[tcb] Re: Eureka Trip report

for anyone curious here's his samba profile, he has some pics of it in there, 
it really is an amazing truck
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=90578

Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:16:37 -0700
From: bugcollections@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [tcb] Re: Eureka Trip report
To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nope, never seen that one before.  Only one I have ever seen was the guy in CA 
that has one that did a super high dollar restoration, dove blue with tilt that 
I think was featured in Hot VWs a couple of years ago.  I saw it at OCTO during 
the Classic weekend a couple of years ago.  And yeah, I have seen the duct 
work.  Super impressive M Code option and I guess pretty rare, at least in the 
US.

--- On Mon, 8/31/09, Brian Denning <i_am_cool_fred@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


From: Brian Denning <i_am_cool_fred@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [tcb] Re: Eureka Trip report
To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Monday, August 31, 2009, 11:10 AM




sammie, you've never seen scoops the truck before???


did you look in the tresure chest at how all the crazy ductwork goes through 
there to get to the motor??? indeed an awesome truck, he recently took it back 
down to the original color too, it used to be the darker blue that is in the bed



Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:47:21 -0700
From: bugcollections@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [tcb] Eureka Trip report
To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx








Ok, here is a quicky trip report on Eureka.
 
Bev and I left Thursday noon in the Baja and drove to Queen Wilhelmina State 
Park and spent the night in the lodge on top of Rich Mountain, elevation almost 
3,000 feet.  If you have never been there you need to go. Originally built in 
the late 1800s by the railroad as a resort, was abandoned in the early 1900s, 
fell into disrepair and was acquired as a state park in 1957 and the lodge was 
reconstructed and opened in 1963.  In 1974 it burned to the ground and was a 
total loss.  Rebuilt again and reopened in its present state.  I have been 
fortunate to have gotten to visit the lodge in the last three stages of its 
life:  In 1954 in its state of disrepair; in 1964 stayed there after the first 
rebuild; and then again in its current state.  Have visited many times on my 
way to and from the show in Eureka.
 
We got up Friday morning and cruised into Poteau to stop by and visit Andrew 
Barnes's VW digs.  He has a great shop and several VWs sitting about:  Couple 
of diesel Rabbits, a nice double cab project, and a 57 oval.  From there it was 
on to Eureka with a quick side trip down Bear Trap Road to visit with Denis, 
but he had already left for Eureka; well at least we tried.  We pulled into 
Eureka about 2:00 and VWs were everywhere.  A quick trip to the host hotel and 
show site revealed an almost full parking lot already with lots of swap meeters 
set up.  Visited around, took a quick tour of the swap area and back to the 
hotel to check in; we were staying in the Matterhorn just down the road from 
the show.  Bout 5:00 we went back to the show site with the intent of finding a 
parking spot for the Baja and leaving him for the night and walking back to the 
Matterhorn.  Would you believe the parking lot was very
 close to totally full of show cars already, and we had a tough time finding a 
spot.  Ray Decker was kind enough to move Smitty, his bus, over just a bit and 
we squeezed in beside him.  Then is was off to the Friday night BBQ.  Well 
attended as usual and the wait line was long but the food was worth the wait.
 
And did I mention the weather:  threatening rain the entire time of the trip 
but never saw any rain except for a couple of light showers on the way home 
Sunday.  And super cool.  In the 60s and low 70s the whole time in Eureka.
 
Saturday morning brought the show.  They did manage to squeeze in a few more 
cars and the total count I kept hearing was somewhere between 280 and 285.  
Just about back to the numbers of a few years ago in the more glory days of 
Eureka.  But this year was great, gave the absolute appearance of a revival in 
the VW thing.  Lots of new cars were there, and lots of the older ones that I 
am used to seeing were not there.  Lots of the Texans that normally go were not 
in attendance.  I judged starting at 9:30 and one of the classes was split/oval 
custom.  There were three cars in this class that would have been absolute 
choices as best of show for most shows and my co-judge and I spent about 1 hour 
just on these three cars looking at all of the fine points trying to determine 
which was 1-2-3.  It was tough in that all three were essentially very close to 
100 point cars.
 
3:00, shows over, time to cruise.  Maybe the largest Eureka cruise ever.  
Seemed that all of the cars in the show + plus a lot that weren't in the show 
were in the cruise.  Normally the cruise is a rather normal pace: not this 
year.  I spent most of the time either stopped or idling in first gear.  Very 
very slow cruise.
 
Trophies after the cruise:  Chuck got a mug for the ShurOkO, Joe Smith won his 
class with his 67 and the Baja managed a 2nd in the Baja class.  Other TCBrs 
may have gotten something but my memory is not that good.  Overall it was a 
great show; much better than the last couple of years.  Only complaint I have 
is that they need to do something to the way they have the Type IIs classed, 
particularly the splits.  They are just all kind of dumped into the same class 
and the customs are competing with stocks and the commercials are competing 
with Kombis, deluxes etc.
 
Two interesting splits;  One was a true hippy bus from the 60s/70s that was 
well worn with lots of really dumb 70s customizing but was a RHD that 
originally came from Cape Town South Africa and had been rescued by the owner 
from Way-Out-Salvage.  The other was a late arriving single cab that had the M 
code option that Paul had never seen.  M code option M004; which is an option 
available only on the pick up for a dust free engine.  What it has are two 
hooded air inlets on the back of the cab just either side of the rear window 
with an expanded rear cab wall for air ducting that allows air for the engine 
to be drawn in and funneled to the engine through a duct that travels from the 
rear of the cab through the treasure chest and all the way back to the engine.  
This option deletes the vents on the rear where they are normally found on the 
SC and includes an extra sealer around the engine tin inside the engine
 compartment.  The only way for air to enter the engine compartment is through 
the duct work beginning at the back of the cab.  I have only personally seen 
one other SC with this option.  Super rare.  And the current owner found this 
truck on e-bay from a farm in Mississippi when he contacted the owner and 
worked out a deal after the truck attracted no bids.  Guess we need to start 
watching e-bay more closely.
 
Bev and I had contemplated doing the Sunday cruise, but I inquired as to start 
time and length and found that they were going to start about 10:00 and last 
till 2:00.  Too late to get back to Nacogdoches, so we elected to take our own 
normal cruise back home at a leisurely pace down the pig trail all the way to I 
40 and then back through Poteau, the Kiamichi mountains and down to 
Nacogdoches.  Got back home about 5:00.  Great trip, saw lots of neat scenery, 
lots of great VWs and lots of friends.  The Eureka show and trip seems to be 
back in the glory days again.


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