The Banana Split
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:16 pm
With a bit of an intro, here's a story about a kombi and some resto work that is only going to grow....
Once upon a time, a bunch of people parked their buses on a farm in the Grampians, a hilly and ruggedly beautiful area of SW Victoria. They lived in peace I guess, 'cause generally that's what Hippie's do.
At some stage after they may or may not have been arrested for the world's first mobile meth-amphetamine laboratories based on an un-assuming farm, some local kids discovered the joys of a .22 rifle. The green and weiss bus took most of the hits.... and as the kids grew, it appears the cailibre of their rifles did too. There even appears to be a couple of elephant gun sized holes in it ...
If that wasn't enough, an enterprising agriculturalist decided his broad acre cropping scheme could benefit from broader acres, and promptly pushed this bus, and the four other buses into a tree out of the way of his Chamberlain powered cropping device....
Oh what a shame farmer Joe !! ... with some vision, your days bouncing up and down on a non suspended rural vehicle could have been much shorter if you had of placed these friendly faced people carriers in some kind of a sheletered workspace.
Anyway, I digressed.... which happens a lot
At some stage Farmer Joe has been relieved of his crop of kombi's and they ended up a couple of hundred Km's to the nord ost in benpondigo with a VW enthusiast. He enthusiastically listed the harvest on EBay and time took it's course..... and I ended up with the bus.....
Here it is where I first found it after being crowned the proud owner by EBay on a nailbiting finishing between me and an unknown opponent...
So I pulled it home to big town and it sat there for a while..... Much like John Muir recommended, I look objectively at any new VW purchase I am contemplating. I did look at the blue fluff in my navel for quite a while. There were some parts of this bus that were going to be salvaged for the repair that is yet to start of the other green and weiss 11 window that I got from Headstone Tony a few years ago, mainly the floor area above the engine which is r.s. in the artist formerly known as Rusty.... here he is here if you haven't met him before.....
So these two almost brother buses sat next to each other for a while, warm and cosy and undercover, sharing lice and other insects for nourishment, recalling the days that seemed to be a memory.... the free love, naked nipples rolling around in the sunshine of summer's warmth... those were the days I'm told.....
They remembered the days when those more sisterly versions used to kiss whilst sharing steins of bier... ohh the days have rolled onwards.
At certain times very enthusiastic potential Kombi enthusiasts were offered the prize of possesing this for no more than the Original purchase price and the cost of retreiving it, maybe plus 10% ..., plus GST, Carbon Price Mechanism etc... but for some strange reason, they all declined 
So a while ago, G Fresh George comes back to roost after a long time working away, keeping the machines that eat and rape the ground alive, to a more solid workplace which is within driving distance of his family.... a bonus...
He takes some space in the front wing of the infamous Benpondigo Squadron bunkers of goodness and his evil mind starts ticking over..... how he can grow the infant Fresh Kustoms into a globally recognised brand of goodness......
We have a chat and hatch a plot to let the pictures do the talking.... The Green and White bus from the Grampians has now become known worldwide as the Banana Split; the official name change by deed poll was confirmed at midnight last night ..... Once again it took the armchair ride back to a shed not very far from the place where our eyes first met.....
It'll be peeled back and refreshed into a road registered driving mobile billboard of the kind of work that one can expect to see roll out of the Fresh Kustoms workshops of the future.... Cue the FK logo, which is not what this bus will look like once completed..... der... the banana split has windows
Here's some pictures that indicates what lies ahead..... A pathway of madness or possibility ??? You decide for yourself.......
So far the honour roll is limited to a handful of people, but once I've had a chat with Jor-ge, we might expand that idea a little....
Mainebugs and Tiff helped get it onto the trailer in the first place.
Tonz saved it from being cut with a plan to perhaps 8/Ball or St George style it for a future DOVW...
G Fresh for hatching the plan.....
Breno the bro in law of Fresh for some catchy images
We need to talk George
b4 Valla
Once upon a time, a bunch of people parked their buses on a farm in the Grampians, a hilly and ruggedly beautiful area of SW Victoria. They lived in peace I guess, 'cause generally that's what Hippie's do.
At some stage after they may or may not have been arrested for the world's first mobile meth-amphetamine laboratories based on an un-assuming farm, some local kids discovered the joys of a .22 rifle. The green and weiss bus took most of the hits.... and as the kids grew, it appears the cailibre of their rifles did too. There even appears to be a couple of elephant gun sized holes in it ...
If that wasn't enough, an enterprising agriculturalist decided his broad acre cropping scheme could benefit from broader acres, and promptly pushed this bus, and the four other buses into a tree out of the way of his Chamberlain powered cropping device....
Oh what a shame farmer Joe !! ... with some vision, your days bouncing up and down on a non suspended rural vehicle could have been much shorter if you had of placed these friendly faced people carriers in some kind of a sheletered workspace.
Anyway, I digressed.... which happens a lot
At some stage Farmer Joe has been relieved of his crop of kombi's and they ended up a couple of hundred Km's to the nord ost in benpondigo with a VW enthusiast. He enthusiastically listed the harvest on EBay and time took it's course..... and I ended up with the bus..... Here it is where I first found it after being crowned the proud owner by EBay on a nailbiting finishing between me and an unknown opponent...
So I pulled it home to big town and it sat there for a while..... Much like John Muir recommended, I look objectively at any new VW purchase I am contemplating. I did look at the blue fluff in my navel for quite a while. There were some parts of this bus that were going to be salvaged for the repair that is yet to start of the other green and weiss 11 window that I got from Headstone Tony a few years ago, mainly the floor area above the engine which is r.s. in the artist formerly known as Rusty.... here he is here if you haven't met him before.....
So these two almost brother buses sat next to each other for a while, warm and cosy and undercover, sharing lice and other insects for nourishment, recalling the days that seemed to be a memory.... the free love, naked nipples rolling around in the sunshine of summer's warmth... those were the days I'm told.....
They remembered the days when those more sisterly versions used to kiss whilst sharing steins of bier... ohh the days have rolled onwards.
At certain times very enthusiastic potential Kombi enthusiasts were offered the prize of possesing this for no more than the Original purchase price and the cost of retreiving it, maybe plus 10%
..., plus GST, Carbon Price Mechanism etc... but for some strange reason, they all declined So a while ago, G Fresh George comes back to roost after a long time working away, keeping the machines that eat and rape the ground alive, to a more solid workplace which is within driving distance of his family.... a bonus...
He takes some space in the front wing of the infamous Benpondigo Squadron bunkers of goodness and his evil mind starts ticking over..... how he can grow the infant Fresh Kustoms into a globally recognised brand of goodness......
We have a chat and hatch a plot to let the pictures do the talking.... The Green and White bus from the Grampians has now become known worldwide as the Banana Split; the official name change by deed poll was confirmed at midnight last night ..... Once again it took the armchair ride back to a shed not very far from the place where our eyes first met.....
It'll be peeled back and refreshed into a road registered driving mobile billboard of the kind of work that one can expect to see roll out of the Fresh Kustoms workshops of the future.... Cue the FK logo, which is not what this bus will look like once completed..... der... the banana split has windows
Here's some pictures that indicates what lies ahead..... A pathway of madness or possibility ??? You decide for yourself.......
So far the honour roll is limited to a handful of people, but once I've had a chat with Jor-ge, we might expand that idea a little....
Mainebugs and Tiff helped get it onto the trailer in the first place.
Tonz saved it from being cut with a plan to perhaps 8/Ball or St George style it for a future DOVW...
G Fresh for hatching the plan.....
Breno the bro in law of Fresh for some catchy images
We need to talk George
b4 Valla 
, looking forward to the build up of the bus..