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" The news of surf-culture icon Hobie Alter&amp;#039;s passing over the weekend brought to mind every romanticized image of the sun, sea, sand, and salt air. But mostly, I thought of the inexorable ties between car culture and surf culture. After all, surfers need to get themselves and their gear to the water. RELATED STORY: Hobie Alter, in memoriam As beautiful a film as The Endless Summer is (you can watch it in the embed below), one of my favorite things about it is seeing what the surfers drove. The surf wagon and surf van are as much a part of the culture as the surfboards they&amp;#039;re tasked with hauling.        In 1986, Hobie and Volkswagen worked corporate synergistic magic on the surf van idea:  The Hobie Cat Vanagon GL was offered that year only, primarily via dealers in coastal regions, California especially, according to forum chatter. The graphics package is straightforward: HOBIE CAT lettering on the nose, and the flanks got a catamaran silhouette trailed by thick rainbow stripes running the length of the car on white vans. A gray version with blue stripes was also apparently offered, and may be the rarer of the two color combos.  The Hobie Vanagons also included a roof rack and a Hobie Alpha sailboard to stow on it. Think Jetta Trek for the beach set. I thought it was a cool package worth recalling as we mark the passing of the American legend whose name was attached to it.   Ad images via Alden Jewell and The Samba.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a7512/vw-and-hobie-1986-hobie-cat-vanagon/>