[tcb] Re: Eureka Trip report
- From: sammie smith <bugcollections@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:16:37 -0700 (PDT)
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
#yiv454140719 .hmmessage P
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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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