I was surfing the web when I came across this rather unique VW bus shot by LeRoy Grannis at selvedgeyard.com. It was taken in front of the pioneering surfboard “factory” of Greg Noll (Hermosa Beach) in 1965. There was very little of the back story, except to say that it was bought by two Australians in England, where it had been previously converted to this unusual high-top camper, and they were on a trip across America in it. But a bit more surfing was productive…
Here’s another version of that photo session, this time with the participants. And one of them, John Trivett, left a bit of the story at thesamba.com:
I’m John Trivett, the 1 on the left of the bus in this pic, Greg Noll center and Ronny Christie on the right! So we came across your query regarding this Surf Combi…
We bought the Combi in Brixton London in 1965. It use to belong to the Secretary of the British Camping Association, and he modified it to what it is. We then started off on our journey around England, Scotland and Europe! We then put it on a ship in Liverpool to Montreal, and then we toured Canada and the States. Leaving it in California with pro female surfer, Marge Calhoun from Laguna Beach, to then on sell. I painted the Combi over the entire period of the trip, which was about 12 months on a surfing safari!
Just for good measure, here’s another vintage shot of a couple of VW buses on a surfing outing to Baja back in the day.
VW split-level with Jalousie windows, how very mid-century cool
Now I have the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean running rampant through my brain.
You gotta wonder how the permanently raised top helped the aerodynamics when the top speed was already 60 mph for a stock bus.
It would have been nice to see a shot of the interior!
My best friend did something similar with his ’59 bus (minus the windows). With 36 SAE gross hp, it was s-l-o-wwww!
Mate o mine had a high roof VW camper a 73 it was a nightmare in crosswinds, he gutted it out and installed the interior in a stock height van in the end.