| Transporterfest/Volkswagen Day 2004 By Stan Wohlfarth The 19th annual Transporterfest was held on Sunday, Sept. 26th on the beautiful grounds of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA (Boston area). The weather was superb and lots of unique Volkswagens turned out for the event. There were 92 total VWs on the museum grounds which includes: 12 Split Window Buses 19 Bay Window Buses 20 Vanagons 3 EuroVans 7 early Beetles (1943-67) 14 late Beetles/Ghias/Things (1968-1979) 10 water-cooled 7 unregistered (non-show participants and vendors) We had 12 vehicles show up for our Saturday night camp-out at Crystal Springs campground in Bolton, MA. The campground had a free pizza dinner and Eric Lindskog cooked up several racks of tasty ribs so we could eat them at the show the next day. Thanks Eric! They were very delicious, especially the first ones that came off the grill around 11:30pm Sat. night. We also had musical entertainment by the campfire, provided by Jim Phillips, Scott Castle and Chris Tobey. I heard these guys playing until 3:30 am, apparently the campground doesn't enforce any quiet hours. I also learned that the campground is/has been sold, so we will have to find a new camping location for next year. But onto the show, which was the biggest one in recent memory. This year we had event T-shirts for the first time and they were good sellers. We also had FREE used parts vending in an effort to attract more vendors. It worked and we hope to add more vendors as the event continues to grow. |
This
year we also had a good showing of non-buses (35) and a couple vehicles
stand out in my memory. The 1977 Lime Green standard bug of Ed and Ellen
Waters really caught my eye when I read "700 original miles" on
their window display. Sure enough the odometer read something like 000763!
They even drove the car about 60 miles to the show (I feel honored).
Apparently they bought this car via eBay from a VW dealership in Van Wert,
Ohio that must have stored it since new. When they bought it, there were
only 96 miles on the odo. What a perfect example of a very original car.
There was also the very nicely restored '57 convertible that Elton
McCausland brought out late in the day and the crowds were flocking to see this beauty. Of course there were numerous examples really nice Buses, Vanagons and EuroVans. Class and people's choice winners are listed below: Transporter (1950-1967) 1st place: Scott Castle, 1965 Westfalia (this bus sees lots of miles, is camped in regularly and still shows very well) 2nd place: Joe Clark, 1966 Deluxe (first time at the T'fest, very original and for sale, $12k) 3rd place: Chris Tobey, 1954 Deluxe (the one "Barndoor" that we see on a regular basis in the Northeast) Transporter (1968-1979) 1st place: Jamie McMahon, 1973 Westfalia (all original with 55k miles) 2nd place: Bill Giroux, 1970 Westfalia hardtop (all original weekender model) 3rd place: Peter and Diane King, 1976 Westfalia (had a nice custom-made Westy table holder on the vehicle jack) Transporter (1980-1991) 1st place: Ron Lichtenstein, 1991 Westfalia (white and very clean) 2ndplace: Wes Verkaart, 1985 Westfalia (dark blue) 3rd place: Mark Rogers, 1989 Westfalia (red metallic) |
Transporter
(1992-2003) 1st place: Jim DiGennaro, 1993 Camper (custom cabinets by Ron Maxon, VW DJ extraordinaire) 2nd place: Gene Byers, 2003 (bright blue) Longest Distance traveled: George and Joann Greenberg, '89 TIICO engine Westfalia, 1060 miles, GA Most Rust: Matt Billey, '64 Kombi E-Z camper, with custom emblem, CT Oiliest Engine and "You Drove Here in THAT!": Jeremy Clayton, '66 Microbus, CT It seemed as though everyone had a good
time with plenty of food |
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 Camping before the show. |
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Relax! Have a second cup of coffee. |