The magic colour-changing Beetle, 1972

Here's a little story from just before I headed off overseas in 1972....

I had a Beetle just like this one, same year and colour, in 1972.
The colour changed from this....

At the time I had my latest and "newest" Beetle, the latest in a long line of VW Beetles I'd had.  This one was just 5 years old, practically new...
I needed to sell the car before heading off.  One night I picked up a hitchhiker, named Fred, as I recall.  On the way he admired the Beetle and I managed to sell it to him right there and then as we drove along, on our way to Elder St, and dropped Fred off in Civic.
We agreed on the price -- $700.  Only thing is, I said, that I need it for two more weeks till I head off o/s, did he mind if I kept it till then.  Amazingly, Fred said fine, and we shook on the deal and the day he'd pick it up, a fortnight hence.
Now.... a week later was Mark Thomas' buck's party, somewhere out in Woden.  It was in a concrete-floored club somewhere, with a bunch of guys, some kegs, and some pretty bad behaviour.
At about 1:00 am, Oz and I hopped in the Beetle to drive home to Elder St.  Rotten drunk.... them's were the days....
We were fine on the way home.... almost.  At the last turn into Elder St, I gunned the engine, we flew into the corner, way too fast and.... rolled her on her roof.
Amazingly Oz and I were both wearing seat belts. I remember the radio still playing, the wheels spinning and the popping and cracking of an engine cooling down.
I looked at Oz, from my upside-down position, and asked if he was Ok.  "Fine", he said.
We got out and looked at the wrinkled wreck of the car.
A few minutes later, I'm not sure why, Little Pete and Rottie turned up, maybe they were shadowing us, or maybe just coming back to Elder St for a late night joint..
They got out and helped us push her back on her feet and Oz & I drove her back the last 100 yards to Elder St. She seemed fine, even if the roof was wrinkled and she had no windscreen.
Next day, I realized I no longer had a car to sell to Fred.  I needed that $700.
What I did next still amazes me.
I went out the the wreckers in Fyshwick and bought a Beetle body.   Trailered it back to Elder St and over the next week proceeded to take the body off the wrecked one and put the new body on.
Only thing is that the old body was that kind of light blue (above) and the new body was white (below).
Most things fitted fine, but there were a few bits that remained blue: some of the dashboard and the covers on the blinkers.
When Fred came around to pick up the car, the only thing he said was "I thought the car was blue".
"No mate", I said, "she was always white.  Remember that it was night time you saw her.  Always been white".  I said, as I leaned on the bumper, to hide the blue on the blinkers....

..... to this colour, in a week...

He paid the money, I left Australia.  Never to find out what he made of the odd bits of blue on an otherwise white car....
LATER: I have some photos somewhere, of this little bit of subterfuge, which I'll scan in, in due course.
Later: Here's one.....

The new body on the left, the wrinkled wreck on the right.  The one in
the middle is Oz's flowery Beetle.  Beetlemania...

LATER STILL, FROM SAL (30 Aug).
Nearly died laughing - started a coughing fit.  Almost axphixiated. And I remember that -
Reminded me of my car story which will have to be validated by Ray  - an FJ Holden race as I recall - down the old unfinished road to Woden - we had to take down the barriers - flat out - god knows what speed - not sure of passengers - Ray driving - not sure of other competitors - was one of my dates with Ray.  Possibly my last date due to near death experience. 
Will you ask Ray to detail it?
And tell me how to add to your following post so I am identified as me?
Fucking complicated this blogging.

EVEN LATERER (31 Aug)
Sal: language, language!
I changed the font and colour, just as you wanted....  I made it Arial, and the colour is "Purple".  First you have to be in "edit" mode, which you've obviously done already, as you added the above para: just click the little "edit" pencil icon at the bottom of the post.  
Get the Font from the icon "F" above.  Change the colour by clicking the Icon above with "A" and then choose the colour you like: the one I chose is in the first row of colours second from the end...
BTW: The default Font is Times.
As to how to add a following post with your name, it should be in your name if you log in with your Google account (not Yahoo).  You can try, that, it should work, but I can't be sure till you try.... I've checked in the settings and you are now identified as an "author", so it should be in  your name...[later yet: I changed your status to "Admin", same as me; I guess that's the top-level authorship and it ought to ensure that you're going to be identified as the author of a post]
The Ray Story: yes, I can ask him about that....
PS: good to see you using Caps!

Elder St, 1971

Yaaay!  Ace in Elder St, 1971

Ace and Chris

The magic colour changing Beetles.   Story here.

And this is the result. 

Our dog, Fish, looks wistfully out...

Our nice marihuana plant....

Oz and Tony give our M plant some reference and....

... and this is the result, a nice rolly

Wow, that's nice dope!...

Ace and Sherry Howells, with Little Pete's MGB

Little Pete and Oz

Flower Power Girl and the Kombi

Tony Peppercorn

Ace with Fish showing the sort of attention that helped
dogs survive in the last 30 thousand years: mooching...

Now, let me see... that's how you click the camera....

Little Pete, Ray, Chris

Ray at the BBQ

Ray and ?...

Sherry Howells, and Ace in back with Little Pete

Sherry and ?? (George?). Ask me about him, if that's the case...

Who is the guy on the left?   Diane Reid and Roz White

Switzerland 1970 (Forse)

These are just a few catch-up photos...  When we came over for an Aussie summer/European winter break.. we stayed about 6 weeks in the chalet below, in Gstaadt.

Chalet in Gstaadt.  Xmas-NY, 1970-71

Another view of our chalet in Gstaadt.  Not much snow....

Lac Leman, Switzerland.  1970.

Zermatt, 1970

Our house (ie, Dad's house courtesy of the Oz taxpayers)
Multengutstrasse, Berne, 1970

Australia, September 1970: Nurses' Ball

On back, I think my writing: "Nurse's Ball, Sept '70"
What about that home-made tie-dye!  And also the headband...
And love the Sari.....
The year before, Garran Ball, here

Australia, 1969, 1970. "Oz, Ace, Little Pete, Rottie..."

This photo was September 1970 and was front page of the Canberra Times,
and the Sydney Morning Herald.
The second Aussie Moratorium.  One of my favourite photos.....

Sal, well done!
From your post below....
"who were all the boys????
oz, ace, little pete, rottie, dick ellis, barry faux, ray pollard..."

Here's a couple of photos I have on my computer.  I'll get to the other points in your post, point by point below the photos.

Barry and his Red Setter, Big Pete, on the Murrumbidgee, I think 1969

Tony, Oz and Jenny, and Barry's Red Setter.... Same day as above

Ace and Oz.  Ace is cutting up some Acid.  This is in the Brindabellas
on a day we went out especially to trip.... sometime in '69, I think

I think this photo is Bathurst 1969: Ray, Rottie,
Big Pete, Forse

Actually, I think I'll leave comments on your post to my next post. I'll just leave you to these rather nice and memory-recalling photos... I wonder if you remember any of them?

I'll also have to go to my photo album and scan some in to my computer to upload them here.

BTW: just to confirm with you: that this blog of ours is private to you and me.  Noone else can see it (for as long as you want it that way) and Google has not been given permission to search it.  So it's ours. [2 April 2019: we decided to make it Public.  PF]

“Garran Ball, mid 1969"

19 yo, and barely 17...

Australia. Elder St 1969

A kind of tone-dropout photo of Elder St, Braddon, 1969.
Now torn down and replaced with several old-folks' properties...

Time Line, (Forse)

Ok Sal, here I go....
1971: Graduated from ANU with a very ordinary Pass in Economic (with Credits in Snooker and High Distinctions in sex, drugs and rock & roll..).
1972: Had a job for a while, or two that I recall: one in the Department of Primary Industry, hand-counting cattle numbers and making sure the rows and columns added up.... Then I was in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics for a while, where somehow I got caught up again counting cattle.  Ironic in the light of your subsequent life in the North....
Towards the end of '72 decided on the big trip o/s.  You must have left already?  Oz and Jenny had left a bit earlier, as I recall....
End '72 (I guess): I was on the way to Canada -- don't know what you thought of this, or if I even told you -- to work on an oil rig.  I'd read somewhere that you could earn great bucks on a rig, even if you didn't have much experience (and I had none).  Figures like 3,000 Canadian dollars per week seem to stick in my mind.  Anyway, I was on the way there, and stopped in London on the way.
I lobbed up in the afternoon at a pub just after the reopening -- remember pubs in those days were closed in the arvo.  I had a pleasant few beers, the sun was shining and London seemed like a pretty nice place.  I stayed.
Where were you then?  Nursing, as I recall, the main thing you did while there?
Ended up in a flat with Teik, for some reason.  He was doing serious stuff, like getting his Fellowship in Intensive Care, or Anaesthetics (or both), while I just faffed around.
1972-74, London:  Jobs I had over the next few years included: book-keeper in a pie factory; salesman at a Pakistani Carpet shop in the West End; courier delivering stuff all over London on my Honda 50 Step-thru; selling phony black-felt and hideous neon coloured "paintings" door-to-door that I was supposed to have done myself and be selling to cover my tuition fees (that was the cover story); selling encyclopedias door to door....
And the best job: the one in 1974, when I got a job as Butler's Valet to the Glenfiddich Lodge in Banffshire Scotland.  That led on to an interview when I got back to London with the Begum Aga Khan in Knightsbridge and later with her husband the Aga Khan in Paris, which will be the subject of a separate post....
1974: Went to Torino to work for Linguarama, for around six months.  [interested to see they're still going, even still in Turin].  You were still in London.  During that time, two lawyer students asked me to go with them to Yugoslavia's (now Croatia's) Martinscica Island to have some fun and in return teach them some English.  I said OK and asked if you could come along; they said yes.  You came to join me...

What a lovely photo! Your writing on the back says:
"Outside the Cathedral in Milan, having just arrived in Italy
to meet Peter. Italy, July 1974"

We had a lovely time there and again, I have some photos, which I'll get round to scanning.  This ought to be subject to separate post.... BTW, it was during my stint with Linguarama, which was owned then by a couple of English guys, that I realised that the business of teaching English was a good lurk. That's what I told Jing in 2008 when I got retrenched from Duty Free Shoppers in Hong Kong, and saw an ad for Wall Street Institute, in the South China Morning Post, looking for a Master Franchisee in Hong Kong: I said "English training was a pretty good lurk in 1973 when I did it in Italy and I bet it still is"...

Remember this, Sal? We were here around '73, just outside this town, as I recall...
I have other photos. This one's just off the web. Martinscica Island.

1975: we started off for India in Wrangle, January 1975 from London, first stopping for some skiing in Lenk, Austria and Verbier in Switzerland.

Your note on the back of the photo says: "Wrangle in his parking spot, and he
started after a few kicks! Jan 75, Suisse".  Why weren't Ray and Robin
with us then? Where did they join us?  

Ray and Robin with us for the bulk of the trip (though not in the above, which was Lenk, as I recall).  Remember that the car was so old that in Switzerland we were told to take it off the road, because it was too crappy for their roads.  Our solution: stick some flowery Contac on the rust holes....  On the way I applied for the Department of Foreign Affairs, answering their responses from various postes restante along the way.  Subject of a separate post, this trip: with input from Ray. There's a lot there....
1976: You went North to see your sister. I went to Canberra.  And the rest, as they say, is history.... While I was waiting to hear from DFA, I was a telegram delivery boy, a job I nearly got fired from, for crashing their little step-thru motor bike one too many times.  They threatened instead to demote me to a bicycle......  Living with Bruce Reynolds, the Artist, if you remember him, in Kingston, then back to Duffy St..... Where Teik came to live with me for a while.  You came back from up north, ringing me one morning; remember that?...

Over to you to add/amend as you see fit, in Arial Purple

Answering “Sally chimes in...”

Sal: I'm going to answer your questions one by one. (your points in blue, bold, italics):

... sick with the flu
Hope you're better or getting better!
Am not.  Approach with caution.  Possibly with a chair and a whip.

yes - i guess PDF would be the format.
PDF will be fine.  Suggestion: get used to using your Upper Case at beginning of sentences, and using caps for "I".  Reason being not just my natural pedantry, but if you want to publish, it reads much better with standard punctuation, and if you continue with all lower caps, you're ("we're"?) going to have to go back and change all those: major hassle at the time; minor hassle now....

OK OK OK. Though you know I don't want to.  Lower case is my signature.

Also: please DO put a headline for each blog post. That makes it easier to search later.  Just try to think of something that summarises your post... (otherwise, the default of the program is to take a piece of your first sentence as the post heading, which may or not be relevant to the whole post...

OK but assume you mean new posts only?  These comments don't need headings.
And now how do we know this is coming from me, not you?

my photos are all currently stored in iPhoto on my mac.  that is the same as on my hard-drive, right, and not on a site - as you say?
Yes, that's fine to have them on iPhoto.  What you do is to drag to desktop the photos you want to upload, then click on the "insert image" icon above (when you are in "posting" mode), and then click "upload photo" and choose the ones on the desktop you want to upload.  You can choose multiple photos to upload in one go: on Apple machine, hold down the "Command" key to do that.
If you scan photos, they can be in any program on your computer or iPhoto, doesn't matter.  Wherever they are, just drag them to the Desktop.  (you can delete them from the Desktop once you have uploaded them).
When you upload a photo make the standard size "Large".  Then add a "Caption" (ie, don't write below or above the photo; the "caption" will always stay with the photo wherever you move it to).

OK - know how to drag photos.

lala so i can see her also - you would know she has been ill?
Yes, I knew she'd been ill.  Please pass on my best wishes to her when you see her. Ditto Teik. I often think of him and wonder how he's doing after the break-up.  From what I heard, he was pretty shaken by the whole thing.... Didn't he also get rather taken to the cleaners?

I HATE IT WHEN MEN SAY OTHER MEN HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO THE CLEANERS.
The family court is clear on this - 50/50 unless dependent children - and men who say they have been taken to the cleaners won't recognise the law on this.
Yay for Justice whoever he was - you know - that ugly one.
Teik is hurt/angry/bitter/unresolved. Might be a bit more over it when I get there.

dottie from hydra turned up.
Don't recall her, though a photo might refresh the memory....

Actually don't think you met her - only on Hydra and Athens before you met me is Suisse.

when did you arrive back in canberra from SA - 
I was in SA just after school, which I graduated in 1967. So, 1968 in South Efrika, and then back to Oz in early 1969.  I remember meeting you first at the Deakin Inn, one Friday night drinks at the pub, you were a young thing....  I rather took to you....
And I to you.  Polyester safari suit and long socks not withstanding.

was i at school then, or working for PS or nursing?
I can't recall, though I think it was pretty much in the interchange between PS and nursing. For sure, for most of the time you were nursing..
did you go straight to uni and john's?
Yes, I went straight to Uni and John XXIII.  The second year, I moved to Elder St, with Oz and Tony. It was there that my Dad visited us once and was so shocked by our living conditions that he said we were a "Filth Cult".  Do you remember that?  My Mum, who's been with us for the last few weeks and just returned to Australian last night, remembers....

Got to be a headline. Filth cult.  Love it.
Sergeant Sardoni, the old military man, didn't think the house-keeping was up to scratch.  I do recall it could have been improved upon.

oz, ace, little pete, rottie, dick ellis, barry faux, ray pollard - were they all at uni? know ray was a mechanic.
Oz and Tony were at Uni, with me, though doing different courses.  Little Pete didn't do Uni, as I recall.  Rottie did, he was in Law, stayed in law all his life and still is, as far as I know. Barry went straight into business and still is, in Fox Antiques.... Ray never went to Uni.  He was in Tommy Tortoise removals for some time, became quite senior if not a part owner as I recall.  He was also involved in the magazine Matilda for some time. He was also a talented mechanic, working eventually for the Alfa Romeo Race team. Then he got went overseas, like all of us, and when back in Oz got into home renovation business ("Changing Places" being his company).  He's in Amsterdam now, still married to Melinda and with two just grown boys.  I got back in touch with ray in the late 90's and early 2000s. Can write more about that later, if we wish. Also Ray seems to have a pretty good memory, and of course was on our epic Wrangle car trip, so we should get in touch with him again at some stage.
Little Pete was in the PS all his life, never left Oz.  Retired at Pambula Beach, where he has a garage band.  I can give you the link if you like.  His daughter Holly is in Accra where she has a foundation to help kids get to school. I recently donated to it.
Barry passes through Hong Kong from time to time, mainly on his way to/fro France, where he buys antiques.  We did a week-long cruise with him and his new lady Thereisa, a couple of years back.  He's still running Fox Antiques.
Rottie still lawyering in Canberra.
Big Pete still doing art-teaching in Newcastle. Still with Jill, as far as I know, and with a couple of daughters, one of whom he brought along to our get-together in Amalfi in 2005.
Oz came through here with Alison in November 2009.  They live in Jindabyne and do the looking after of chalets in winter, still, as far as I know.  Only hear from him from time to time.
You must remember the bike ride that you and I and he and Jenny did.  Must've been around 1973, on my new BMW. Think he had a Honda....

Of course - that is to go in the UK segment.
And, as I recall, it was OUR BMW?

No news all these years of Tony Peppercorn... Still with Pattie last I heard.

were you guys in the draw for national service (nasho? how do you spell that?)
Yes, we were all in the draw for "nasho" (I also don't know how to spell it).  I'd decided that If I'd been chosen, I'd go.  But didn't get chosen, none of us..

Wow - ruined so many lives.  Is still ruining.  You came so close to having your life upended.

how long were you at john's and when did you move into elder st?
Was there for just one year. Then moved to Elder St.  Those seemed to be easy days to do that. I was on a Teacher's Scholarship, but seemed to have enough money to get by, pay rent, buy wine, etc.  Occasionally we'd work a bit for extra cash.  And Oz & Tony both worked as Cab drivers for some time.  I did a stint carting wheat in summer and once (for a day) as a labourer pulling down the old Parliament House roof.  I couldn't hack it. Too hard.  I also sold chicken shit (aka "manure") door-to-door for a while, good business in the new suburbs.... $5/bag or $12 for three.  When I got back from England, you may remember I was a telegram delivery boy for a while -- nearly sacked for crashing their Honda Step-thru (50cc) too often. That's also where I got Burma that cat.  But that's another story.
A dog I remember from our Elder St days is Fish, the black Lab-mix.  Remember him?

Remember both Burma and Fish.
And BB latterly, but that was in 1976.

who moved in firstly and did that change over the years.
Don't recall who first moved in, I think it was just in the Gestalt that we should get a joint house and we looked around for a bit and found Elder St pretty quickly. We stayed the same -- Oz, Forse and Tony -- for all three years.  Elder St, as you may recall, became a bit of a "go-to" place over those years, always someone there, always cars and bikes all round the place. Always some "greasy Louie" burger and chips on offer.  Always some dope.....

All fabulous info. And photos will enhance.

can we work this so you write on this post in a different font following comments of mine with additions from you?
Woops, only saw this now.  But in fact, the way above is probably better, cause then you just pick out the questions, and answer them, as above, otherwise we end up with lots of editing in one post.  Also, in time, I think we might get onto writing longer bits about here and there, and they'll stand as separate posts. I'm also thinking that if you eventually want to "publish" this in some form, the more it can be in a final form, the easier the editing of the final thing will be.
BTW: I note that your post is labelled as being written by "Forse".  Not sure why that is. I think because you used the password and username I sent you.  Perhaps try using your own Google address and your own password and see if that works.  If not, no worry.  We can just put our name in brackets as I've done above and for the first posts here.
Later: just had a look: you have to answer the invitation that I sent to you (via Google), then you will be an "Author" and it'll be in your name. Use your Google account for that.

I did, so why isn't it working?
I hate blogging.

Sally chimes in... Aug 2012

what a  hilarious start forse - i can see we are going to have fun with this.
i am just testing to see if this worked, which is does. however cant post now as am about to go and walk up to the lighthouse - think i mentioned i am house-sitting at byron bay and have been really sick with the flu - so annoying as have wasted so much precious time just lying around coughing.
i'm not sure what i want to do with the finished product - obviously publish in some form but till i know how we work together i won't know if it is a story or not.
since you will be contributing, you will have right of edit of any of your posts should you not want them published.
yes - i guess PDF would be the format.
my photos are all currently stored in iPhoto on my mac.  that is the same as on my hard-drive, right, and not on a site - as you say?
however, any photos of these years would have to be scanned into iPhoto from the old habitat scrap book.

strange how only recently so many friends from so long ago have come back into my life.  have loved recent connections with jenny - she has the driest of humour -
and the rest at the reunion.  i am going to stay with teik in perth for 2 weeks while being nurse ratchett for my sister susan when she has her knee replaced in september. have also emailed lala so i can see her also - you would know she has been ill?
and as yet another strangely timed coincidence - dottie from hydra turned up.  not sure you ever met her?  she lived with us on hydra for ages, and then in athens, and was in love with padg, though she always denied that.  she looked up padgham in phone book recently, found her via steve, and has just been here in byron with her partner reminiscing like crazy.  partner is one of those po-faced lemon lipped adelaide social women - but dottie  is a champ.
so there are many people i can ask for info to add to the opus.
and am sure my brain will dredge up all sorts of forgotten adventures once stimulated.
maybe we could start with ballpark dates -
when did you arrive back in canberra from SA -
was i at school then, or working for PS or nursing?
i remember when i was living in the nursing home dating ray pollard, so maybe you didn't get back till after that?
did you go straight to uni and john's?
who were all the boys????
oz, ace, little pete, rottie, dick ellis, barry faux, ray pollard - were they all at uni? know ray was a mechanic.
were you guys in the draw for national service (nasho? how do you spell that?)
think you may have been a couple of years too young.
how long were you at john's and when did you move into elder st?
who moved in firstly and did that change over the years.
i remember
bathurst and you blokes pissing into the depression you had made by jumping on the top of the combi.  hope that wasn't my combi with the hendrix effigy on the front.
brindabella and that fabulous no shooting photo. PF: what's this mean?
the moratorium photos of you and oz.  which would indicate they must have still been running a birthday lottery for nasho.
and all the ridiculous nursing adventures which will come back to me. and jo and padg will help.
can we work this so you write on this post in a different font following comments of mine with additions from you?
i think point form will do.  it is the way i write best.
but not sure how that would work for you.

so.  we have begun.  what fun.

Post the first, Aug 2012, Forse

Sal has asked me to write up some of my recollections of travel in the early seventies. I don't know if I can really help, as I'm sure her recollections are better than mine.... Still, here goes and this is just a test post to see if it's all ok. I've chosen the simplest of the templates...
Reminds me that I set up a blog for Basil our Labrador, but ...