MARK HOWARD GIVE IT A BASH

Television commentator Mark Howard isn’t a car enthusiast but he admits to falling in love with a 1967 Volkswagen Kombi on a surfing trip across the US.

The Big Bash host and a mate bought the Kombi in Arizona and lived in it for eight months as they explored the States.

“We surfed all the way up the west coast, stopped in Vancouver for a while, then drove across Canada and sold it in New York,” Howard says. “It was by far and away the favourite car I’ve ever had. I loved it and everything it was about.”

The relationship got off to a rocky start in Arizona. “It was 45 degrees, it was that hot, and the heater was stuck in the ‘on’ position,” he says.

“We weren’t mechanically minded so we looked in the manual, found where the heater was, in a little box underneath the engine, and we took to it with a hammer and actually physically belted it off.

“We thought we were geniuses because it immediately stopped working. Six months later we were at the top of the Rockies, it was minus 15 and we had to drive in our sleeping bags, beanies and gloves it was that cold.”

The Stateside trip was one of many fourwheeled adventures for Howard.

As a kid he, his father, his grandpa and his sister would cross the Nullarbor in a Ford Fairlane to visit relatives. Mum and his younger sister got to fly.

“Sitting next to my sister in the back for 54 hours was a pretty long trip I reckon,” he says.

He embraced his own road trips when he inherited his mum’s Mazda 626. Its biggest attraction was its ability to gobble up a surfboard with the seats folded flat.

“The majority of my university life was learning to surf, not studying, so it was trips from Melbourne to Phillip Island or Melbourne to the Bellarine Peninsula, sleeping in the back of a car and learning to surf – good memories,” he says.

Later in life, the road trips extended to Africa, India and central and South America.

“I’ve driven in some crazy places,” he says. “In South Africa they drive at ridiculous speeds. Malawi has got to have the worst roads in the world. Costa Rica, you have to have your eyes peeled because they’ll do anything.

“India is absolute madness. It’s like a video game, with cows crossing the road and trucks overtaking on the wrong side.

“I like adventure and I love a road trip.” His current set of wheels is a Holden Crewman ute, which fits two kids in the back and a surfboard in the tub.

He admits he’s tempted by the new generation of one-tonners, though.

“Utes have all of a sudden become a cool thing to drive, as they get bigger and flashier. A ute’s become a luxury item,” he says.

Listen to Mark Howard’s The Howie Games and The Moment on podcastone.com.au