My 2nd 1979 Autovilla

[sean]

Here are a few pics of another 1979 Autovilla I recently required.

Jaco had come across it up in JHB and I agreed to save it. Its not prefect, but its very solid and complete.

[spicydave]

SO you bought it then Sean ?

[sean]

The plan was to drive it down, so Paul and myself flew up 2 weeks ago to go fetch it.

Jaco had kindly already fetched the Autovilla, so first thing the next day was just to check all the basics and give it a service.

All seemed good. The owners were insistent that the mileage was only 22 000km, but I found that very hard to believe.

However, this autovilla is the most mechanically perfect bus I have ever come across. Every single original screw, nut, bolt, etc is there and has clearly never been removed. It still has all the little plastic covers in place that's not seen on an engine 40 years old. It still has its original VW airfilter as well as the German Bosch points and condenser installed. It also still has its original shock absorbers.

After spending some good VW time in JHB, we hit the road, followed by some more quality VW time at Vaal Plaasie with some good pizza's and another visit at this lovely VW place too.


Paul also heating some food on the stove (or rather letting in burn due to cell phone distractions )


After that, we drove the last 1000km from Bloem on Sunday. It was such a lekker drive and such a nice experience to jump into a bus I just purchased and drive it straight back to Cape Town, quality!

Oh, we did kind of run out of petrol before Bloem though, but soon found out what was wrong. The previous owner insisted only 1 specific tank must be filled with petrol (I thought maybe he just never wanted to pay for petrol) but I filled both tank's up. I did find it strange why my fuel guage never dropped, but when we ran out, I realised we emptied one tank but the other was still full. After a quick bypass of the line joining the 2 tanks, we were good for the rest of the trip.

The autovilla averaged just over 10 km/l on the trip home. I never ever achieve this even with a standard bus, there really is something special about how well this old beauty goes.

I'm sure Jolas has more pics he can share.

[sean]

I'll take a few nice detailed pics this weekend.

I have already removed that hideous reflective tape and reflectors stuck all over it. Hopefully I can polish it this weekend as the paint has dulled quite a bit, but it has already cleaned up lovely.

[Eugene]

You are such a show off....well done Sean...you and your boyfriend seems to spend a lot of quality time together on the road

[Tony Z]

You guys should be the South African version of "Roadkill" - check them out on youtube if you havent already

[fig]

Great score Sean! And it was a lovely surprise to have you and Paul arrive unexpectedly at Vaalplasie on a Saturday morning!

[jolas]

You are such a show off....well done Sean...you and your boyfriend seems to spend a lot of quality time together on the road

Don't be jealous now luv (of the Autovilla )

[Terry Phillips]

Great find Sean not many of them around.the low kms could be true as some recreational vehicles dont do much and their plans dont end up like they planned and sit for yrs. either way you got a beaut well done.

[acpaterson]

very cool. well done.