Hi All We had one of the better days life has to offer today, we met Gertie for the first time then drove off into the sunset. After a 12 month + search, many test drives, remote inspections, finance arrangements, travel arrangements to get from Sydney to Hobart to pick her up etc etc, it finally all happened today. When my wife and I were first married in 91 we had a 76 Sopru for about 3 years and had some awesome memories. 4 kids and 26 years on we decided to find another one as identical to our original one as we could find. Big thanks to John who was the previous owner for taking such good care of her for the past 30 years and to Adrian (Mordred) from the forum for going out of his way to physically inspect her for me and provide a detailed report upon which I was able to make the decision to buy!! and the recommendation of a local Hobart mechanic (Leigh from Tyrepower in Hobart) to spend last week on her. Just been trying for half an hour while on the road using data in the middle of Tas to up load pics and failed, they will come shorty Cheers Geoff
Well done Geoff Tassie has really crap phone service - we can wait but make sure you get some shots loading Gertie on and off the ferry!
Hi Geoff, Congratulations. Doesn't get any better than that. Enjoy the cruise home in Gertie. May Gertie give you much joy. And good on you Mordred for your part in Geoffs top day & the repositioning of a Kombi to a new home. I'm so happy for you in finding Gertie & making your dream happen. Now just to be trouble free to Sydney!! Cheers
Thanks to you both for dropping by on your way home. Was so great to see the new owner smiles on your faces. Very rare find in that condition, and exactly what you told me you were looking for. Looking forward to seeing you either down here on on one of the travels I am sure you and her will have. Adrian
Hi Geoff, By the time you get this it's 'home time' I hope. Journey trouble free with your organisation it must have been. Welcome home. Oh..... & the cat needs a feed! Was it a great journey? Cheers
OK, Sorry for not getting pics up earlier in the trip, Got off the boat in Melbourne this morning and have stopped at the mother-in-laws at Mansfield Vic, first wi-fi ive had to up load pics. The bus is driving beautifully!! The handover on Sat morning from John - we have kept the name "Gertie" as homage to the previous owner, a great bloke Stop of to meet and say a big thankyou to Adrian (Mordred) and family Off to Salamanca Markets in Hobart town Stop for a few model shots in Oatlands Tas Pop top needs a good polish
Overnight for a camp at Longworth Pretty much all original paint and stickers, she polished up beautifully first thing Sunday morning, couldn't wait to get into it!! Whats left of the original sopru sticker
Onto the Spirit of Tas last night On board Coffee stop at " Yea" Victoria this morning Currently at the In-Laws driveway in Mansfield Vic and that is where I make this post. Probably stop somewhere around Canberra tonight and home tomorrow!! HAVING A BALL!!
Journey is still going as at Monday midday!! home tomorrow arvo. Trip has been trouble free except for battery being dead flat on Sunday morning after camping Sat night. Fridge was on 240, only used a light that was also on 240, didn't use the radio so not sure where the leak is yet. A friendly neighbour at the park jump started us and I went and immediately bought some jumpers and a new battery to use for emergency starts if it happens again. Only other thing is that the blinker sometimes doesn't flash, just comes on solid. If I pull out the hazard lights knob they flash, push it back in and blinkers seem to work fine again......a couple of electrical gremlins to find but nothing serious. As you know I hadn't seen Gertie before picking her up and i must say all expectations were exceeded!!
I would think it will be an earth issue, go around all the earthing points and clean them up and the problem will probably come right. There are a couple inside the engine bay neat the tail lights and on each on the indicators at the front if I remember correctly. There is also a main one up behind the dash around the middle on the back of the front panel if that makes sense. Cheers Adrian
Great stuff Geoff . I’m looking forward to drooling over Gertie some time soon. Do you think you’ll come up the Central Coast and Newcastle for any cruises this year? I could message you if you’re interested. Are you going to Bus Stop?
just looked at this on the big screen rather than the iPhone 4 This looks like a very original non bastardised camper It is definitely not a shiny blow over lucky dip I cant see any rust from the pics This is my sort of kombi GREAT score
Yep, extremely original, incredible really, exactly what I was after, previous owner had it for 30 years. It has got a couple of small rust spots and from what I can a drivers side panel has been painted with a bit of bog there too. Otherwise all original paint and polished up like new!! Owner sent me warts and all pics so nothing that was unexpected. The colour is "bronco brown" only seen a couple of these ones Cheers
May also be a "dirty" connection on one of the indicator bulbs - worry about these when you get home OR one of the bulbs is on it's way out = if you do go down this line to remove covers to check and bulbs look old then replace them for newies cheers Bert
