For the love...again!

Kombi Love at Tarpon Springs Hippie Fest 

Just got in a couple of hours ago from a very hot afternoon spent in my Happy Place (aka in the midst of VWs everywhere!) I got more than I bargained for and took about 200 photos between my two cameras. I think it was time well spent between meeting some excellent people and seeing some great vehicles. 

There were many more VW Buses at this event than I reckoned on which is cool by me. I love 'em! There were also many VW Beetles and Bugs, quite a lot of the 'newer' ones and my favorites...the older ones. 

The most unusual VW there was this guy...the  "Push Me, Pull You" bus. Check this thing out! 

The guy that owns him welded two front ends of two separate VW buses together to make a whole bus! But it's like a mini bus! Coolest thing ever! 

The proud owners of the Push Me, Pull You bus! They could not have been nicer people either! 

The people who owned the car above were letting everyone write on this car with some sort of chalk. I had to kick up my marketing strategy with this...

Anything to throw some attention towards the photo end of things! If it draws me some business, why not? 

A very well-attended event! Many great cars and cool people. 

A good mix of the old and the new! Tons of Buses, campers, Kombis, Bugs and Beetles with a few GTIs and other things thrown in for good measure! 

The gorgeous bus above has been a past photographic subject of mine! It was good to see him again like an old friend. 

The only Karmann Ghia I saw today, surprisingly enough. I thought more would turn up.

A nice array of cars from the Local Volks VW Club. They always turn up with some real beauties! 

A great time was had but as this is Florida, it didn't take any time at all for the extreme heat and humidity to take me down for the count. That plus a dead camera battery brought the All The Rods/All The Creatives proceedings to a dead halt. 

If you want to view more photos, you can get them here...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-The-Creatives/311971668952364?sk=photos_stream

Oh, for the love.....

Of VW! Yes, the VW Cupid's Arrow has really struck me, but good! I love these cars and everyone seems to know it at this point in time. You know that you are in the throes of addiction when your Facebook friends find the best VW stuff to post on your wall.

There is just something about the mere sight of a VW Bug, Beetle or old time Bus,Van,Camper, Kombi whatever you want to call it that does something to me on the inside. I just smile whenever I see one. Even if it's the most decrepit, beat-up, piece of crap car around, I still love 'em! In fact, these days, the more beat-up and rusty-looking the better. BTW, the VW folks don't call it rust, it's called 'Patina' and there are entire VW clubs that have members where their cars look that way. I think that the patina adds a lot of character as seen in the below photo...

Personally, I don't think I would love this car if it had all the chrome really shiny or the paint super sparkling. The day I took this photo, I must have taken at the very least about fifty shots of this one car, mostly due to the fact that it has so much damn character. 

But that's not to take away from the gorgeous restored cars and buses of old like this old boy...

The above Bus is a beauty and I've since met the man that owns him and he's done even more with this priceless vehicle. 

For me, VW was part of my growing up. I remember taking long car drives with my parents and my brother and I counting the VW Bugs we saw out of the window. At one time, in a forty minute trip from our house to my grandparents' house, we counted 100 Bugs. That was the early 1970's and they were everywhere! For a long time, before the Asian built cars grabbed up a piece of the American car-buying public, VW was it. They were one of the most enduring foreign car makes for many years. 

Even in this day in age of all sorts of countries stepping up to the plate with their vehicles as well as many new and standard American makes and models, the vintage VW is starting to come back. I am seeing a lot more of these old boys on the highways and byways, these days. There are VW car clubs in every country and multiple ones in each state. And the thing I take from all of this is that these people love their VWs and they are some of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you would ever want to meet! 

I know that not everyone loves VWs and that's fine. But I always have to smile when I run into yet another person who has their own  'VW story'. 

As a matter of fact, my afternoon later today will be spent taking photos of...what else...VWs! Happy motoring, everyone!