Mixed feelings: The Suffolk man honouring his father with his restored vintage van
When it comes to our choice of wheels, there’s a lot to consider, but for one man, the classic van that took him six years to restore was truly the perfect pick.
Michael Mixer, 42, grew up with Volkswagens, with his father, Keith, having a green Westfalia camper during his childhood. Mr Mixer’s first two cars would be Golf models, carrying on the family tradition.
His Golf Mk4 would be what he used to start travelling to car shows with his dad, especially Suffolk Bugrs events.
“He (his father) started helping out at the events, and I joined in with him from about 2009 because we did the shows together,” he explained to Dubtales.
In 2013, Mr Mixer’s father was looking for the perfect project when he got hold of the Kombi, an import from Australia. Both Mr Mixers would make it their mission to fix it up.
“I didn't know anything about it at the time," he admitted.
“He started doing it and then said ‘I’ve got this van, do you want to help build it back up?’ So we banded together and continued the build, with help from a local garage.”
“It arrived as a bare shell, with no interior and no engine, and it was going to be a bit of a budget rebuild, scraping the pennies together month by month.”
“We sourced the engine, seats and dash, and a rock and roll bed – I don’t know how dad did it. He would have been in his mid-60s, and he must be an eBay wizard. We’ve still got stockpiles of parts.”
The senior Mr Mixer stayed loyal to the Kombi’s original design, even working with a local garage to ensure they resprayed it the original honey brown colour. This would lead to the father and son duo nicknaming the van ‘Cookie’.
“It was quite a budget respray, and the idea was to make it age and fade a little bit to give it a patina, but it hasn’t quite done that,” Mr Mixer said.
“It still looks quite clean and shiny. Dad’s goal was to start to show and shine it.”
The petrolhead pair planned on taking Cookie camping together, but sadly, that would never happen.
Mr Mixer’s father had previously survived cancer, but unfortunately, it had returned.
“His first journey in it (Cookie) was when I took him for a hospital appointment,” he recalled.
There were more hospital appointment journeys in the Kombi and a few Suffolk Bugrs events, but on March 3, 2020, Keith Mixer passed away, aged 68.
Mr Mixer kept Cookie, and his brother Paul would inherit the Westfalia.
Emotionally reflecting on all the memories with his dad, he said, “We always used to go camping – it was our thing that we used to do, me and dad.”
“Before he died, he said to me, ‘Make sure your kids do what we did’.”
“I love driving it and going places in it.”
He plans on working on the van further with his dad’s blessing.
“When he was in hospital, I showed him some of the stuff I wanted to do, and he approved,” he remembered.
“He said, ‘The only promise I want is that you take the kids out’.”
Mr Mixer decided to keep that promise, taking Cookie on a host of adventures, including camping with his family. His children, Freya, 12, and Theo, 10, also join him at events, just like he did with his father.
“They’d like to skip school if they could, and they’d like to be part of the crew if they could. They love camping,” he joked.
Recording the rest of his restoration on his blog, he remains proud of all the work he and his father put into Cookie.
“So this is definitely staying in the family – I’m never going to let that go. When I’m in it, dad is with me all the time, it’s like he’s camping with us.”
“He knew I would never let that van go.”