Bus Fest 7 - Vallejo

Two years ago, I went to Bus Fest 5 in Vallejo. This guy was there with his family just beginning their trip across... across everything apparently. Read it, there are two years of wonderful stories and enviable experiences.

The bus fest is a smallish event, and has the usual crowd of familiar faces, but there is still nothing like being with like-minded bus nerds (yeah, I said it) and talking tech with them.

Occasionally, one of us does something neat with their vehicles. This guy has lots of fun playing around with leather details.

I'm happy to say that the Gnome Bus did not get sold, and the owners are still happily driving it:

What is it about Bus owners and vintage bikes? (and for that matter, vintage lanterns, and campstoves, and coolers, and... oh, never mind, I think I just answered my own question...)

And as I was packing up and leaving, I heard my name being called out on the Mic. Apparently, my bus won Best Camper. Awesome!

Concord Treffen

I like the word "treffen". The dutch translation is a verb that means several things depending on context - to hit, to encounter, or find by chance, to achieve or accomplish, or to feel. VW gathering organzers probably use it in the way that it was meant in German - as a noun. Treffen (n) A meeting.

Concord is a town in the greater bay area that once was separated by boundaries and tree groves. It was a cute little place, but as with all things in high-density population areas, land is scarce, and town borders blur into each other as they expand.

Part of Concords charm is that it has a lot of older homes, older trees, older town members. Many of them have been collecting cars and other things (like all those oil lanterns that I have been gathering). Sometimes they bring them to little parks and show them off on warm summer Sundays. The Concord Treffen on August 8 was one such event.

The Messerschmidt. When I was a kid, I thought that the German company who made these took the cockpit of airplanes, and just added a set of wheels. I thought they were practice vehicles for German pilots, kind of like training wheels on a bicycle. It wasn't till mid-grade school that I was corrected on my improbable historical fiction. I like my story better.

The Hebmuller. Joseph HebMuller started out making coaches for horse-drawn carriages. They ended up making the Type 1 vehicle for Volkswagen, but went out of business in 1952. This one, as I understand it, was a military vehicle.

The Random. Some older Porsches, some strange displays, several people with works in progress (like all of us I suspect) and a couple of Things.

More Pics here. 

Up next. Vallejo Busfest.

More Museum Cars

Here are a few more. These two were apparently made on the same day, shipped to the US, and purchased by people who lived not too far from each other.

Here are a few more in his collection, I like the massive VW factory pictures on the wall.

Did someone ask for a VW trailer?

 

Antique.

 The back room had about every toy you could imagine.

The owner was kind enough to take me to the shop in back. This dealership sign was sitting there.

If you do a wikipedia search on this car, you will be redirected to the Karmann Ghia. Suicide doors were stock. I've never seen one before.

And finally, the Puma. These cars are almost not google-able. Limited info on Wikipedia, most info on forums scattered around the less-fasionable parts of the 'net. What is up with that logo?

More pictures can be found here. My friend took some good ones here.

If you are interested, Mark Merrill is the Museum/shop owner, he's a damn nice guy, and a VW fanatic. (Two of my favorites.) His museum is occasionally open to the public, it tends to be around VW related events. He also constantly wins awards for his restorations.

Up next. The Concord Treffen.

Private Museum Buses

A row of buses in flawless (of course) condition sat at the back of the museum. The Ambulance was impressive, but my favorite was the mobile kitchen - that tall green one.

  

I wasn't about to ask the owner to move it around, so I squeezed between the two to get this picture:

Its a 1966 Highroof, and was designed to be a mobile army kitchen. In the back is a gas container and a stove - similar to a coleman. The side panel opened up like your standard food coach truck.

This display item was on the wall, motorized wheels made them turn.

This beautiful specimen was parked outside - I love the dual horns.

For those of you who want a Westfalia but don't want a campmobile, there is always this solution:

Use this emblem to keep your street cred.

It looks like this inside:

and remember, if you can sell her on this, you can sell her on anything.

Private Museum - Schwimmwagen

One of the things that happens when you start fixing an old car is that you begin to imagine the world of possibilities. You begin to say things like "man, if I had enough money I'd buy a..." and the endless list begins.

That guy who has enough money exists. He has a private museum and restoration shop, and the Airhead cruise took me there with them. Thanks guys.

Sitting outside the shop was the schimmwagen. It had the gun, the paddles, and all the internal parts that you would need if you are invading your neighbors estate on the other side of the lake.

I'll be posting more pics later. If you want to jump the gun, click here and see the pictures that my friend took.