| Kombi Report - November 2002 | |
RIP the holden. Visit Holden Report for the final installment of the band's previous vehicle. Kombi Fact No.1: Kombi's breakdown Well, the story begins the day that we actually took posession of the new kombi. We transferred the MONK1E plates from the Holden to the kombi while getting the vehicle put in our name. The guy that we had brought it from had mispelled the license plate numbers and for an hour or two that day we were the proud owners of a 'Honda Civic' from Nelson! So after sorting this minor hiccup we went to town to pay the outstanding registration only to have the current one (which had expired) attract a $200 ticket. We managed to convince the parking warden with our official documents that we were in fact legit... Sam managed to pull a dodgy manouevre that day by parking the wrong way in Steve's street getting a $40 fine and then a $12 one for the meter running out! Later that evening we parked up in town for a show only to have our first flat tyre at about 1am in the morning. We delicately drove around the block to the nearest air outlet to get the tyre back up to pressure. The following morning we had the tyre fixed but left the chrome hubcap at the garage. Kombi Fact No.2: Kombi's can catch fire The first long trip in the new 'Monkey Mobile' was to Auckland for the songwriter awards. While driving along 'Remuera Rd' in traffic the clutch cable broke...leaving a very dubious dub with only 1 gear usable at a time. Trying to negotiate lights and oncoming traffic with a 1-geared vehicle is a rather daunting task. Luckily Steve & Brett (sound engineer) were there to help out by pushing in times of need. Kombi Fact No.3: Kombi's don't need water...but do need oil Kombi Fact No.4: Kombi's need alot of oil In a valiant effort to have all of the locks operating from the same key Carl went and took the doors all apart and managed to lose a chrome flashing from behind the left-front door handle. In a valiant effort to replace the lost chrome part we discovered that our 'dub' was in fact a 'south african' model and that we would find it near impossible to find 'special' parts for it. The original colour of the Kombi was a biscuit kind of yellow with white from the windows up. We went and ordered ourselves a whole batch of paint to do the new paint job only to have the rear right hand axle fall off in Newtown at an intersection. After limping into a park and picking up some 'allen keys' from the '$2 Shop' the broken axle was tentatively screwed back on. Carl looked like a tar baby after the exercise! The following day we took the Kombi into the place where we had purchased it and worked on the rear axle for 3 hours to replace the bolts and restore it's 'roadworthiness'. Kombi Fact No.5: Kombi's are generally only just roadworthy The Kombi begins it's life with Uncle Monkey featuring in the band's 'on the road' documentary. Directed by Sneaky Pete who joined the band for 3 days and nights on the road the short film captures the dub in full style in Napier, Gladstone and Martinborough as it transports the band across the countryside to their shows. The lever for the ventilation system broke on it's 1st use. The air-conditioning system (which comes in 'south african' models broke not long after. Steve gets 'driver of the month' for attempting to parallel park the kombi 5 times (or so) late one night in Napier (in front of a crowded street) and for leaving the petrol cap at a gas station. | |
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