2008 VW Classic
June 8, 2008: Verizon Ampitheater, Irvine, CA
This year's VW Classic was a success! I was lucky to have some out of state visitors this year to visit with. Scott (known as Doc at Shoptalk Forums) came from Arkansas and Timmy from Minnesota flew into southern California that week just so they could join the festivities. We all had a great time chatting and hanging out.
It seems that this year I couldn't get many of my local VW buddies to attend. Most everyone is really tight on money, but my long time friend Dave McAughty was albe to meet me and we spent the day walking around the show and hanging out with my buddies from the Shoptalk Forums.
There were a lot of great cars this year. I took the D80 this year again and took some shots. I've collected a few to share here. I hope you enjoy them!
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I just had to take a picture of this clean '68 Cal-Look Bug. The '68 and '69 Bugs are nearly identical on the outside, so seeing as this one shares the same paint and styling I'm looking forward too on my '69, hopefully it will serve to keep me motivated when working on my '69. |
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| In my early days, I wasn't too keen on chopped tops, but over the years, I've grown to appreciate the look. This particular Cal-Looker was absolutely gorgeous. |
Dave and I thought the Jagermeister drag racer was looking particularly sweet. He insisted that I get some shots of for him. |
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| This buggy was definitely futuristic looking with the headlight configuration in the nose. This was a pretty nice runner, though if I recall correctly, the For Sale price was a bit pricey. |
The Type 3 Karmann Ghia is one of my favorites, and this one in particular, as it's paint is similar to what my '65 T34 came with from the factory. |
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| The Vanagon crowd was out in full force this year. This collection of Syncros were great, and the Tristar and regular double cab Vanagons were also well represented. |
Here's the Bus done by Chip Foose. It's definitely finished nicely, but from a styling perspective, it wasn't my favorite. The Deluxe molding lower on the body just doesn't look right to me. |
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| This Type 3 had a very unusual accessory: a front hood handle. I don't know the origin of it, but I had to take a picture of for my archives. I thought it looked pretty cool! |
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| This car was in the coachbuilt class, but I've never seen anything like it. At first glance I thought it was a T3 Notchback with a modified sheetmetal, but a closer look ruled that out. It was cool looking! |
Here's something you don't see very often: a late model Type 3 Notchback. This particular car was a 1970 model with custom wheels. |
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| In the swap meet area a "NOS" EMPI Imp body was for sale. This body was a serialized (see right) 1969 model, but the hood and dash were no where to be found. The body was also cut in half, probably to make transporting it easier. The price was $300. |
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| This radical Volksrod was quite a crowd pleaser. This car featured air bags, an inverted front beam (to increase the wheelbase, and it was drastically modified. The owner actually drove it around the swao meet area to show the on lookers it was actually drivable. |
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| This Volksrod was my favorite. It resembled a Model T pickup, but had the Type 1 engine in the back. The wheels were very appropriate to the theme of the car. It just needed a Type 4 engine for cruising! |
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| This radically lifted Bug was an attention grabber. The builder had just cut off the front and rear bulkheads and located the beam and rear torsion housing offset from the floorpan. No more ground clearance, but everyone was checking it out. |
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| This black Bug was featured in a Herbie movie. The picture shown above was taken from the movie. It was definitely unique, and very cool to have a movie star at our VW show! |
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| Here was a 1950 Tatraplan (more info). Ok, it's not a VW, but it had a very appealing look and featured mechanicals very similar to our well loved Beetle. It piqued my curiousity and rest assured, I will be doing some research into this car to learn more about it. |
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| I remember the heydays when the BRM wheel was in high demand and people were paying a ton of cash for a decent. It appears that the American Racing Equipment Torque Thrusters in the 5x205mm pattern are getting into the price stratosphere. |
Timmy (MNAirHead) and Monte (Class11Streeter) from the Shoptalk Forums goofed around in the swap meet area. Timmy came from Minnesota and Scott (owner of STF) came from Arkansas to experience the VW Classic. We all had a blast talking VWs. |
