Post by Volktales on Oct 18, 2014 14:11:04 GMT -8
It was a long, but nice day and time at the Great Canadian show at the old EXPO 86 site. Although the show seemed slightly smaller at first, this was likely due to the parking area being bigger this year. Registration was somewhat involved getting into the site this year, but the organizers did everything they could to help out. Myself, Victor, Brent, Rob, and of course Goldberg made the trip over in the Orange bus. Twig and his wife were also on the same ferry in her Beetle. Also present was Doug and family with his green Westfalia. Stan with his '69 Ghia got stuck in a sailing wait so showed up later... At the show itself we met up with Don and the Riviera, Reagh was seen in his FORD pickup!, Jerry was already there busy selling parts, later John Coleman and his wife made an appearance, also spotted was Jay, the owner of the green bus Don brought up from Seattle. Much later Frank and Gretchen were spotted as well... I will be posting full pictures tomorrow night as it was a very long day today, but well worth the effort of going over... As before, the swap meet was full of decent stuff, as well as the worthless. I bought some of each... I know Don scored some nice literature, but my greasy sunscreen covered hands were not allowed to touch them! Probably a good idea... I know Reagh added a couple of toys to his collection, Rob and Brent were smart and only bought shirts and decals. Couldn't help but notice that Don added to his "mirror collection" once again... And for Mark who was stuck working... I hate to tell you that there were LOTS of Ghias this year, even more than last... I was kind of disappointed in the split bus department though. Its seems there were more ratty ones than shiny, and that never floats my boat.... Anyway tomorrow is picture day... Sleepy time now...
Ok, here is a few teaser shots...
On the way to the show, Twig's Beetle looks good cruising over the Lion's Gate bridge.
Despite the early start, Brent, Goldberg, and Rob seem in high spirits...
Don went over Saturday for the toy and collectibles show. These are the selection of vintage toys that he brought over. Don has quite a few desirable items...
This cabinet displays what is probably the most rare item, a DUX set. These are early build it yourself operational toys and are quite rare and worth some decent $. Lots of nice bay windows in the display case as well and Rob was drooling a bit.
Another DUX set, a later plastic version this time. Again rare... Also some hard to find Herbie stuff as well.
Lots of items in this case. I like the Canadian Spec Tonka Beetle...
Don and Rob starting off the day healthy with a refreshing water. Later we got into the chips and cookies...
Doug's '79 Westy made the trip over from up Island. In the background is a rare and filthy Golf Country. Yes they were built from the VW factory that way... More pictures to come tomorrow....
This is a test picture...
Ok that seemed to work. Am having to manually copy and paste the link in for some reason as Photobucket won't allow it automatically tonight. The above dune buggy was one of many, but this is my favourite with its full on retro look and ancient tires. Not sure I like the floral headlight covers which is why it is a shot from the rear...
Now here is a few more...
As you will note, the pictures are in no particular order so let us start... The first "well composed" picture shows a line up of a few bay windows in the stock class. The orange '79 in the foreground ended up winning as it was an unrestored example in very fine condition. I still don't understand how Westfalia thought that orange on the outside goes well with green carpets, panels, and plaid seats however... I ruined the line up by parking backwards so the slider door would face Don's bus when we set up "camp"...
Next up is line of Karmann Ghias. There were a lot of them at this show including many convertibles. Later the two that matched in colour parked side by side.
As far as the water-cooled cars go, this was my favourite Mark 4 Jetta. I work on these every day but they seldom look like this...
Another Mark 4, this time a clean Golf. Most of the water pumpers are daily drivers for the owners and you have to give them credit for maintaining their cars like they do.
Stretched rubber on too wide rims is still popular to this crowd. Don't get the ugly-ass rim colour on the car beside it however.. And yes I do have strong opinions...
Ok back to the air-cooled side again. Mark will love this Ghia that I swear was built to resemble the Hot Wheels version available. I looked at his build photos and the car he started with was quite rough. All the work was with metal and obviously he has a lot of fun with it.
I did like this Type 3 Karmann Ghia. Or Type 34, Razor-Edge, or whatever you want to call them... I am starting to like them more every time I see one. This example was from the first year of production too being a 1962 model. Note the one year only nose badge that says 1500.
This early tin-plate Ghia on the dash of a Ghia caught my eye...
This one was stock so naturally I liked it...
But then I liked this quite a bit too. Again no shortage of nice Ghias this year. More to come...
This 1980 Rabbit/Golf was my favourite water-cooled car at the show. I can't remember which later engine it had in it, but was extremely nicely done. The interior was done stock style but in rich green leather which went surprisingly well with the bright yellow exterior. The BBS rims looked just right on it too. I couldn't help but notice that no one seems too keep their watercooled vehicles remotely stock however...
This '63 was very original except for the lowering and red rims...
I guess even the "stance", looked OK. Can't believe I just said that...
One for Baja freaks out there. Even the VW sign was tired in the morning... More to come tomorrow!!!
Ok here we go again... While the pictures are uploading to Photobucket, here is another story. Early on during the show, a woman stopped by to have a chat about VW buses. She used to own an orange '73 Westfalia for decades and recently passed it on to a relative from Germany. It recently returned to the "fatherland" and he is very happy with it. She also told us an interesting story about her late husband. After the war he was trying to find a way to make some bucks. In the very early '50's, he attempted to sell Swiss made MAG superchargers to German VW dealers as an accessory. His own personal split was equipped with one as a demonstrator to show potential clients. The performance was exceptional, and the dealers liked it but as you might guess, VW itself would not be impressed and of course the warranty would have been void.... His supercharged VW also had a special passenger seat that folded to allow him to sleep inside while on business trips. The woman thought she might even still have some old pictures and documentation of this supercharged splitty! Wouldn't that be cool to see... Well on to some more photos...
This Beetle caught my interest.. It is a European spec 1967 1500 Deluxe. The older style glass covered headlights were correct for this model. Note the four lug rims which feature disc brakes as well. This was also original to this model. The outer wheel rim looks interesting in the same blue as the main body. Some parts had been switched out to US style like the light lens and speedometer.
The car was mostly stock, although upgraded with an alternator and a somewhat out of place pulley!
Another line up of just some of the many Beetles at the show... There was just too many cars to take pictures of them all individually.
And here is Twig's VW looking fine in the sunshine. I will let him explain the meaning of the sign...
I remember clearly when this Beetle was featured in VW Trends in the early '90's. Unlike many from that era, this one still looks great and is not tacky.
This on the other hand, hasn't aged quite as well. I am sure Frank loves the colour, and we know Tony is drooling over the window seals...
Although hard to tell from the photo, this thing was very high off the ground and featured turbodiesel power. Also not really visible is how much those stock looking fenders have actually been widened. This thing was FAAAAT!
This oval was here last year as well, and it is one beautifully detailed VW.
Don liked this yellow convertible. I liked the Zenith blue '67 behind it with whitewalls of course!
I think this early convertible was a '60. MMMM fat whitewalls...
More to come...
I liked pretty much everything about this '63. The sunroof was nice, and when it gets cold just crank up that gas heater...
There were no shortage of Beetle convertibles at the show either...
There was one of these reproduction Kublewagens at the show last year, but this is a different one. Cool but very pricey.
This red late model Beetle looked quite nice. The one behind it does not. Something very wrong with those headlights mounted up high!
This rare Mark 2 Jetta two door was done up very nicely. And did you notice the collector plates??? Still over two years to go before my GTI qualifies..
For all the Superbeetle fans out there... This '71 was nicely restored and in a nice colour.
An early big window Beetle in black with red interior is always nice. It is also nice when people restore their rims to the correct two tone look, instead of just painting them one colour.
This late bay had a '70's living room vibe going on. Not a pleasant framed picture in there however...
This early bay was shiny (like they should be) and was looking very nice.
This late bay had a highly modified interior, and was done very well. Maybe I shouldn't have got rid of my green Westy after all... (You are going to fix it eventually, Steve???)
Still more to come...
The above bus had a bike painted to match. Look at those giant fat tires!
This Rabbit pickup, or "Caddy" as everyone is calling them these days, was one of four on display. This was the nicest and featured a VR6 conversion.
This early big window featured an unusual matt finish paint job. Not my thing, but at least is better then yet another "patina" car.
I have always liked early Rabbits. Not sure about the slogan on this one...
What is this? A Civic at a VW show? Was in the parking lot actually, and I liked it so there... Too bad it was a Hondamatic model. $4200 was the asking price...
This splitty was from the Island. Don will tell you who owns it because I forgot the guys' name as usual...
(Don's note: his name is Matt van Boven from Duncan and he won an award for his truck that he very recently got on the road, with help from Josh(JB on VVWC)). Glad to see his treasure chest being closed with a latch(from my old SCab), not a bungee cord,
).
A couple of splitties. I know a lot of people like the patina thing, but I am getting tired of it. I am sure the majority of the split buses at the show featured too much patina for me.
Nice splitty campervan, just needed to be more shiny...
A couple of lowered '60's Beetles at the Timeless tent. These guys had some cool shirts for sale and I couldn't resist.
Wow, a real Type 4, the only one there naturally. These were VW's worst sellers and few have survived. This one was nice, but I know I will never want one.
Still more to come...
This was my favourite spit at the show. A nice 15 window. It seems everyone who has a split thinks they need Safari windows. Maybe they do because those sliders in the doors really suck at ventilation...
Not my favourite colour, but a rare and nicely done VW.
Fastbacks are my least favourite type 3, but this one looked nice.
I took a picture of this Audi to show what the water-cooled crowd is up too. These colour changing paintjobs have been around for quite a while, but not in a satin finish. Weird.
A lot of things going on with this car.... Draw your own conclusions...
A couple of Porsche replicas. The green one in the back is a regular at the Victoria show and is very nice.
Don's Riviera looking nice with Brent contemplating the nature of the universe in the background.
Goldberg seemed to enjoy his day in the big city.
OK this got me drooling a little. This Canadian Standard Beetle used to be on display at Funbugz in Coombs. It belonged to Steve, one of Reagh's friends. The car was very nice and authentically restored but the paint wasn't the best with plenty of orange peel. Steve later sold it to a kid who originally said he would keep it original. Later he changed his mind and was going to slam and rim it and potentially ruin a very rare vehicle. Steve couldn't bear to see that happen so he showed up at the kid's house with cash and demanded it back! Luckily the kid took the cash and returned the car undamaged. Steve later vetted out the current owner he sold it to. Now the car has been very carefully buffed and the paint now looks fantastic. The current owner has also installed repro Firestone original type tires and the car now looks fantastic. We were very happy to see it like this.
Another shot of what was my favourite Beetle at the show. Glad it is in good hands.
Still more to come...
Not the greatest picture, but this was easily the best bay-window at the show in terms of quality. This Savannah Beige Deluxe was in fantastic shape and looked like it was only a couple of years old instead of four and a half decades. Don cried with joy when he saw it.
Stan's Ghia was looking great as usual. So many Ghias this year...
Don pointed out to me the early Canadian spec emblem on the back of this '50's bus. I have only seen this emblem on Beetles however; did buses get them too?
One for Tony. A purple!?! Porsche 914. For those of you who don't know, these were sold in Europe as a VW/Porsche. And the engines are basically the same design as those found in Type 4 engined buses.
Another nice Ghia. The cars were really mixed up this year with different models all over the place. (It wasn't just me taking random photos...)
Woah! Could it really be that Rona finally gave Frank a day off? Is the store still standing??? Frank and Gretchen were unable to bring Nanaimo's most famous Beetle this year as Frank is playing with big motors again...
This line up of early cars were all exceptionally clean and modified nicely.
Except for this stock '52 which naturally I liked the best.
You can't get much nicer detailing than this...
All the cars in this row were fantastic. I believe they were all part of the host club but I might be wrong about this...
One more batch to go...
I liked this buggy as well. The slot mags always look great on buggies and this one was very clean.
This Notchback was up from the States and I think he may have won best of show although not 100% sure on this. It was extremely nicely put together. In the background is the '63 Ghia that wins all the time in Victoria. And yes it is very nice too.
Here is Reagh thoroughly enjoying "driving" Don's Herbie when Don wasn't around. It took quite awhile before he stopped smiling. Not sure what Brent is contemplating now...
This is what some of the younger crowd are up too. Many of you already know my opinion on excessive camber, so you can probably guess what I think of this combination...
And finally, in the ferry line up at Horseshoe Bay. Interesting story about that... We decided it might be wise to get reservations for this sailing as the numbers leaving the island on Friday evening were insane. So Don booked the reservations to avoid the potential stress of not making the ferry. However.... things did not work out like that... Everything was OK until approaching the ticket booths. We were in our "special" lane to gain quick access to the next parking lot. Except our lane was not moving like all the other ones... Don was second in line and was stuck behind a very expensive BMW. It seems Mr. Bimmer incorrectly chose his reservation time and was embroiled in a dispute with the people in the ticket booth. Want to make laid back Canadians hostile instantly? Have them sit in a reservation line and not move. It took a loooooooooong time before the manager decided to move the BMW from blocking our lane. I think Don was really close to driving his bus through Mr. Bimmers back window. Another guy behind me approached the ticket booth yelling "WHAT THE EFF IS GOING ON!!!" A pleasant mood all around.... Later when we FINALLY got through the gate, others stuck in the line voiced their displeasure at the situation... And just to make things more interesting, Don's bus set off the overhight warning system on the upper deck so both our buses had to back up and were banished to the bowels of the ship. This was irritating as well as the dude on the lower deck said we have to allow priority boarding first. We both vocalized we deserved to be the priority by now.... Once finally aboard they sent us up the ramps on both sides of the lowest deck. We both ended up parked on the steepest part of the ramp. It was no surprise when the worker instructed Don to put his standard transmission in "Park"! At least the ferry burgers were not too bad that night....
At any rate the long day finally came to an end and a good time was had by all. Hopefully next year even more Nanaimo VW Club members will make it over for this great event...
Ok, here is a few teaser shots...
On the way to the show, Twig's Beetle looks good cruising over the Lion's Gate bridge.
Despite the early start, Brent, Goldberg, and Rob seem in high spirits...
Don went over Saturday for the toy and collectibles show. These are the selection of vintage toys that he brought over. Don has quite a few desirable items...
This cabinet displays what is probably the most rare item, a DUX set. These are early build it yourself operational toys and are quite rare and worth some decent $. Lots of nice bay windows in the display case as well and Rob was drooling a bit.
Another DUX set, a later plastic version this time. Again rare... Also some hard to find Herbie stuff as well.
Lots of items in this case. I like the Canadian Spec Tonka Beetle...
Don and Rob starting off the day healthy with a refreshing water. Later we got into the chips and cookies...
Doug's '79 Westy made the trip over from up Island. In the background is a rare and filthy Golf Country. Yes they were built from the VW factory that way... More pictures to come tomorrow....
This is a test picture...
Ok that seemed to work. Am having to manually copy and paste the link in for some reason as Photobucket won't allow it automatically tonight. The above dune buggy was one of many, but this is my favourite with its full on retro look and ancient tires. Not sure I like the floral headlight covers which is why it is a shot from the rear...
Now here is a few more...
As you will note, the pictures are in no particular order so let us start... The first "well composed" picture shows a line up of a few bay windows in the stock class. The orange '79 in the foreground ended up winning as it was an unrestored example in very fine condition. I still don't understand how Westfalia thought that orange on the outside goes well with green carpets, panels, and plaid seats however... I ruined the line up by parking backwards so the slider door would face Don's bus when we set up "camp"...
Next up is line of Karmann Ghias. There were a lot of them at this show including many convertibles. Later the two that matched in colour parked side by side.
As far as the water-cooled cars go, this was my favourite Mark 4 Jetta. I work on these every day but they seldom look like this...
Another Mark 4, this time a clean Golf. Most of the water pumpers are daily drivers for the owners and you have to give them credit for maintaining their cars like they do.
Stretched rubber on too wide rims is still popular to this crowd. Don't get the ugly-ass rim colour on the car beside it however.. And yes I do have strong opinions...
Ok back to the air-cooled side again. Mark will love this Ghia that I swear was built to resemble the Hot Wheels version available. I looked at his build photos and the car he started with was quite rough. All the work was with metal and obviously he has a lot of fun with it.
I did like this Type 3 Karmann Ghia. Or Type 34, Razor-Edge, or whatever you want to call them... I am starting to like them more every time I see one. This example was from the first year of production too being a 1962 model. Note the one year only nose badge that says 1500.
This early tin-plate Ghia on the dash of a Ghia caught my eye...
This one was stock so naturally I liked it...
But then I liked this quite a bit too. Again no shortage of nice Ghias this year. More to come...
This 1980 Rabbit/Golf was my favourite water-cooled car at the show. I can't remember which later engine it had in it, but was extremely nicely done. The interior was done stock style but in rich green leather which went surprisingly well with the bright yellow exterior. The BBS rims looked just right on it too. I couldn't help but notice that no one seems too keep their watercooled vehicles remotely stock however...
This '63 was very original except for the lowering and red rims...
I guess even the "stance", looked OK. Can't believe I just said that...
One for Baja freaks out there. Even the VW sign was tired in the morning... More to come tomorrow!!!
Ok here we go again... While the pictures are uploading to Photobucket, here is another story. Early on during the show, a woman stopped by to have a chat about VW buses. She used to own an orange '73 Westfalia for decades and recently passed it on to a relative from Germany. It recently returned to the "fatherland" and he is very happy with it. She also told us an interesting story about her late husband. After the war he was trying to find a way to make some bucks. In the very early '50's, he attempted to sell Swiss made MAG superchargers to German VW dealers as an accessory. His own personal split was equipped with one as a demonstrator to show potential clients. The performance was exceptional, and the dealers liked it but as you might guess, VW itself would not be impressed and of course the warranty would have been void.... His supercharged VW also had a special passenger seat that folded to allow him to sleep inside while on business trips. The woman thought she might even still have some old pictures and documentation of this supercharged splitty! Wouldn't that be cool to see... Well on to some more photos...
This Beetle caught my interest.. It is a European spec 1967 1500 Deluxe. The older style glass covered headlights were correct for this model. Note the four lug rims which feature disc brakes as well. This was also original to this model. The outer wheel rim looks interesting in the same blue as the main body. Some parts had been switched out to US style like the light lens and speedometer.
The car was mostly stock, although upgraded with an alternator and a somewhat out of place pulley!
Another line up of just some of the many Beetles at the show... There was just too many cars to take pictures of them all individually.
And here is Twig's VW looking fine in the sunshine. I will let him explain the meaning of the sign...
I remember clearly when this Beetle was featured in VW Trends in the early '90's. Unlike many from that era, this one still looks great and is not tacky.
This on the other hand, hasn't aged quite as well. I am sure Frank loves the colour, and we know Tony is drooling over the window seals...
Although hard to tell from the photo, this thing was very high off the ground and featured turbodiesel power. Also not really visible is how much those stock looking fenders have actually been widened. This thing was FAAAAT!
This oval was here last year as well, and it is one beautifully detailed VW.
Don liked this yellow convertible. I liked the Zenith blue '67 behind it with whitewalls of course!
I think this early convertible was a '60. MMMM fat whitewalls...
More to come...
I liked pretty much everything about this '63. The sunroof was nice, and when it gets cold just crank up that gas heater...
There were no shortage of Beetle convertibles at the show either...
There was one of these reproduction Kublewagens at the show last year, but this is a different one. Cool but very pricey.
This red late model Beetle looked quite nice. The one behind it does not. Something very wrong with those headlights mounted up high!
This rare Mark 2 Jetta two door was done up very nicely. And did you notice the collector plates??? Still over two years to go before my GTI qualifies..
For all the Superbeetle fans out there... This '71 was nicely restored and in a nice colour.
An early big window Beetle in black with red interior is always nice. It is also nice when people restore their rims to the correct two tone look, instead of just painting them one colour.
This late bay had a '70's living room vibe going on. Not a pleasant framed picture in there however...
This early bay was shiny (like they should be) and was looking very nice.
This late bay had a highly modified interior, and was done very well. Maybe I shouldn't have got rid of my green Westy after all... (You are going to fix it eventually, Steve???)
Still more to come...
The above bus had a bike painted to match. Look at those giant fat tires!
This Rabbit pickup, or "Caddy" as everyone is calling them these days, was one of four on display. This was the nicest and featured a VR6 conversion.
This early big window featured an unusual matt finish paint job. Not my thing, but at least is better then yet another "patina" car.
I have always liked early Rabbits. Not sure about the slogan on this one...
What is this? A Civic at a VW show? Was in the parking lot actually, and I liked it so there... Too bad it was a Hondamatic model. $4200 was the asking price...
This splitty was from the Island. Don will tell you who owns it because I forgot the guys' name as usual...
(Don's note: his name is Matt van Boven from Duncan and he won an award for his truck that he very recently got on the road, with help from Josh(JB on VVWC)). Glad to see his treasure chest being closed with a latch(from my old SCab), not a bungee cord,
). A couple of splitties. I know a lot of people like the patina thing, but I am getting tired of it. I am sure the majority of the split buses at the show featured too much patina for me.
Nice splitty campervan, just needed to be more shiny...
A couple of lowered '60's Beetles at the Timeless tent. These guys had some cool shirts for sale and I couldn't resist.
Wow, a real Type 4, the only one there naturally. These were VW's worst sellers and few have survived. This one was nice, but I know I will never want one.
Still more to come...
This was my favourite spit at the show. A nice 15 window. It seems everyone who has a split thinks they need Safari windows. Maybe they do because those sliders in the doors really suck at ventilation...
Not my favourite colour, but a rare and nicely done VW.
Fastbacks are my least favourite type 3, but this one looked nice.
I took a picture of this Audi to show what the water-cooled crowd is up too. These colour changing paintjobs have been around for quite a while, but not in a satin finish. Weird.
A lot of things going on with this car.... Draw your own conclusions...
A couple of Porsche replicas. The green one in the back is a regular at the Victoria show and is very nice.
Don's Riviera looking nice with Brent contemplating the nature of the universe in the background.
Goldberg seemed to enjoy his day in the big city.
OK this got me drooling a little. This Canadian Standard Beetle used to be on display at Funbugz in Coombs. It belonged to Steve, one of Reagh's friends. The car was very nice and authentically restored but the paint wasn't the best with plenty of orange peel. Steve later sold it to a kid who originally said he would keep it original. Later he changed his mind and was going to slam and rim it and potentially ruin a very rare vehicle. Steve couldn't bear to see that happen so he showed up at the kid's house with cash and demanded it back! Luckily the kid took the cash and returned the car undamaged. Steve later vetted out the current owner he sold it to. Now the car has been very carefully buffed and the paint now looks fantastic. The current owner has also installed repro Firestone original type tires and the car now looks fantastic. We were very happy to see it like this.
Another shot of what was my favourite Beetle at the show. Glad it is in good hands.
Still more to come...
Not the greatest picture, but this was easily the best bay-window at the show in terms of quality. This Savannah Beige Deluxe was in fantastic shape and looked like it was only a couple of years old instead of four and a half decades. Don cried with joy when he saw it.
Stan's Ghia was looking great as usual. So many Ghias this year...
Don pointed out to me the early Canadian spec emblem on the back of this '50's bus. I have only seen this emblem on Beetles however; did buses get them too?
One for Tony. A purple!?! Porsche 914. For those of you who don't know, these were sold in Europe as a VW/Porsche. And the engines are basically the same design as those found in Type 4 engined buses.
Another nice Ghia. The cars were really mixed up this year with different models all over the place. (It wasn't just me taking random photos...)
Woah! Could it really be that Rona finally gave Frank a day off? Is the store still standing??? Frank and Gretchen were unable to bring Nanaimo's most famous Beetle this year as Frank is playing with big motors again...
This line up of early cars were all exceptionally clean and modified nicely.
Except for this stock '52 which naturally I liked the best.
You can't get much nicer detailing than this...
All the cars in this row were fantastic. I believe they were all part of the host club but I might be wrong about this...
One more batch to go...
I liked this buggy as well. The slot mags always look great on buggies and this one was very clean.
This Notchback was up from the States and I think he may have won best of show although not 100% sure on this. It was extremely nicely put together. In the background is the '63 Ghia that wins all the time in Victoria. And yes it is very nice too.
Here is Reagh thoroughly enjoying "driving" Don's Herbie when Don wasn't around. It took quite awhile before he stopped smiling. Not sure what Brent is contemplating now...
This is what some of the younger crowd are up too. Many of you already know my opinion on excessive camber, so you can probably guess what I think of this combination...
And finally, in the ferry line up at Horseshoe Bay. Interesting story about that... We decided it might be wise to get reservations for this sailing as the numbers leaving the island on Friday evening were insane. So Don booked the reservations to avoid the potential stress of not making the ferry. However.... things did not work out like that... Everything was OK until approaching the ticket booths. We were in our "special" lane to gain quick access to the next parking lot. Except our lane was not moving like all the other ones... Don was second in line and was stuck behind a very expensive BMW. It seems Mr. Bimmer incorrectly chose his reservation time and was embroiled in a dispute with the people in the ticket booth. Want to make laid back Canadians hostile instantly? Have them sit in a reservation line and not move. It took a loooooooooong time before the manager decided to move the BMW from blocking our lane. I think Don was really close to driving his bus through Mr. Bimmers back window. Another guy behind me approached the ticket booth yelling "WHAT THE EFF IS GOING ON!!!" A pleasant mood all around.... Later when we FINALLY got through the gate, others stuck in the line voiced their displeasure at the situation... And just to make things more interesting, Don's bus set off the overhight warning system on the upper deck so both our buses had to back up and were banished to the bowels of the ship. This was irritating as well as the dude on the lower deck said we have to allow priority boarding first. We both vocalized we deserved to be the priority by now.... Once finally aboard they sent us up the ramps on both sides of the lowest deck. We both ended up parked on the steepest part of the ramp. It was no surprise when the worker instructed Don to put his standard transmission in "Park"! At least the ferry burgers were not too bad that night....
At any rate the long day finally came to an end and a good time was had by all. Hopefully next year even more Nanaimo VW Club members will make it over for this great event...
