The Kombi Chronicles - Driving to the end of the world

[Thekombichronicles]

In late December 2024, 1960 days after first arriving in New York from the UK, we finally reached Ushuaia... Often referred to as the southernmost city you can drive to in the entire world. This is an achievement for most people who set off on this kind of overland adventure, but it was even more of an achievement for us as we never planned on ever going there. In fact, we never planned on spending any longer than 12 months and the furthestI am going to south we planned on reaching was Key West.

I've often wanted to post more about our travels on this forum, but it's crazy how little free time we actually seem to have considering we quit our jobs as teachers.

I am not going to go into the trip too much in this post as almost 6 years of travel in a VW is a lot to unravel.

What I will say is that all across our travels, through the 15 countries we have visited, the VW community has been absolutely incredible welcoming to us.

From the clubs in Louisiana, all the way down to the clubs in Buenos Aires. Whether it be hosting us a meet ups, providing us parts or directing us in the right direction... There really is no other community like it and I am so proud to be a part of it.

Our 1976 is a German built model. My partner Willow taught motor vehicle mechanics back in the UK and was there was a donor Subaru lying around in the workshop, she fitted a 2L EJ201 motor with her students. It has been a beast of an engine and have driven places that just aren't achievable with the original. But it even still, we have had our fair share of engine problems. Heck, we have probably broken everything there is to break in our bus (sometimes 3 or 4 times!)

There's always a misconception that because their are Brazilian kombis down here, parts will be easy to source. And that is partially true. Brazilian parts are often available down here, but they are not the same parts that are fitted on our German built model, which has often meant long delays as we import simple items, or led to us getting very creative with the local tornos (engineers).

It has been an incredible life changing adventure and even though we have reached the end of South America, we still aren't done. As I write this, we are in Patagonia, one of the most beautiful regions in the world. We still have a lot of South America to explore and then after that we will see where this journey takes us next.

If you'd like to follow our adventures, we post regularly on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube under the name Kombi Chronicles.

I will also try to post more about our experiences in this forum, whether it be on this general chat or in the stories section.

We recently shared this 45 minute travel film documenting our time on Tierra Del Fuego... at the end of the world.


Link


Safe travels to you all anbd I hope our paths cross on the road one day.

[Thekombichronicles]

Following on from my OP, I thought I would share a little about Ruby, our 1976 late bay.

After being built, she spent her early days in Budapest, before being bought and imported to the UK.

One particular boozy Christmas round my partner Willow's parents house, a plan was born. To travel for a year in a classic VW. At the time, neither of us knew a great deal about cars or mechanics, by I just knew if we were to travel, it had to be in an iconic VW.

And so we set about looking for suitable options for our incredibly small budget of about £5k. We eventually spotted one on Gumtree, ki d of a UK equivalent of Craigslist. It was located a few hours north of us on the outskirts of Manchester. We knew we wanted to build our own custom interior to suit our needs and this was a blank canvas. The only thing inside was the entire and the dashboard, which had been removed for a respray and never refitted. As we were heading that way for a weekend holiday, we arranged to see it on a Friday night.

As I mentioned, what we knew about car mechanics I could fit into one paragraph,but we did at least turn up with a torch and a magnet. In the end, we spent probably less than 30 minutes looking around it and speaking to the owners. They usually bought T25s, but purchased this as a project for their son, but apparently never had time for it.

Being young and nieve, we took them at their word that it had minimal rust issues and thanked them for their time. As we were leaving, they called us to let us know that her name was 'Ruby'.

A few days later, we called them back and Ruby was ours.

Buying Ruby has taught us many valuable lessons over the years. Starting that very first night... Don't take car sellers at their word!

My partner Willow finished her degree in Silversmith(ery) that year, but with me only just starting a 3 year teaching degree, she decided to enroll in a motor vehicle mechanics course instead of starting her planned jewellery business.

A year passed quickly and soon she was being skipped ahead a year, which also passed in a moment. By the end, she was fully qualified and had impressed a lot of people at her college. So much so, that she was offered a teaching position... Even though she was lacking an actual teachers qualification! Her boss was incredibly accommodating and she completed this whilst teaching.

Knowing that we had bought an old VW, which was currently sitting at the bottom of our garden untouched, he allowed Willow to bring it to the college to become a 'class project' with her students. Once all of the rust issues had been addressed.

Once Ruby had a solid shell, the other projects began. The college had a Subaru Imprezza lying around. It was a non-runner. We bought it for £150 and Willow quickly set about diagnosing the problem and then her and her students set about fitting it in Ruby. We still have Ruby's original 2l motor, stored safely at the college to this day.

More projects followed, some more successful than the others. Initially a custom radiator was fitted in the engine bay behind the hatch, but it struggled to maintain the temperature on our test drive to the south of France. We ended up installing an RJES system, as Richard had provided us with the custom bellhousing and wiring loom.

And then finally, we realised that there was nothing stopping us from our travels. Ruby was ready. Our house renovation was ready and we had also purchased a second apartment to support us on the road. So the day after being granted our B2 visas for the US, we handed in our notices and started making arrangements to ship Ruby across the Atlantic.

Our 12 month North American adventure didn't exactly go the way we planned and soon we will be approaching 6 years of full time travel, somewhere down in South America.

If you want to see more of Ruby, we have just uploaded this tour over on YouTube. We mainly focus on the interior, but I am considering one focusing more on the actual VW modifications.

You can watch it here

Link

[Thekombichronicles]

Our first pictures with Ruby

[Thekombichronicles]

I've just started sorting through all our media from our time in Patagonia, which is probably the most picturesque place we have ever driven Ruby through.

I've put together a little teaser with some of the best videos so far.


Link