Date:         Mon, 29 Apr 1996 08:13:40 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Thom Fitzpatrick" <thom@calweb.com>
Subject:      Vallejo VW Show 


Went to the VW Show in Vallejo, Ca yesterday.

A heck of a drive down, what with the ~30mph cross winds.  Saw an interesting
girl driving a dilapidated bay window westy, engine smoking all over the place.
This girl had enuf "body modifications" to fail even the most lax airport
metal detectors.  She gave me an enthusiastic wave as I passed her, though.

Met up with The Bus Farmers and another guy named Jay at the faigrounds, where
we proceded to drink beer, eat pizza, and scope out the swap stuff that was 
being set up early.

There were a lot of people swapping, but a lot of _junk_.  Tried to buy some
semaphores from one guy, who wanted $100, but they were missing bits, and he
wouldn't go down on the price, so when he stuck to his original price, and
I handed them back to him, he made a big huff about wasting his time getting
them out of the box and "now that you've messed everything up!"  See ya, idiot!
I did end up buying a pair of bug semaphores for $180, and he threw in a set of
'54 plate tags.  Since none of the bus "experts" in attendance could tell me
what the difference was, I bought them anyway, and figured if they don't fit,
I can always sell them to someone who needs bug semaphores. 

I also got a set of '56 plates for $30, a single '51 plate for $20, and various
odds and ends.  Also got a very nice barndoor rear jesus handle for $100 - the
one that the passengers in the middle seat grab onto.

The car show was OK.  One particular not was the yahoo with the super-custom
bus - prolly has more $$ invested in 15" speakers (seriously!) that I have
in my barndoor.  So this dweeb is doing the mirror thing, and I look at the
car a little more closely.  The body work and welding on this thing were 
pathetic!  Ragged weld seams underneath, pieces welded that weren't lined up.
I overheard a couple of high school kids picking out the exact same things!

Didn't stick around for the bikini contest, sorry.

The trip home was just as windy.  We caravnned back, even passing a couple
people.  Its pretty sad when you get waxed by 4 VW busses going _uphill_.

Thom
--
> Tenure means never having to say you're sorry.
Thom Fitzpatrick 
thom@calweb.com - http://www.calweb.com/~thom
Keeper of the Barndoor Bus Page: http://www.calweb.com/~thom/barndoor.html