first surf car was a Morris 1100 to which she'd latch the board with octopus straps. In fact, it could even be argued that the humble "occy" strap is as much a part of surfing folklore as the cars.

[Theyeti]

I saw this today and thought it was really simple and really cool becasue of it

[Neo Dutch]

[Dave]

I love that Olds above, so cool! I love Woody wagons and one of the nicest I have ever seen is the Chev below which is from Broken Hill.

[Cranky31]

How refreshing is that gear, love that beach shot, thanks for postin

[woody28A]

Couple of the old Woody.

[Craigo]

Great thread this. Have good memories of this lifestyle.

[Dragferret]

My how times change. Speaking as someone who surfed from the longboard days, through shortboards and back to longboards, there is no way anyone would've bolted surfboards to the roof of their car to drive to Penrith (yes I had my car at Reds too). They would've been labelled a Westie and ridiculed. Now people think its cool. Not looking for an arguement as I thought it looked cool too. Just pointing out how opinions change over time.

[woody28A]

My how times change. Speaking as someone who surfed from the longboard days, through shortboards and back to longboards, there is no way anyone would've bolted surfboards to the roof of their car to drive to Penrith (yes I had my car at Reds too). They would've been labelled a Westie and ridiculed. Now people think its cool. Not looking for an arguement as I thought it looked cool too. Just pointing out how opinions change over time.

Yes I agree, but when I surfed (what we now call longboards, they were just boards then) I would have loved, to have a woody to put the mal in. Being able to park one outside of Jacko's or Johnny Rhodes, would have been pretty cool.

[GlenC]

Laet's see how we go with this photobucket thingy, I can never seem to get it to work...




Pic taken aboiut 1964, FJ ute (obviously) at Stanwell Park on the NSW south coast, scene of many a Sydney rod run (Dragens?)

The bloke perched on the back of the ute in white sweatshirt and bare feet is me, the only shoes I owned up until about 1965 were my school shoes. The mal on the top of the far pile is also mine. The bloke standing on his head is Greg Grainger of Sydney TV fame, but back then he was just another student at Belmore Boys High.

Cheers, Glen.

[coupe36]

2 examples from Pleasanton this year

[hewey]

Thats a cool pic Glen!

Dragferret i suppose whats happened is with rose tinted nostalgia glasses ( ) the surf wagon look has become a 'style', just like a speedshop pickup with signwriting on the doors, or the guys who display matching lowrider pushies with their cars at shows. I've loved the surf wagon for as long as I can remember, and hawaiian shirts too (I used to waer hawaiian shirts to mufti day at school). God knows why, I live in penrith and have never surfed!