SEPT 10 — On a depressing week of deaths, illnesses, water shortage in the city and fuel price hike, the story of an old buddy’s love affair with the classic Volkswagen camper van, which used to be a very familiar sight on our roads in the 1960s, is extremely rejuvenating.
Mohd Zainal Ismail, or Jenol as we called him in school, is absolutely mesmerised by the “poetry on wheels” he had bought from a friend four months ago.
And it has turned out to be more than a collectors’ item becaue Volkswagen announced just recently that this model also popularly referred to as the Kombi is now officially “retired” and whatever is left of its production has now ceased.
As a final gesture, the German carmaker is issuing a commemorative limited edition series of 600 vans in Brazil, where the model has been manufactured since 1957.
The iconic vehicle, which left its mark on an entire generation and came to symbolise the hippie movement, is bound to be missed. And Jenol, who grew up in that era, knows that very well.
He is bringing the Kombi back to life in his own way by driving the 1968 classic around the city for leisure especially on weekends. Each time he gets much attention. Well, not him exactly, but the van certainly makes heads turn. “Many people would stare at us in awe and give out the peace sign (the two-finger V sign so popular some years ago).”
Jenol, a director at the Malaysian Agriculture Research Institute, has always had a fascination for things that have connections with classic rock music.
And the Kombi comes very close since it is intimately associated with the hippie movement of the 1960s — especially the Kombi that are flashily painted in psychedelic colours like what The Mamas and Papas used to have.
Apart from the Kombi, Jenol owns two other Volkswagens — a 1967 and 1968 Beetle — and is buying a 1974 first-generation Golf.
“The Kombi is to prepare for my retirement when there is much time for me to travel round the country, camping wherever possible,” said Jenol who is pushing 60.
Next year, he plans to drive the Kombi to Southern Thailand such as Krabi, Phuket and Satun with Mahar Effendi, another old school buddy.
“I’ll start doing the interior and turn it into a nice camper van soon. Presently, it has a cabinet and an adjoining table,” he said.
Even without the modifications, Jenol’s Kombi seems purposeful enough.
The other day he had a small birthday party for his grand-daughter who blew the candles on her birthday cake in the van and it was said to be a very comfortable occasion.
Indeed, the Kombi brings back a lot of memories from the old days.
Our school van in the 1960s was a Kombi, painted blue just like our schoolbus which we called the Old Faithful. At a time when most teachers owned the Beetle, both provided a familiar sight on campus, serving the students very well indeed although at times when the Old Faithful went on strike, we had to give it a big push to make it start again.
But I will always remember the other Kombi that came to our school in Kuala Kangsar, the one from the district health office that was used to transport students to the the government dental clinic in town. I used to shiver each time I was called and taken in the van in 1967 or so.
It had a steering wheel almost horizontally inclined and was driven by a stern-looking bearded lad.
The Volkswagen Kombi was also a popular mode of transporting goods and groceries. Every other shop seemed to have one those days.
Those were of course the days of old when things were much simpler and the people’s view of things different in many ways.
Jenol’s Kombi has brought memories flooding back.
Sometimes, living in the past takes our mind off the very treacherous present.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
