Exploring South Africa and the Legendary VW Journey of "Oom" Chris Coetzee Ep9

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Music.

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Dub Life Diaries, the podcast where passion meets the open road.

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I'm Joe Person, your host, and also a lifelong dubber.

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Buckle up, because this ride is just beginning.

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This podcast is sponsored by Volksmania Magazine. Good times,

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great cars, awesome Volksmaniacs.

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Visit volksmania.com to learn more about this class-leading VW magazine.

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All righty vw fanatics volks maniacs

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grip the steering wheel tight because today we've got

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one hell of a show for you welcome back to dub life diaries the podcast where

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passion meets the open road i've got a vw legend coming out of south africa

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today this man bought his first beetle when he was 13 years old and he did that with lawnmower money,

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Yes, you heard that properly. He did it with lawnmower money.

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He was supposed to retire recently, but instead he built After Beetle,

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one of the most passionate VW hubs in all of South Africa.

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This man has restored more classic bugs than most of us have seen in a lifetime.

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He's traveled 10,000 kilometers across Africa. For those that don't know kilometers,

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that's about 6,200 miles in a Beetle convoy.

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And get this, he's even got a secret VW collection that might be closed to the public, or is it?

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Today, we're cracking open the vault. We're talking bush mechanics,

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wild road trips, and the most insane breakdown survival story you've ever heard.

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Plus, I'll finally try to get him to spill the truth on whether or not this

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private collection really does exist.

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Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome my man, Oom, Chris Kuchar, to the show.

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Welcome to Dub Night's Day.

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Awesome man so look before we dive in um i

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just want to give a couple of shout outs to obviously my

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sponsor volksmania magazine subscribe to the best volkswagen magazine in the

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world watch for dub life diaries coming up this summer with a feature going

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through some of our episodes visit volksmania.com so if you go to volksmania's

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website and sign up and subscribe you can use Dublife10,

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that's D-U-B-L-I-F-E-1-0 for 10% off your first issue.

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And obviously, Marcel, I know I just shouted you out, but I want to do it again.

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Marcel from Aphra Beetle worked very hard on getting Chris and myself together

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for this awesome episode.

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So Marcel, publicly, thank you for your diligence. So back to you guys.

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Back to you, Chris. So you bought your first Beetle at 13 with Lawnmower money,

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right? I want to hear what's the story behind that?

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It was a teacher of mine, and then I asked him if he wants to sell it to me.

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So I bought it, and I repaired it.

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And then I was driving it for a while until my dad stopped me because I was

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under the age and I haven't had a proper license on that time.

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Now, was it a 1956 Beetle?

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No, that was a 1964. It was a 1964, okay. How does a kid from Stellenbosch grow

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up and end up becoming obsessed with Beatles?

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Well, I started very young. And then I went to the Navy in Simonstown,

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where I did my trade on VW, Beatle, and Combi.

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And like they say, the hooker bites me. So I kept on.

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And yeah, when I was qualified, a week after I qualified, I walked out at the

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Navy and I started my own business. In Statenbos.

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And I was unirritating beetles and combis on that stage.

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Already that long ago. That's awesome. Now that first 56 beetle that you got

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in America, $8, believe for you, R150.

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What did it take to get that runny?

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In our money, and it was quite a while back, it was about 30,000 rand,

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which was very much on that stage.

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And then you flipped it, you got it running, and you sold it for a profit, right?

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That was, yeah, that was actually the 64, which I bought up from the teacher,

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which I bought, which I sold.

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The 56 came much later. What was it like back then to have your first VW flip, your first hustle?

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Oh, it was nice. It gave me quite a kick to have my own Beetle.

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And nobody else of my friends, I haven't got any cars. And then I sold it and I made quite a bet on it.

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And I bought that one for 500 rand and I sold it for 1,500 rand.

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Wow, you tripled your money But I trust as well I spent about 300 bucks on it Okay Now,

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you know, beetle lovers They say that you never really retire So I know that

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you were supposed to retire here recently In the last couple years But then

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you started Afro Beetle So what made you start Afro Beetle?

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Well, I had all the spare parts And I couldn't sit still And people contacted me,

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They asked me to help with their box, and then I started to reopen the business again.

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What did you do in your professional career in the time that you did not have Afribeetle?

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That was only 10 months.

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I was resting a little bit. You were resting?

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I helped a little bit with the other Beetle place, but I decided to start my

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own again, Afribeetle. You had mentioned the George Motor Show wins in some

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of our previous conversation.

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Did you expect to walk away with wins or with trophies from the George Motor

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Show? Walk me through that just a little bit about what that was like.

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You never know before because you don't know what not rock up at the shows.

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But I knew I've got a good chance.

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And I was winning a couple years after each other. And then I stopped to go

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What do you think separates your builds From other shops that also restore classic Volkswagens?

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Definitely quality and originality. Quality and originality.

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Two very good statements.

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Quality has got to be there. I've talked to a few other folks that restore Beatles

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for a living as well, and they mentioned the same thing, that the quality and

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the standard has to be very high.

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So I certainly understand that.

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Let's talk about the VW community because you've been a part of it for a very

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long time. What makes the VW community different from other types of car cultures?

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You know, Joe, all the Beatles is driving on a different way.

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But not one is the same. And each and every guy knows his own car.

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So when a customer comes in and they say to you, my car is not running right,

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you must go with him in the car and he must explain to you what is bothering him.

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So that you can put attention to that and you must listen carefully because

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they always explain that on a different way than you do it in a mechanical way.

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So you must be very sensitive to listen, very carefully, and then you must work

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according to their complaints.

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It's not like a VW graph which you take into the graph. They set it on a computer and off the guy goes.

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So you must be

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much more personally involved with the client To make sure you get him happy

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on the end And then as far as the vibe of the culture goes When you think about

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the whole VW scene Especially there in South Africa How does the scene differ

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from other types of car scenes?

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Okay, you see,

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In the old days a beetle was for the low budget market and these days people

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get financed on new cars and it's easier for them to buy a new car than to buy

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a beetle and have it repaired.

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So these days it is your more higher income people who collect the beetles and

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who does runs and who have the cash spent on the cars.

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And then the older people, they're definitely in the way back when they were still here.

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At least once they had driven in the Beetle. Where these days,

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the people don't know the Beetles.

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The young people know the Beetle less and less and less.

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Right, it's up to us. We got to keep promoting air-cooled and making it cool.

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So these young kids look up to these cars.

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My kids love them, you know, but I feel like I have that responsibility for,

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you know, making sure I tried to have one of my kids, my boys,

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he just turned 16. I tried to have him go take his driver's test in my Carmen Ghia.

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I've got a 71 Carmen Ghia to my wife's and I was going to have him take the test.

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But the day that we went to leave the driveway and head up to the testing center,

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one of the requirements was the horn had to work.

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And I, I went to test the horn and it didn't work. I'm like, ah, man.

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So, you know, it's only something, right?

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Yeah. A Beetle, a Beetle is a very personal, personal car.

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I agree. I agree. Let's talk about the, there's a big debate out there in the

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community and that is keeping things original or, you know,

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customizing that whole world of, of, of becoming custom and,

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and, you know, all that type of stuff.

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Where do you sit in the modified world debate?

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Do you think they should stay custom or do you think they should stay original?

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Definitely stay original. I don't do any customs. no customs i i thought i i

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pictured that from your website when i looked at your website it looked like

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some very beautiful work but it did it looked like everything was stock,

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yeah stock stock standard stock standard

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because then they're worth more money as well now you've probably met a lot

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of people over the last you know many years 40 40 plus years that you've been

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working on these cars what's one of the craziest characters that you've ever met in the VW scene?

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A guy wants me to cut off his roof of his VW Beetle, which was very, very, very original.

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And on the end of the day, I convinced him to sell the car to me and buy a beach buggy.

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Awesome. So he wanted you to cut the roof off. He was going to try to have a hard top, huh?

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Yeah, he wanted no roof on the car. So I said to him, why don't you buy a beach

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buggy when the roof is already off?

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I've also got a 74 thing, and I love the – I can take the top down.

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I can fold the windshield down.

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There's no better feeling than driving up the beach. I live on the west coast

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of Florida, so I can cruise down the beach, but I love that same feeling of

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being able to feel all the wind.

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Yeah, that's more or less the same as a Kubelwagen, eh? Yes, it is. Type 181.

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Yeah, I've got a couple of real Kubelwagens. Oh, that's cool.

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So your wife, your wife has also been involved in the past.

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You had mentioned that she has also helped fix some engines way back in the beginning.

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How did that happen? How did you get your wife into it?

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Well, we were still dating on that stage. And when she come and visit weekends,

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I was working in the garage and she had to help me.

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Because I couldn't afford that day to rent somebody to help me.

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So so you you put the old wife out there in the shop how'd she do she do good,

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well she was fine if i explained to her she she did it very well awesome smart

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girl too that's great so let's talk about this this this cross africa trek that

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you guys took from hopefully i say some of these these cities or these areas

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properly but from south africa it's a namibia,

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Botswana, Zambia, Kruger and Coastline that's

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quite the trip which we already looked talk to me about that trek we actually

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we started in Cape Town and we went all the way up to Durban and then from Durban

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we went all the way up to Vintook and from Vintook we went all through the dunes.

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And Sosselstle and that places and then Then we went back to Buntuk,

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and then we went from Buntuk to Botswana, and at Botswana we went past the Deltic,

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and then from there we went over right up to Zambia, to the Big Falls,

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and then we came back over and we went through different national….

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National Park, and then we went through the Kruger National Park,

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and then we went all the way back to Durban, and from Durban we went all along the coast,

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through the Transkei, and right down to Cape Town again.

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Wow. And it was 10,431 kilometers.

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So it was over 6,200 miles, which is just it.

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And there was 12 cars and all of them made it.

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All of them made it. Now, you did tell me a little bit about the Zambia breakdown.

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Yeah, we had. But you also said you were very prepared for you to have a problem.

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I think you mentioned you had extra engines and all kinds of stuff,

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but tell me about this breakdown.

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What happened is the clutch packed up.

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And from the sand, the bolts was eaten up, so a spanner doesn't fit on them anymore.

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So we couldn't take the engine out.

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So what I did is I had a breakdown all the long with us.

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And then I took that car and I drove that one.

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And the people of that car drove with me and I drove it without a clutch.

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All the way from Namibia up to Durban and from Durban down to Cape Town. Wow.

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That must have been pretty exhilarating.

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You drive it on the revolutions. And when you want to start,

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you put it in first, you turn the key and it hop, hop, and goes.

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And you change over on the right revs and there you go.

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Yeah. Now, you had talked about how you had served some steaks,

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some big T-bone steaks on this trip.

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One kilogram steaks. So, you know, that's 2.2 pounds in the U.S.

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That's a big steak. Is this the secret? Is this the secret to keep this convoy going?

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No, no. Every night, every camping site, we made food all together.

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We all pull in and we bought meat and we make food on the gas stoves and on the fire.

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But when we got back to Cape Town, the last night we were camping on my farm.

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And there I ordered between one and 1.1 kilogram T-bone steaks.

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And I was frying that for them with a lot of salads and braai brekkies.

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What is braai brekkie in English?

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We made toast. The toasted sandwiches on the fire with onion and tomato and cheese on.

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And then the people couldn't eat it up. Most of them haven't eaten, not even half of it.

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Too much. That's a big, big T-bone, you know.

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There was one Irish couple with us on the trip. It was all overseas people.

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One Irish guy, and he finished his steak. Wow.

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Yeah, and he was about 81 years of age.

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Wow. He was enjoying that thing.

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Yeah, yeah. He enjoyed very much.

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And I put a nice marinade over the steak.

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So it was very nice and juicy and lacquer. Nice.

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So if you could plan one more dream VW trip Where would you go?

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Exactly the same I will only cut out the urban And I will go straight from Cape

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Town To Namibia Botswana Zambia Maybe another country or two up in the north,

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But first I have to get the clients Which is interested to do it Right Get the small convoy again Now.

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You had mentioned That you have A private collection That potentially nobody

00:18:37.075 --> 00:18:40.895
has Ever even seen Or maybe they have,

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One or two people have Seen it The problem is I can't take people Into the shed

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where it stands Because you can't walk through them They too closely park And

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there's boxes and boxes Of spare parts between the cars So there really is a private collection.

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What's the rarest VW that's in that collection?

00:19:06.035 --> 00:19:15.255
1951 Splitty. Wow. I've got all the Beatles from 1951 till 1978,

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each of every one and a couple of doubles.

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Whoa, that's insane. Then I've got all the split combis.

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Then I've got all the by-window combis. Then I've got a couple of micro-buses.

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Then I've got three or four Kubel-wagens.

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Then I've got all the car monkeys.

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And that's all the cars were sold in South Africa. And then the nicest thing

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I've got is the 12, 3, 5, 6 Porsches.

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Amazing. No, 150. Oh, my goodness.

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150 cars. This is like a museum.

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Exactly. 129. 129 cars.

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Unbelievable. I would say that that is a pretty awesome collection.

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Closed to the public. Only a couple people have seen it.

00:20:11.516 --> 00:20:15.236
That's completely crazy. I would love to see that collection.

00:20:15.936 --> 00:20:19.556
I'm going to In the next year,

00:20:20.276 --> 00:20:28.356
I'm going to do An international auction On the internet I know a couple guys

00:20:28.356 --> 00:20:31.336
I can put you in touch with That would be,

00:20:32.036 --> 00:20:36.716
Very excited to see that collection And potentially get their hands on some

00:20:36.716 --> 00:20:42.836
stuff Well when I'm ready I will definitely let you know Joe Awesome Maybe you

00:20:42.836 --> 00:20:47.156
can help me with that for the advertising of that auction.

00:20:47.496 --> 00:20:52.796
Yeah, I'd be happy to. So, you know, normally I ask this question to my guests.

00:20:52.916 --> 00:20:58.176
I ask them, what's your favorite VW? But you own all of them.

00:20:59.096 --> 00:21:05.116
You have 120-something of them. So out of all of those, what's your favorite

00:21:05.116 --> 00:21:08.036
design? What's your favorite model? What's your favorite year?

00:21:09.236 --> 00:21:13.756
1956, oval. So 1956, oval, beetle.

00:21:14.476 --> 00:21:21.496
That's absolutely awesome I love Oval Windows myself I'd like to get one And

00:21:21.496 --> 00:21:28.496
you know why that's my special one Tell me why That was my first one which I Restored.

00:21:30.118 --> 00:21:35.258
And then I sold it. And then I started five, six years later,

00:21:35.878 --> 00:21:39.078
and I buy all the Beetles I could get hands on.

00:21:39.738 --> 00:21:49.658
And that was in the 80s. I bought them in the years 1984, 85, around about 2000.

00:21:50.478 --> 00:21:53.638
Now, you have this collection.

00:21:54.138 --> 00:21:58.498
Do you maintain these cars? Do they get driven, or are they just sitting?

00:21:59.118 --> 00:22:07.238
No, by only setting. Only setting. By all in a 100% restored condition,

00:22:07.518 --> 00:22:15.318
but they were parked in the shed on the farm and wasn't driven.

00:22:15.558 --> 00:22:21.578
So they will need new batteries and brakes, and the engines have to be started up.

00:22:21.818 --> 00:22:26.458
But what I do from time to time is I take a spanner and I turn the engines.

00:22:27.638 --> 00:22:30.458
But yeah I must get them out and I must get

00:22:30.458 --> 00:22:33.278
them up and running and I must get them cleaned again and I

00:22:33.278 --> 00:22:36.298
must get them on the auction I can't wait

00:22:36.298 --> 00:22:42.018
for one day to to hear about when some of those cars become available for sure

00:22:42.018 --> 00:22:48.578
that has got to be a a huge announcement in the VW community I'm sure you know

00:22:48.578 --> 00:22:53.758
you won't have any trouble relocating a lot of those cars yeah I think all of

00:22:53.758 --> 00:22:55.418
them will So, I must only,

00:22:55.758 --> 00:22:58.998
when it's ready, I will let you know.

00:22:59.378 --> 00:23:02.598
Are most of them right-hand drive?

00:23:03.258 --> 00:23:09.518
All of them is right-hand drive, except a 1967.

00:23:11.218 --> 00:23:16.118
There, I've got a left-hand drive, and one of the common gears is left-hand

00:23:16.118 --> 00:23:22.118
drive, and I've got a 1303, also a left-hand drive.

00:23:23.418 --> 00:23:32.078
And then I've got one of my combis is a left hand drive and one of my pauses is also left hand drive,

00:23:32.958 --> 00:23:39.638
my ultimate dream beetle is an oval window right hand drive that's one of my

00:23:39.638 --> 00:23:43.258
dream cars one day I'm going to make it happen sure,

00:23:43.938 --> 00:23:51.258
you know me when my collection is coming available then I will definitely contact

00:23:51.258 --> 00:23:57.558
you that week You can advertise it and you can put me to people and things like that. Yes. Awesome.

00:23:58.098 --> 00:24:03.998
So I got an awkward question. What's one of the weirdest things that you've

00:24:03.998 --> 00:24:06.658
ever transported in a classic Volkswagen?

00:24:07.778 --> 00:24:09.738
Two Beetle engines on the roof rack.

00:24:11.538 --> 00:24:15.378
That's a lot of weight. 700, 800 pounds, huh?

00:24:16.218 --> 00:24:21.718
Yeah, yeah. I put it on a roof rack and I transferred it from Mosel Bay to Cape Town.

00:24:22.844 --> 00:24:26.564
So let's talk about Afro Beetle, you know, because I know this is relatively

00:24:26.564 --> 00:24:30.724
a newer business venture for you, but you have a lifetime of experience.

00:24:31.644 --> 00:24:37.924
What's next for Afro Beetle? What do you think you're doing as far as building cars go?

00:24:38.004 --> 00:24:40.884
Do you have anything coming up? Are you releasing anything?

00:24:41.324 --> 00:24:43.764
Is there anything you're working on right now?

00:24:44.704 --> 00:24:52.524
Look, we do a lot of rebuilt engines. we're also exporting engines to Europe and.

00:24:53.904 --> 00:24:57.224
We also do a lot of rebuilt engines

00:24:57.224 --> 00:25:04.204
and we also export to Europe and we also export it to Zambia the other day engine

00:25:04.204 --> 00:25:11.244
and that's the one thing we're quite good in and then also I'm going to start

00:25:11.244 --> 00:25:16.584
rental vehicles again as people come from overseas and they're coming for holiday,

00:25:16.764 --> 00:25:19.404
they can rent a Beetle and they can be off with a Beetle.

00:25:19.844 --> 00:25:21.604
Nice. That's a good idea.

00:25:22.544 --> 00:25:30.324
My previous company, I had 367 Beetles, which I was renting out.

00:25:31.144 --> 00:25:34.144
That's massive. What was the name of that company?

00:25:35.344 --> 00:25:40.744
Best Beetle. Best Beetle. And you rented those for tourists?

00:25:41.964 --> 00:25:45.864
Only tourists. Only overseas people. Okay. Amazing.

00:25:46.484 --> 00:25:51.164
So, you know, you do body work and metal work and mechanical stuff.

00:25:51.804 --> 00:25:57.724
What type of advice would you have for a young restorer or somebody that's going

00:25:57.724 --> 00:26:00.944
to maybe get into collecting vintage VWs?

00:26:01.044 --> 00:26:04.144
What advice would you give them getting into the VW world?

00:26:05.264 --> 00:26:13.824
It depends on the knowledge of the person. If you've got enough practical experience,

00:26:14.284 --> 00:26:18.784
then I can take him much further than a guy who don't know anything.

00:26:19.424 --> 00:26:23.704
And I will suggest to him that if he starts with the restoring,

00:26:24.224 --> 00:26:26.464
he strip the whole car in pieces.

00:26:27.764 --> 00:26:32.464
Yeah, strip it completely in pieces and then cleaning everything.

00:26:33.324 --> 00:26:38.164
And then you start repairing. And there are certain ways of repairing,

00:26:38.604 --> 00:26:46.184
it's cut out rust and welding plate and shape it, and then use a good undercoat,

00:26:46.424 --> 00:26:51.524
a good undercoat, and then you put your primer and then your.

00:26:52.903 --> 00:26:57.623
Yeah, so strip it down completely, become familiar with everything,

00:26:57.883 --> 00:27:03.903
and then recondition, restore, and put a good protective paint cover on it.

00:27:04.263 --> 00:27:09.043
That's right. And don't go for a cheap paint. Go for an expensive paint.

00:27:09.643 --> 00:27:18.303
Yes. So if you could pass one message to the global VW community, what would it be?

00:27:19.143 --> 00:27:21.423
Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.

00:27:22.903 --> 00:27:26.543
If you want to restore, go all the way.

00:27:27.003 --> 00:27:32.803
So don't pinch pennies. Your marketing seems to be very creative.

00:27:32.803 --> 00:27:37.323
I would almost say that it's genius, right? If it's in the back, we fix it.

00:27:37.683 --> 00:27:42.063
Power in the back, smiles in the front. Who comes up with this marketing?

00:27:43.023 --> 00:27:47.243
Trudy. Who? Trudy. Who's that?

00:27:47.943 --> 00:27:53.723
That's the lady. She's also marketing with us.

00:27:54.263 --> 00:28:01.463
She does great. Those are catchy. When I first found you guys on Instagram, that's what I saw.

00:28:01.643 --> 00:28:05.223
I saw some of those pictures and I was like, oh, man, I got to reach out to

00:28:05.223 --> 00:28:08.243
these guys. That was really cool. Good marketing. Good job.

00:28:09.223 --> 00:28:14.583
That's between Trudy and Marcel. They work together. Awesome.

00:28:14.943 --> 00:28:16.543
Good job, Marcel. Marcel.

00:28:18.963 --> 00:28:26.523
So how can people get in touch with you in South Africa? Shout out your Facebook, your website.

00:28:26.863 --> 00:28:29.023
Tell us how people can connect with you.

00:28:29.963 --> 00:28:32.063
Maybe Marcel can answer that data.

00:28:33.903 --> 00:28:39.903
Hey there, man. The guys can contact us on contactfribeetle at gmail.com.

00:28:40.563 --> 00:28:44.723
They can find us on Facebook. It's under Fribeetle P2I Limited. it.

00:28:45.223 --> 00:28:51.883
We have our Facebook posts there and we share new videos and new engines we put together.

00:28:52.603 --> 00:28:56.903
Especially when we tow new stuff, we share that as well to see what new stuff

00:28:56.903 --> 00:28:59.563
is coming in and what client stuff we're taking out.

00:29:00.243 --> 00:29:04.623
There'll always be updates on Facebook and our website, 3Beatle.com.

00:29:04.843 --> 00:29:09.203
You guys can find us and sign up there and check for new parts. Awesome.

00:29:11.263 --> 00:29:15.063
We're also going now online with spare parts.

00:29:16.003 --> 00:29:22.463
In the next two, three weeks, we will launch our online spares division.

00:29:22.843 --> 00:29:29.343
I'm excited and I'm eager to see and hear more about this collection in the coming months.

00:29:29.723 --> 00:29:32.523
I've got a couple of folks here stateside that would be very,

00:29:32.523 --> 00:29:36.903
very excited to be able to get their hands on some of that. So, totally amazing.

00:29:37.823 --> 00:29:45.043
Please, Joe, just wait until I contact you. I promise you, you will be the first one. Okay.

00:29:45.323 --> 00:29:48.043
And I promise you, I will never bother you about it.

00:29:53.623 --> 00:29:58.823
You can count on that for sure. We appreciate it very much that you gave us

00:29:58.823 --> 00:30:03.843
the opportunity to do the interview today.

00:30:04.183 --> 00:30:09.143
Yes. Thank you. And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

00:30:09.703 --> 00:30:13.203
Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of

00:30:13.203 --> 00:30:15.263
the people in the Dove that drive their dreams.

00:30:15.523 --> 00:30:20.083
If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button

00:30:20.083 --> 00:30:21.383
so you never miss an adventure.

00:30:21.763 --> 00:30:26.343
Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the Dove life? Awesome.

00:30:26.763 --> 00:30:31.683
Reach out to us. You can find us on all socials at Dove Life Diaries or shoot

00:30:31.683 --> 00:30:33.443
me an email. I'm not hard to find.

00:30:33.763 --> 00:30:39.243
Dove Life Diaries at gmail.com. Until next time, keep the engines humming and

00:30:39.243 --> 00:30:42.623
the wheels turning and always follow the road that inspires you.

00:30:42.803 --> 00:30:45.143
This is Joe Person, I'm signing off.

00:30:45.520 --> 00:31:44.135
Music.