Mike wanted to get ideas on how to restore a bus, I wanted to hug a round shiny one. So we went to the 2009 Niello VW Ranch Run & Car Show this Sunday. The show was all about quirky-old-slow-round-puttputputputtt cars, and it included an incredible range of classic VW cars – Bugs, Buses, Karmann Ghias, even a hybrid water-land vehicle called The Thing.
Since the show took place north of Sacramento, we ended up missing the “Ranch Run” part of it – where all the show cars met up early in the morning at the Niello VW dealership and slowly caravan their way up to Niello Ranch to park. When we got there, they were already doing the award ceremony, which was a great opportunity for me to sneak away to get some great shots on some of the beauties there.
You can see all the photos here »
I’ll be going to this VW show coming up >
(thanks, Thomas)
Don’t you cars still looked like this? Talk about detail, both inside and out!
Candy apple red looks yummy on the bus.
I’m dreaming of this one day. Traveling in a bus, with kids and furry animals…
Some of the engines there were squeaky clean, so there were a lot of the hoods propped open for show.
The ultimate hippie van. They were owned by these guys. Too groovy.
Family camping trip!
A Karmann Ghia.
This guy was nice enough to let me take his picture. He drove the most beat-up looking VW bus there. I love it when drivers match their cars.
California Dreamin’
I totally fell in love with this bus. This is the real-deal VW bus. The guy didn’t seem like he cleaned it up for the show at all. It looked like he parked it, left all the doors open, and just walked away. Talk about perfect photo opportunity!
You should totally do it. I've been wanting a VW Squareback in sea foam green (which would also be an awesome color for a VW Bus).
yeah im super excited. I can't wait to go car camping. Seafoam green would be a good color – but I think all the colors look great. I think we saw one in every color there! (except purple and brown)
Man, I would LOVE to get a VW bus for camping trips…how often do they have this?
Haha, my dad used to hate VW buses because he would always get stuck behind them on hills when we would drive on our vacations. He was a ‘gotta get there now’ kind of guy and had no patience for vehicles who drove slow. Because of that I used to think they were the silliest things ever but now I wouldn’t mind doing what you were thinking, the whole drive cross-country in one. Sounds nice now (although my dad would probably disown me lol).
once a year but it's not the only vw show, I think. I'll let you guys know if I hear of another one!
I'm going to this one: http://www.ggcvvwca.org/ on April 19
@Brittany
I think traveling in a VW bus requires having little to no schedule, haha. I love how you reply to all my posts :) Gracias!
Karmann Ghia ;)
ahh thank you for the correction!
Slowest piece of shit eh?
Haha man like awesome like totally rad man awesome car… Jk