Merchantville08

[njgt-1]

SJVWC DOES IT AGAIN........MERCHANTVILLE CAR SHOW & SOCK HOP...........17 VWS WOW THE CROWDS!!............SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS LINK!!
the title above says it all! Again we invaded Merchantville with some of the finest cars ever seen in South Jersey and spent a great day showing them what great VWs look like.

The list of members was..

Me ( Bob M ) - my 72 Super  blu_bug
Jay - Louieeee   redbug
Chris - his daily driver all spruced up!  orgbug
John  Weezy t-3  sqBk
Marc & Daughter - White Baja back from a long rest  vwlogo
Mike P - 71 vert with new engine only hours old!  sparkplug

Bill W - Beautiful Vert with some very interesting license plates  vwlogo

Frank ( with Jay S, "Lucky" & Friend ) - Franks vert  $61$

Ramone Gonzolas & Wife - Ramones Baja ( I've got to apologize ramons wasn't parked with us and I didn't get a photo of his car..) sorry.. :icon_cry:

Ramone C - 67 Blue Beetle Awesome as always!  blu_bug
George - ramones friend with a great red Baja  drive&&

Martin - 64 rag top lookin great!   bronz_cup-winner

Jim Schwarz - Auto Stick Rescue!  :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:

Ed Mcgrath - Boss Bug 1940's racer  burnrubber

Rick V - Monkey Bars  VWracing

Danny - Herbie, what else but??  NO.1sign NO.1sign

We met at the CVS in Haddon Heights and after an impromptu "car show" which had some of the local folks pulling in and checking out our rides, we got in line and started up  the White Horse Pike toward Merchantville. I again was lucky enough to be the first car in line and all I can tell you it was a great sight in my rear view mirror just to see the line of cars and the looks on peoples faces when we went motoring by. Several people blew horns and waved, I have to think a line of VWs is still not a common sight in South Jersey ( We hope to change that soon!)

When we got to the show the guys parking cars lined us up across the street from last years spot. this was a great spot since our line of cars stretched just about 1 block, imagine the site of 1 full block of VW's! The spot was a good one for another reason, the huge shade trees kept us cool all day! Couldn't get better!

When we got to the show I had a great idea, I approached Danny and asked if he would consider trying to sell a few raffle tickets for the "Clayton Foundation" raffle. Danny was more than happy with the idea and I started him out with 3 books of tickets, just about 30 tickets. About an hour later Danny came up to my car and asked for more tickets "You sold them all out in one hour!!!" I said. During the day he came back to me with more sold ticket stubs and the payment and by the end of the day he had logged in 140 sales!!!! plus several donations for the foundation!! WAY TO GO DAN!! I never knew it but he's a natural born salesman and with so many kids and their folks coming to see his Herbie replica it was a natural those folks would be interested in helping out a foundation dedicated to curing a terrible childhood disease!  I want to make a special point at the next meeting that we should give Danny a round of applause for helping out in such a generous way!  @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@ @@@

Now for you who have never been to Merchantville just think of it as an "Invasion of the classic cars". Every street, alley and parking lot becomes filled with some of the most beautiful antique, classic, street rods & muscle cars anybody has ever seen. Theres so much there that the variety spans cars like a 60's French Citrone 2CV to a 1950s "Bath tub" Nash street rod ( who also won best street rod ). If you like the usual  Chevys and Fords there were tons of them also. Its such a great mix of cars that our VWs fitted in just perfect. I can tell you the club attracted tons of attention from both spectators and also other car nuts. With one city block of VWs we were quite an attraction. A couple of cars seemed to highlight this fact, Jays Bugru, Subie powered oval window car literally "WOWed" the crowds all day! Several times jay was asked "what does it sound like' so to keep everybody happy he fired up the Turbo Engine several time so everybody got a dose of this "Hybrids" powerful exhaust note!

We also had a gentlemen park with us who wasn't a club member. A beautiful Ghia vert pulled up to the end of our line of cars and a gentlemen named Jose'. When I saw this car I had to stop and say "hi' to the owner. I found out that Jose' had done all the work himself and saved a "Basket case" ghia from the junkyard. I couldn't believe the quality of this restoration and he had a gang of "before and after" photos to back up the story. I mentioned the club and I hope he decides to join since such a great car and knowledgeable owner could only be an asset to our group.

Now about trophies...sure there were a few! Remember this show attracted close to 1000 cars so with that thought I'm sure the guys running it realized what a headache  trying to judge that many cars fairly would be so they did the best thing possible and declared "Everybody a Winner" and gave trophies out to every registered car! Again they out did themselves and made a great show better! Now theres rumors around that this might be the last year but everybody out there in car land sure will miss this one if that happens. If you go to a cruise night or show and see anybody you recognize from Merchantville just pass along the thought how we would all miss that show if it was to go away!

OK Enough of me typin... heres some photos I took so enjoy!!

http://sjvwc.net/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=204   

[scarecrow]

Now I wished I had gone  :wallbash: Gonna feel real stupid if it winds up being the last year for it  :icon_cry: All is not lost though, I spent the day painting flames on my front fenders to match the hood. :icon_neutral:

[66-Ghia]

Bob: I think you did a GREAT job of reporting on the show and the pictures are great also   BO** BO**  :icon_cheers:

Bud

[njgt-1]

thanks guys,

it was my 11th year for this one. I always said it was the best day of the summer but this year was special since I spent it in the good company of the folks from the SJVWC!
Lets hope they decide to keep it going!   

sjvwcrocks

[lovebus (jack)]

Great report and pictures Bob. Wish I could have made it again this year but chit happens. Danny sure did great!!

[Bugaru "JAY"]

 Bob. At the end of the day from the tone of the voice of the guy that you were speaking with who put the show on. You could kind of sense that he had lost his desire to continue the shows? I hope it's not true because as you mentioned it was a great event. I bet that if our club could have gotten a few more cars, we may have won that hugh 6+ foot Club trophy? But I guess that everything happens for a reason because we didn't have Jack and his POS Bus to haul it back to the culb house for us. Those Trophies sure were hugh. They made Danny look smaller then BeetleJuice.  stoned# 

[njgt-1]

Bob. At the end of the day from the tone of the voice of the guy that you were speaking with who put the show on. You could kind of sense that he had lost his desire to continue the shows?

Jay,

that was one of the Rhea brothers the two big twin guys. They have been in it since the beginning and I can only imagine how hard it to run something that big. I know last year there was a rush to save the show but some politics got in the way with the DO club. I just hope if somebody else steps up to the plate its a "VW friendly"  club and not some "no foreign" bunch. Time will tell!

I bet that if our club could have gotten a few more cars, we may have won that hugh 6+ foot Club trophy?

we could have used about 125+ more cars. The Northeast Muscle car club won and I'm sure it was with 100+ cars. Its always them or "The Rolling Rods" both clubs are huge.

Danny sure did great!!

I'm still not over the shock!! shocked

[Beetleboi -Greg-]

If i knew they were giving 6 ft trophies I would have called out sick!  :o

[njgt-1]

If i knew they were giving 6 ft trophies I would have called out sick!  :o

not everybody got one but check with your dad, he snagged his first!  @@@ @@@ @@@

[6T5 square]

Bob- did you guys get out of there at a decent hour?


BTW-  The "Friend" with Frank is actually his body man at the shop. Nice guy, limited english but does good work. Frank and I went with him to look at a late model vert. I'm not sure if he bought it, but I know he's into VW's


sqBk

[njgt-1]

Bob- did you guys get out of there at a decent hour?

John,

Jay and I stood around for a while and I think it was around 8:45 when we left. By that time almost everybody was gone. I think giving away all the trophies like they did was a smart move. Up until about 3 years ago they called names for the awards, 200 stock, 200 modified, that usually took until 9:30 or so and it was one big traffic jam.

How did you make out with no  brake lights?

[Mikecoast]

Glad my Vert was able to be there. It ran like a CHAMP! Thanks Bob!
Check out the other images that I just posted ...

Merchantville 2008

[6T5 square]

John,

How did you make out with no  brake lights?

No problems- only one a hole in Medford about 2 miles from my house. Figures.

[3Gear]

only one a hole in Medford about 2 miles from my house. Figures.

And the one following you to the show  BO**  :icon_cheesygrin:


Michele and I had a wonderful time, too bad we couldn't stay till the end...

[njgt-1]

Michele and I had a wonderful time, too bad we couldn't stay till the end...

Marc,

no problem, your car looked great and I'm just glad you guys could make it. Now you know what I was talking about when ever I mention Merchantville!

No problems- only one a hole in Medford about 2 miles from my house. Figures

so whats with Medford? seems to be the Ticket capital of NJ!  :police: