iDriveSoCal

The ArtCenter College of Design, right here in SoCal, is one of the top schools for transportation and automotive designers around the world.  So it’s logical that the school host an annual exhibition showcasing the works of it’s best and brightest.

From concepts to classics.  Exotics to muscle.  This year’s ArtCenter Car Classic provided something for everyone.  And rightfully so, as the theme of this year’s car show highlighted the school’s 70-years of contributions to the automotive industry.

This is a favorite of iDriveSoCal’s Professor, Clinton Quan, and he, of course, was in attendance and joined me for this iDSC podcast.  Click play below and scroll down to enjoy the pics of these awe-inspiring works of art!

***Transcription***

Recorded October 30, 2018, in Los Angeles, CA

Clinton Quan: Some of the most prominent automotive designers in the world…

What was great about this car show because it was celebrating 70-years of the colleges Transportation Design Program, you got to see a little bit of everything. There were American cars there, European automobiles, Japanese cars, even Hyundai, that’s a Korean car.

Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. Tom Smith here with the good professor Mr. Clinton Quan, say “Hello” Clinton.

Clinton Quan: Hi Tom.

Tom Smith: Hello my friend. We are podcasting this evening at an undisclosed location in downtown Los Angeles California. We’re covering the ArtCenter College of Design their annual shindig that the good professor goes to each year. Did we cover this last year? No, we didn’t cover this last year.

Clinton Quan: No we did not.

Tom Smith: But we talked about the College ArtCenter of Design in one of our podcasts that we did, yeah on why Southern California is the not only the automotive capital of the United States… But also the automotive capital of the world; because of all of these reasons. One of these reasons being that we have the College ArtCenter of Design, am I saying that right?

Clinton Quan: ArtCenter College of Design

Tom Smith: ArtCenter College of Design here in Southern California which has put out a number of names that we know of but…

Clinton Quan: Some of the most prominent automotive designers in the world.

Tom Smith: And for those of you listen to the podcast myself included, Chip Foose right is one of the names?

Clinton Quan: Well I don’t know if he graduated from ArtCenter.

Tom Smith: Oh really?

Clinton Quan: I don’t know right off the top of my head. He’s very well known.

Tom Smith: Was Fisker from there?

Clinton Quan: Yes he was at the event.

Tom Smith: No, no, but did he graduate from the school?

Clinton Quan: I believe so I don’t know why he would be there.

Tom Smith: What I’m getting to is there’s a lot of designers that have graduated from this school and we might not know the name of the designers.

But, we definitely know the names of their cars that they’ve designed. The names of the manufacturers they’ve designed those cars for.  And, we’ve seen their cars as the entire world has seen their cars driving around roads, again all over the world.

Clinton Quan: I mean if he didn’t graduate I would assume he has some relationship to the school.

Tom Smith: And it just so happens that Henrik Fisker and I don’t know if it’s Henrik or [pronunciation] Henrik, how they pronounce it.

Clinton Quan: That’s a good question, I don’t know.

Tom Smith: But nevertheless, the Fisker Karma was, well there’s a whole history about that and they had a Fisker Karma there. I digress. ArtCenter College of Design has an annual automotive show and you go every year.

Clinton Quan: Yeah, almost every year.

Tom Smith: And that’s what we’re covering in this podcast. This years show, which the shows always the end of October right?

Clinton Quan: Yes. End of October it’s usually either the last Sunday in October or the second to last Sunday in October.

Tom Smith: Okay, so if you hop on the iDriveSoCal website, the events page, it’s there. If you subscribe to the newsletter we always have it as one of our events we highlight. It’s there as well.

The good professor went, actually, I think it was, you went to the show last year and you ran into Jay Leno. We have a picture of you and Jay on iDriveSoCal.

Clinton Quan: That is correct. Yes.

Tom Smith: This is a big, it’s a big show and each year…

Clinton Quan: Oh this is considered one of the biggest shows in Southern California now, the ArtCenter Car Classic, yes.

Tom Smith: So it’s called the ArtCenter Car Classic?

Clinton Quan: Yeah that’s the official name of the car show.

Tom Smith: And is it free or is there a fee at the door?

Clinton Quan: No, it’s definitely not free. It’s I believe it was $40 this year.

Tom Smith: Okay. And there is a theme each year?

Clinton Quan: There is a theme each year.

Tom Smith: And this year’s theme was?

Clinton Quan: And this year’s theme is celebrating 70 years of the transportation design program at the ArtCenter College of Design.

Tom Smith: So, it’s not just automotive design, they design everything then?

Clinton Quan: Yes. But obviously, this one focuses on automobiles, this particular car show.

Tom Smith: Right, right, okay. So celebrating 70 years, so for 70 years this school has been, their automotive design program has been in existence for 70 years?

Clinton Quan: 70 years. That is correct.

Tom Smith: I mean you think about how long the automobiles been around, you go what, a little over 100 years?

Clinton Quan: Correct. Its been around for a little over 100 years.

Tom Smith: Okay, interesting, interesting. And I saw some pictures of the show. Some really cool cars.

Clinton Quan: We’re talking about classic cars to current concept cars.

Tom Smith: Yeah, Yeah.

Clinton Quan: And that’s what’s great about this show.

Tom Smith: And the concept cars are really neat. I’ve always marveled at concept cars, right. I think everybody has.

Clinton Quan: Yes, and normally a brand new car show such as the LA Auto Show, you can’t get that close to a concept vehicle. Here at the ArtCenter Car Classic, you can get right up to that concept vehicle.

Tom Smith: There is one that had suicide doors it looked like you almost had your head inside the thing.

Clinton Quan: Yeah, that’s the 2018 Hyundai, I’m not sure if I’m pronouncing this correctly, Le Fil Rouge, I believe it’s called.

Tom Smith: Sounds very French for a Korean automaker.

Clinton Quan: Yes, it definitely has a French-sounding name to the vehicle. It was unveiled, well made it’s US debut this summer at the Concours d’Elegance of America.

Tom Smith: Oh, so that cars been making its rounds?

Clinton Quan: Yes, but only since the summer of this year.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: Alright. There was, was it the original Lamborghini Countach?

Clinton Quan: If it wasn’t the first year, it was definitely one of the first Countach’s.

Tom Smith: Okay, and that’s a very iconic car.

Clinton Quan: That’s one of the most iconic designs and it’s certainly the most famous Lamborghini. I remember growing up, one of my very good friends, that was his very favorite car. He had a poster back in his bedroom, and that’s the car I remember

Tom Smith: That was an 80s thing, wasn’t?

Clinton Quan: Yes. It was a car people dreamed about.

Tom Smith: Yeah, so the story about the 1930s Voisin.

Clinton Quan: 1934 Voisin C27 Aerosport

Tom Smith: Okay.

Clinton Quan: Owned by Peter Mullin.

Tom Smith: So Peter Mullin, is an obviously a very successful, wealthy person.

Clinton Quan: Entrepreneur, philanthropist, I believe and he has his very own automotive museum in Oxnard, which is my personal favorite.

Tom Smith: And we’ve covered that a little bit, so he has that. And that’s not open all the time, right?

Clinton Quan: Correct. It’s only open two days a month to the general public.

Tom Smith: But then he’s also got a private collection of some sort, if I’m remembering right, somewhere in the LA city limits?

Clinton Quan: Private collection in West Los Angeles. That is correct.

Tom Smith: And you’ve seen that?

Clinton Quan: Yes, I actually got to go on a personal guided tour.

Tom Smith: A personal guided tour, of course, a professional has

Clinton Quan: I was the only one on the tour

Tom Smith: Seriously?

Clinton Quan: Yes, it was a one on one tour.

Tom Smith: Did he take you personally?

Clinton Quan: No, no, not him. Someone who works for him, but that’s where his office is.

Tom Smith: How did you hook that up? I didn’t know it was just you on the tour.

Clinton Quan: No it was just me. I was the only person on the tour.

Tom Smith: So how did you hook that up?

Clinton Quan: Well, I read that they were doing special tours of that place and most people wouldn’t know, so I called them up and I was able to go on the tour all by myself. It was just…

Tom Smith: Where did you read this? ObscureAutomotiveNews [dot] com?

Clinton Quan: I’m trying to remember. It could have been Westways Magazine. I get a lot of information from Westways. AAA Westways…

Tom Smith: Yeah, I get some ideas from Westways. Doug Schupe, the Senior Public Affairs Specialist over at AAA, we sync up for a number of pieces. Gosh, we’ve done a bunch of podcasts together.

Tom Smith: “Hey Doug, how ya doing? Thanks for all the collaboration.”

Clinton Quan: The latest one on the cost of ride-hailing services versus ownership.

Tom Smith: Yeah, you listened to that one?

Clinton Quan: Yeah, that was very good.

Tom Smith: Well thank you. All I do is ask questions. AAA does some really cool studies and that was a pretty interesting one.

If you haven’t checked out that podcast, AAA did a study on the cost of ridesharing versus vehicle ownership and hands down no matter what market you’re in its still much more efficient to own a vehicle.

Now that’s the general but you know, whatever. You could listen to that podcast when you get a chance. I don’t know what number it is, but it came out relatively recently.

Tom Smith: So, back to the ArtCenter College of Design Classic, is that what it’s called?

Clinton Quan: The name of the show, is The ArtCenter Car Classic.

Tom Smith: ArtCenter Car Classic.

Clinton Quan: Yeah, the school is ArtCenter College of Design.

Tom Smith: Got it, okay. So, celebrating 70 years, a wide variety of really, really cool high-value vehicles there.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: You said there was a fee for entry. What does the day look like? Is it your typical car show? Take me through the day. I’m sure you got there early, right?

Clinton Quan: I got there around 11:00. I stayed for a few hours, sometimes I stay almost the entire day. Generally, the show, let’s see, it starts around 10:30 I believe.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Clinton Quan: 10:00 or 10:30, usually the media is allowed earlier access. And they usually have a full schedule of events that take place throughout the day.

Tom Smith: So what kind of events?

Clinton Quan: Well, they’ll have panel discussions with designers.

Tom Smith: Oh, okay.

Clinton Quan: So this year they had three different panel discussions. Now, what’s different this year is that normally they have a lot of the discussions inside the college. They have an auditorium.

Tom Smith: Okay.

Clinton Quan: And this year what they’ve decided to do is have it outside where all the vehicles are on display.

Tom Smith: That’s kind of cool.

Clinton Quan: Yeah, which is kind of cool. There’s pros and cons to both. Usually, it’s still very hot in late October, so it’s nice to

Tom Smith: How was the weather?

Clinton Quan: The weather was great, but it was very, very hot. It was probably in the upper 80s to low 90s.

Tom Smith: Where’s the school? Is it Pasadena?

Clinton Quan: It is Pasadena and it’s very close to the Rose Bowl.

Tom Smith: Alright.

Clinton Quan: So attendees will park at the Rose Bowl for free and there is a complimentary shuttle that will take you from the parking lot at the Rose Bowl to the campus at ArtCenter College of Design unless you’re willing to pay $30.

Tom Smith: Okay. The nuance professor. It’s okay we can carry on from that.

Tom Smith: So they had some talks. What other events were going on? Did they have music, entertainment? Was there the buffets that you love, champagne, caviar kind of thing?

Clinton Quan: They have a lunch that’s set outside, which is nice, so you can enjoy the weather.

Tom Smith: The hot weather.

Clinton Quan: Yes, the hot weather. But they do have

Tom Smith: You can sit outside and sweat while your eating lunch.

Clinton Quan: No, no they…

Tom Smith: Well there’s some really nice cars to look at.

Clinton Quan: They have a covered area where the luncheon takes place.

Tom Smith: Very good.

Clinton Quan: Yeah and then there’s an award ceremony that takes place.

Tom Smith: Okay, that’s what I wanted to get to. There is a competition of some sort?

Clinton Quan: Yes, I didn’t stay for the award’s ceremony, but there is an awards ceremony. Yes.

Tom Smith: Okay, and various categories? I mean I’d imagine you gotta have a lot of categories for

Clinton Quan: Yes, there’s a number of different categories. Correct.

Tom Smith: And is it different depending on the theme for each year’s show. No, I don’t believe it’s different…

Well, I guess they do have to customize it depending on the theme. A little bit, right?

Clinton Quan: Yes, yes. Correct.

Tom Smith: Alright, well very good. What else about the ArtCenter Car Classic, did I get the name right that time?

Clinton Quan: Yes, you got it. Fantastic.

Tom Smith: Woohoo. What else about the ArtCenter Car, and by the way, we’re gonna have, I think you snapped about 15 different cars. We’re going to have them on iDriveSoCal.com. There are some really, really, really cool cars.

Both vehicles that were produced but these are such high-end vehicles that they weren’t mass produces, so there’s those. But then there’s also the concepts that are one-offs or maybe two or three offs at tops, but really neat stuff.

I mean there’s some Jetson types things in there that are… Well, that Hyundai we were talking about. Oh yeah, yeah, that Alfa Romeo.

And, you know it’s interesting because some of these cars, and I just mentioned Jetson’s… like is it real or is it hype? Are we going to have flying cars? Are we going to have vertical take-off and landing?

Clinton Quan: I think it’s gonna be a long time, it’s gonna be quite some time.

Tom Smith: Some people say, “I think it’s gonna be a really long time,” but then other people say, “hey look, some of the redesigned buildings that are being put together right now around LAX have reinforced roofs in order to accommodate vehicles that will be taking off and landing from the roofs.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: Vertical takeoff and landing vehicles.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: I mean that’s the crazy thing. And when you think about that and a show like the ArtCenter Car Classic and some of the prototype vehicles they have there, that look like they could be the interior of a flying car.

It just kind of tickles my fancy a little bit as an enthusiast as I am. The odd niche of enthusiast that I am. That’s scared of heights but can’t wait to see a flying car. Yeah, I don’t know.

Clinton Quan: Well, what was great about this car show because it was celebrating 70 years of the colleges Transportation Design Program, you got to see a little bit of everything.

There were American cars there, European automobiles, Japanese cars, even Hyundai, that’s a Korean car.

Tom Smith: Yeah.

Clinton Quan: So there’s classic cars, muscle cars, we saw the photo of the Ford Mustang. Concept vehicles, so a little bit of everything. Something from pretty much every manufacturer, from every country as well. So this was truly a celebration of ArtCenter College of Design.

Tom Smith: And as all the car shows that you go to happen to be, they’re all very like for the serious automotive enthusiast, right?

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: I mean everybody goes to OC Autoshow. Everybody goes to the LA Autoshow.

But these special ones that you pick out, and again the professor basically curates the events page on iDriveSoCal and he’s got some, a ton that I’ve never heard of… they’re always super cool and is this type of show, is this a family friendly event?

Clinton Quan: Oh this is absolutely a family-friendly event.

Tom Smith: 40-bucks, you’re like well do I want to take the kids to a Dodger’s game or do I want to go to a car show for the afternoon?

Clinton Quan: Oh it’s $40 for adults. I believe, I’d have to go back and check, but I believe for children it is free.

Tom Smith: Oh okay.

Clinton Quan: Yeah. If it’s not free then it would be a much-discounted rate.

Tom Smith: But definitely something that you want to consider bringing the whole family to.

You know what we need to do with these things, and you need to help me with this.

We’re gonna reach out to all these shows that we’ve covered this past first year of iDriveSoCal. We’re gonna let them know “hey we’re covering you guys” and then we need to get some tickets that we can then give away to the people that are listening.

Clinton Quan: Oh absolutely.

Tom Smith: We get a lot of response from, “hey this sounds really cool, didn’t even know it was going on.” We gotta do that.

Clinton Quan: Yeah.

Tom Smith: Note to self and to you the podcast listener, and thank you for listening.

Tom Smith: Okay, anything else about the ArtCenter Car Classic before we wrap this one up?

Clinton Quan: Well for me this is a really special show because this show really focuses on automotive design and that’s why I fell in love with automobile design…

Tom Smith: And that’s why your transportation engineer, not a designer.

Clinton Quan: Yes.

Tom Smith: Which is a whole another story that I’ve never gotten into but we need to.

Clinton Quan: And that’s why I fell in love with automobiles for me the automobile is a work of art and when you go to this show you can see why it is. You’re gonna see cars from all different eras of the automotive past and current and from all different countries as well.

Tom Smith: And future with the concepts.

Clinton Quan: Yes and future. Absolutely.

Tom Smith: But we’ve yet to see a flying car concept at one of these shows. That’s gonna happen though. I think that’s gonna happen in the not so distant future.

Clinton Quan: It will happen, yes.

Tom Smith: Alright.

Clinton Quan: Absolutely.

Tom Smith: Okay. Professor thank you as always. Always wonderful to hear you sharing your passion for all things automotive and your right they are works of art. It’s a neat thing.

Tom Smith: I’m gonna give the Automobile Driving Museum a plug here. And that is the museum in the industrial area in El Segundo, right by the Los Angeles International Airport, also known as LAX, you might know it as.

One of the co-founders I was sitting and talking with and he referred to cars, and they have a bunch of old antiques, as you know you’ve been there, but he referred to them as works of art as well.

That they are going to, they already have outlived many of their creators, many generations, and what not, and what some of the museums are or collectors, there’re just simply custodians that are managing these vehicles during their lifetime.

The cars are going to live on, and we’re going to be gone. And they are just like a work of art that needs to be kept and the flame of enthusiast needs to continue to burn. And that’s one of the things that we’ll continue to do on iDriveSoCal with the help of the good professor Mr. Clinton Quan.

Clinton Quan: I will do my best to do that.

Tom Smith: Alright. Thank you, Professor, as always.

Tom Smith: For iDriveSoCal I’m Tom Smith. Thank you as always for tuning in.

Air-Cooled Volkswagen Club

Classic Air-Cooled Volkswagens are some of the most identifiable vehicles on the road – any road.  Whether you happen to… be celebrating Oktoberfest in Germany, visiting another European country or find yourself anywhere in the world – especially right here in Southern California.

As part of Ontario Volkswagen’s Second Annual Oktoberfest Car Show, two ‘Best of Show’ awards were given out… because you can’t give just one.  You have Air-Cooled and you have Water-Cooled – the division among V-Dub Lovers.

Even though it’s a fun-loving division amongst Volkswagen fans the division is there nonetheless.  There are even Volkswagen car clubs dedicated to one or the other.  In this iDriveSoCal Podcast, I’m joined by the leader of one of the Air-Cooled Clubs, who also happened to take home some Best of Show hardware, from Ontario VW,  himself.

***Transcription***

Recorded – October 28, 2018, in Ontario, CA

Danny: I have a 1965 Volkswagen 13 Window Deluxe. Just going crazy on it trying to do as much as possible. Have as much fun as I can in that thing.

One of the first things when I got that bus, I said, “I can’t have the school-bus-look-thing here. I got to… ” Me and my son got together, we put our heads together, we did that.

Tom: Ontario Volkswagen Second Annual Oktoberfest. Were you here last year?

Danny: No, I wasn’t. I just heard about it this year, and I said, “Oh man, we got to do this.”

Tom: Hi, and I can hear you, smile. Welcome to iDriveSoCal the Podcast, all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. Tom Smith here, and we are out at Ontario Volkswagen in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, California.

Outside the dealership, quite literally, during the Second Annual Ontario Volkswagen Oktoberfest. Joining me is one of the, not only participants of Oktoberfest Auto Show but also a leader of a car club that was out here in force. Danny, can you please pronounce your last name for me?

Danny: Aceves.

Tom: Aceves. Danny Aceves of the Old Skool Auto Club. Thank you for joining me, and also, Danny, congratulations on your win today.

Danny: Thank you very much.

Tom: By the way, I did not know that you were going to win, although I did select you guys, you and your colleague. What’s his name?

Danny:  Rafael.

Tom: Rafael. Because of your very nice vehicles, very well maintained. Literally, they’re old school, right?

Danny: Right.

Tom: iDriveSoCal is all about automotive news and the future of mobility and whatnot, and as you can hear some of the tuner Volkswagen’s are pulling away. One of the things that I’ve realized diving into the world of Volkswagen, is that there is a divide in that air-cooled and water-cooled.

Danny: Yes.

Tom: I’m assuming that the Old Skool moniker of your car club is indicative of the air-cool.

Danny: Strictly air-cool.

Tom: Strictly air-cool. If I have a water-cool Volkswagen, you guys don’t want to see me.

Danny: No. No, you’re welcome. You’re welcome.

Tom: I’m kidding. I’m kidding. Thank you. Tell me about the Old Skool Club.

Danny: Yeah, we were put together early 2015. I was in a club before, and I always wanted to do my own thing, so broke off, started my own club, got a couple friends together, and we slowly grew from there.

Tom: Okay. You literally … I didn’t realize, you’re the founder of the club?

Danny: Yes.

Tom: Okay. How organized are you guys? Do you have dues, do you have weekly meetings, annual meetings, monthly meetings, anything like that? Or is it just we get together when we get together?

Danny: No. We have Monthly Cruise Nights, where we all get together and other clubs come out and join us, and we just hang out. That’s monthly, and we don’t have any dues. I don’t really care for the money thing, but just a bunch of guys having fun.

Tom: Right. Sure. Sure. Okay. Now, I mentioned that you won an award, obviously, it was for the air-cooled, but I already took a bunch of pictures of your van.

Danny: Awesome.

Tom: Tell me about your winning vehicle. Is that your only Volkswagen, by the way?

Danny: That is my only Volkswagen…

Air-Cooled Volkswagen Club Custom Microbus

Tom: Okay. Tell me about your vehicle.

Danny: I have a 1965 Volkswagen 13 Window Deluxe. Purchased that roughly five years ago, and just going crazy on it trying to do as much as possible. Have as much fun as I can in that thing.

Tom: It is a beautiful ride, it is very well done. The interior passenger area looks like a stretch limousine-kind-of-thing. More so than the … What was in there before? Benches?

Danny: Yes, there was two bench seats there, and that was one of the first things when I got that bus, I said, “I can’t have the school-bus-look-thing here. I got to … ” Me and my son got together, we put our heads together, we did that. We framed it all in and then took it down and had it all upholstered, but, yeah, I just couldn’t do the bus, school-bus-type-thing.

Tom: That’s one of the things that with cars and the car hobby, as Barry McGuire would say. You know Barry McGuire, who I’m talking about?

Danny: No, I don’t, actually.

Tom: McGuire car crazy TV show used to be on whatever … McGuire’s Car Care Products.

Danny: Okay.

Tom: He’s really big on the “car hobby,” but how it just brings everybody together, there’s no gender, there’s no … There’s a religion, the religion is like oil and gas, right? I guess the religion could even be electricity now, right?

Danny: Yes, you’re right. You’re right.

Tom: If it’s got wheels and you can control it, steer it or whatnot, there you go, but you mentioned your son. Obviously, it’s something that you and your son have worked on, I’m assuming some pretty special times that you’ve…

Danny: Yes. Yes. That was some great bonding times right there. There was some rough times if my son wasn’t moving fast enough, of course. I’d like to hear what he’d have to say about it, but okay. Well, hey.

Air-Cooled VW Club Member

Tom: Nevertheless, it created the opportunity. Glad to hear that. Your club, if somebody wants to participate or somebody wants to join in, are you guys open to that kind of thing?

Danny: Yes. Yes. Anybody that approaches us to actually show interest to possibly join the club, I tell them, “You know what, come to a couple of Cruise Nights, come to a couple of our functions, make sure this is something you would like to do.”

We’re real family-oriented. I’ve always said this club is more than just a car club, it’s a family. If this is something you like, and you like what you see hanging out with us, welcome aboard.

Tom: Keep coming.

Danny: Yes.

Tom: What does a Cruise Night look like? Where does it happen?

Danny: It’s in Covina, California at In and Out Burger, Arrow Highway and Grand, if you’re familiar with that area.

Tom: Okay. I’m sure if anybody out there listening is … Easy enough to Google, right?

Danny: Yes.

Tom: I personally don’t exactly know. Southern California’s a really big place. You could be here your entire life and not know the specifics of various pockets. What about online?

Do you guys have Facebook, do you have Instagram, a website, what if somebody wants to look you up?

Danny: Yes. Yes. We are Facebook and Instagram, as well.

Tom: Okay.

Danny: Yes.

Tom: What’s the name or how do you find it?

Danny: Actually, on Facebook, it’s Old Skool Obsessionz. You can go on there and look on that, and Facebook, the same thing.

Air-Cooled Volkswagen Club Member

Tom: Okay.

Danny: Same thing on Facebook.

Tom: How do you spell that? I think it’s a funky spelling.

Danny: Yes. The Obsessions is O-B-S-E-S-S-I-O-N-Z, it ends with a Z.

Tom: And Old Skool is O-L-D-S-K-O-O-L.

Danny: Yes, sir.

Tom: Then Obsessionz again is …?

Danny: O-B-S-E-S-S-I-O-N-Z, end it with a Z.

Tom: Okay. It’s both Facebook and Instagram?

Danny: Yes, sir.

Tom: Okay. Excellent. Your Cruise Night’s are typically what nights of the week?

Danny: Typically, it’s the first Saturday of the month, six pm.

Tom: First Saturday of the month, six pm. You can just show up?

Danny: Yep.

Tom: Show up at the In and Out … Where is it again?

Danny: I believe it’s Covina. It’s in Covina, California, I believe it’s 1371 Grand Avenue. I believe that’s the address.

Tom: The cross street again?

Danny: It’s Arrow Highway and Grand.

Tom: All right. That’s good.

Danny: Okay.

Tom: That’s good enough.

Danny: All right.

Tom: How many strong are you right now?

Danny: Right now we’re about 15 strong, but… I’m sorry. We are 15 strong, and we have about 20 cars. We have a few members that have a couple of cars.

Tom: Okay.

Danny: A couple Volkswagen’s.

Tom: People show up there and you hang out or do you do cruise? Do you actually go for a cruise somewhere and go and grab dinner or what is it … What does the night look like?

Danny: No. Everyone just comes together, we’ll eat some In and Out, everyone just gathers, hanging out, just talking to different members from different clubs, and just enjoying the evening.

Tom: All right. Excellent. Any of the other clubs names you want to drop in this podcast and then you can share it with them if you so choose?

Danny:  Rollin VW’s, great guys, man.

Tom: Rolling VW?

Danny: Yeah, Johnny out there is a great dude.

Tom: All right. How do you spell Rolling VW?

Danny: R-O-L-L-I-N.

Tom: Rollin VW, okay.

Danny: V-dubs. Rollin V-dubs.

Tom: Okay. Got it. Got it.

Danny: The Oil Drippers, Diego, another great guy out there. He’s the president of that club. Great guys. There’s several, those are the first two that just popped in the top of my head.

Tom: Nevertheless.

Danny: Yes. Great guys, man. Great.

Tom: All right. All right. We got Old Skool, which is going to be air-cooled. You got Rollin V-dubs, are they specific to…

Danny: Air-cooled Volkswagen Club, as well.

Tom: Air-cooled, as well. Then Oil Drippers.

Danny: Yes.

Tom: Are they air-cooled, water …

Danny: All air-cooled.

Tom: Okay. Hey, you guys are all air-cooled.

Danny: All air-cooled, yes.

Tom: All right. All right. Not that you dislike water-cool.

Danny: No, no, no. Not at all. Not at all.

Tom: I’m just kidding you. All right. Hey, Danny, your last name for me again, please?

Danny: Aceves.

Tom: Danny Aceves.

Danny: Uh-huh.

Tom: Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for coming out to the Ontario Volkswagen Second Annual Oktoberfest. Were you here last year?

Danny: No, I wasn’t. I just heard about it this year, and I said, “Oh man, we got to do this.”

Tom: Excellent. We’re glad you came out.

Danny: Perfect.

Tom: Ontario Volkswagen’s a great partner of iDriveSoCal, we appreciate these guys out here.

Mr. Earl Reed, the General Manager, Randy Halcomb, the Internet Guru, Shant Bashian, who is the General Sales Manager, Jim Straley, the Service Director, Jimmy Willhide, the Service Advisor, who helped point this entire shindig and we look forward to future Oktoberfests, as well.

Danny: Yes, sir. Me, too. I had a great time.

Tom: All right. Danny, thanks, again, much appreciated. Thank you for joining me for the iDriveSoCal Podcast. Anything else you’d like to add before we wrap it up?

Danny: No. That’s it.

Tom: All right.

Danny: That’ll do it.

Tom: Awesome. Danny, thank you, again.

Danny: Awesome. Thank you very much.

Tom: For iDriveSoCal, I’m Tom Smith. Thank you, as always, for tuning in.

2020 Volkswagen Reviews:

VW Telematics Connectivity Application:

2019 Volkswagen Reviews:

Water-Cooled Volkswagen Club

True love for Volkswagen and Southern California are two things that have always just gone together.  And nobody truly ‘gets’ that like Ontario Volkswagen.

For the past two years, Ontario VW has altered its entire business operation for what would otherwise be a very busy day.  And they’ve done that to morph their dealership in a venue for all types of Volkswagen fans to gather, show their cars, swap their car stories and share their passion for all things V-Dub.

And note the ‘all-types’ indicated above. If you’re already in the ‘VW-know’  then you’re aware of the difference between air-cooled and water-cooled.  You see, there’s a division among VW enthusiasts.  A fun-loving division for sure but a partisan divide nonetheless.  So much so that there are entire car clubs dedicated to one and the other.

In this iDriveSoCal Podcast, Ontario Volkswagen’s 2nd Annual Oktober Fest Car Show, we talk to the leadership of one of the water-cooled Volkswagen clubs and learn more about their growth plans to share their brand of VW-Love.

***Transcription***

Recorded October 28, 2018, in Ontario, CA

Mike: We try to do stuff our own, we try to have cars that are a little bit beyond the norm. They may never be perfect, they may never be done, but they are built by us in our garages. Jimmy’s house always looks like Ontario Volkswagen.

Tom: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. I’m Tom Smith, and as you can probably hear, I’m not inside in a studio. We’re actually at Ontario Volkswagen in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, California, and we’re outside at the Oktoberfest, the 2nd annual Ontario Volkswagen Oktoberfest. We’re podcasting outside.

Ontario Volkswagen is just off the 15 and also right by Ontario Airport so just as we were doing that open, a jet was flying overhead. But joining me is Mike Pitman from … Where are you from?

Mike: Wildomar, California.

Tom: From Wildomar California. And Mike is part of not only the Oktoberfest Auto Show, here at Ontario Volkswagen, but one of the clubs that’s involved in this show and your club name is Scrappy Dubs?

Mike: Yes sir.

Tom: Mike, thank you for joining me for the iDriveSoCal podcast.

Mike: Thank you for having me.

Tom: Tell me, what… The Scrappy Dubs, I know Jimmy Willhide who’s the service manager here, service director, service advisor, whatever his exact title is here at Ontario Volkswagen, I know that he’s part of the Scrappy Dubs Car Club, but tell me a little about it. How’d you guys get started, and what do you do?

Mike: You know-

Tom: Other than participating at Oktoberfest here at Ontario Volkswagen.

Mike: Right, right. We’ve known each other for a long time. We’ve been friends, practically kind of grown into a family.

Practically what we do, we’re just a group of friends. We all have the same love, same enthusiasts for Volkswagen, for European cars, and we all got together and we help each other out.

And we have different strengths and when somebody needs help with a car we get down to the garage. There are late nights and get some good music going and we put together our crazy ideas and we make the stuff happen, so that’s how it became.

And we try to stand out a little bit. We try to do stuff our own, we try to have cars that are a little bit beyond the norm and like I said, the cool thing about all of our cars is they may never be perfect.  They may never be done. But, they are built by us in our garages, and like I said we have a great time with doing it.

I think that’s what friendship’s all about, growing up and growing older and constantly evolving, constantly changing stuff and doing stuff for the love of the cars that we love to drive.

Tom: Did you guys go to… Are you all southern California, all high school buddies or college buddies, or just kind of meet somewhere along the line or…?

Mike: We kind of met in between. We had friends that kind of knew each other and we kind of met. At the time I was a wheel repair guy and I did some-

Tom: Wheel repair?

Mike: I had my own mobile repair business, so I did that. That’s kind of how I met Jimmy and we got together, repaired some stuff for him and started hanging out and we would literally Friday, Saturday night.

It was almost either at Jimmy’s house or other friend’s houses and we’d hang out late at night, and multiple times that I had probably four or five cars stored at Jimmy’s house and yeah, I mean Jimmy’s house always looks like Ontario Volkswagen.

Tom: I know he’s got seven or eight, or six or eight. I know he’s got a number of cars on his own.

Mike: Definitely. Definitely.

Tom: If you’ve got a few cars stored at his place too, he must have a little bit of space.

Mike: Yeah, he did and he still has more space now. There’s always been a little bit of competition between us, between who has more cars. It’s always changing.

Tom: You have a number of cars at the moment?

Mike: About 10. Somewhere around there.

Tom: All Volkswagens?

Mike: VW Audi, trucks, some big 4 wheel drive trucks, boats, jet-skis. We have quite a bit of stuff.

Tom: Let’s talk Volkswagens specifically. What car did you bring here today?

Mike: We brought my wife’s Volkswagen Mark 4 Jetta GLI.

Tom: Mark 4. And for those of you that have listened to the podcast, you know that Mark 4 is just interchangeable with the generation, right?

Mike: Pretty much.

Tom: Every time a car is completely redone, that’s a new generation and same thing for Volkswagen. They just use Mark as a German thing, right?

Mike: Yeah, chassis.

Tom: Got you. And we were looking at your wife’s car in the dealership actually. It’s literally parked in the dealership right now. Tell me about some of the things that you guys did. I know the hood was something special that you did, where it comes over the headlights just a little bit.

Mike: It’s called a Boser. Like I said, it was-

Tom: It’s called a Boser?

Mike: Boser hood, yes.

Tom: Boser hood.

Mike: And-

Tom: And that just like a style?

Mike: Yeah, it’s a style. It’s for people who kind of want a little bit more of an aggressive look and there are different variations. They do sell pre-made kits that you can weld on. That one was actually custom. Like I said, cereal boxes and cutting out templates onto metal and making it happen.

She wanted a little bit of a one. She didn’t want one too crazy, so like I said that was done. Welded. Most of all the bodywork was done between me and a friend of mine, Dave Ellidge who’s the one who painted the car. Everything from that to all the interior being redone. Suspension, bushings, coil-overs, the custom Euro trunk on the back as we were speaking about.

Mike: Yeah, there’s quite a bit of things done to it. We didn’t want to go too far-fetched with the car, like most of our other cars, because she does drive the car every single day. The car sees a freeway, it sees the rocks, it sits in traffic. I mean… and if that car’s not in tip-top shape I definitely hear about it.

Tom: And regarding rocks, you mean, the suspension’s not so tight that you’re ruining your wife’s back as she drives it to and from work every day.

Mike: Exactly. Exactly.

Tom: Got you.

Mike: If that Starbucks is spilling inside the car, we’ve got a problem.

Tom: I have to mention this. I don’t know that this correlation is going to make a lot of sense.  But, I’m in the middle of reading the biography that was put out on Steve Jobs shortly after he passed. Or, right around the time that he passed… and I can’t help but think how him and Wozniak…

So many other businesses, and so many other passionate hobbyists, whatever, they start in the garage.  Knocking around, doing things for fun with a couple of friends and there’s really no difference between what Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak did… except the big business, the advent of Apple of course.

But it’s on a similar plane and the funny thing is here at Ontario Volkswagen, I don’t know if you know the history of this dealership but Earl Reed who’s the general manager here, I’ve had a couple of talks with him and this store was actually started by Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Sherman started as a hot rod shop.

Tom: You never know, 20, 30 years from now you could be the owner of a dealership somewhere from you and Jimmy-

Mike: Right.

Tom: …and the rest of the guys messing around and hobbyists, passionate hobbyists and taking it to the next level.

Mike: Right.

Tom: I’m just saying.

Mike: Right. Right.

Tom: You never know about these things, but there’s a little irony that I wanted to point out.

Tom: You brought your wife’s car here. Now, are you one of the judges for the competition?

Mike: Yes, I did help.

Tom: The judging’s done?

Mike: Yes.

Tom: Alright. I didn’t know that and Jimmy didn’t share that with me. Do you want to share any insight or… You know what, I don’t want to ruin it.

Mike: Well, what we kind of look for is… we kind of look for the whole package. A lot of cars look really great on the inside and then on the outside, vice versa.

A lot of the cars we look at, a lot of the cars… some of the cars are still here anyways. We like the whole package.

Tom: Sure.

Mike: We like to see things that have been done in every aspect of that car.

Tom: Sure. Sure, sure, sure. Focusing back on yes, we are here and the auto show’s going on the Oktoberfest auto show, but Scrappy Dubs… The club started as you guys buddies, and what are your activities now. Do you have a website? Do you have a Facebook page?

I know you mentioned you have a big event coming up so it kind of sounds like a club that is potentially growing into something.

Mike: Yes, yes. We’re trying to. Right now we have Facebook. We have a Facebook page, Instagram page, so we’re a little bit on social media and like I said, it’s… We’re not trying to grow as a big, huge car club going to be all over the place. We want-

Tom: You just want to share the passion.

Mike: Exactly. Share the passion, share what we love, what everybody else loves about these cars and yes, we have a show that’s going to be coming up on July 20th of next year, down-

Tom: 2019, July 20th, 2019.

Mike: 2019 down on San Diego Harbor so literally it’s Spanish Landing is a park. It’s across the street from the airport, San Diego Airport, and it’s going to be beautiful. Great weather, of course, you know San Diego, and we’re probably going to be exhibiting 150 to 200 cars.

We don’t want to go too much. And we’re trying to get practically SoCal’s finest of European VW Audis to the show, to the event and yeah, we just want to have a great time. We want to have a fulfilled day. We’re going to have everything from friendly competitions as I said, to corn hole, potato sack races…

Tom: It’s going to be a show but it’s going to be a gathering. A Woodstock if you would, right?

Mike: Pretty much.

Tom: But of Volkswagens and of people getting together and enjoying.

Mike: Right, and you can bring the whole family and come down and have a great time and that’s kind of what we want to be able to bring back into, where you’re able to come down. You don’t have people who are bored, sitting around. Everybody’s able to come. Everybody’s able to have a great time and share the love together.

Tom: I’m sure more details of that are going to come out as it gets closer because we’re a number of months away right now.

Mike: Yes.

Tom: But how do people find you guys, Scrappy Dubs, wherever online. Facebook or Instagram or website. Give us the stats of where they can find you.

Mike: Well, a good friend of mine, Mike, he’s normally posting stuff every single day.

Tom: Right.

Mike: Every single day you see a new car that has applied to be in the car show, so every single day you will see a new car pop up-

Tom: Are we talking about on Facebook?

Mike: Yes, Facebook and Instagram.

Tom: Facebook and Instagram. What is the… How do you find you guys on Facebook?

Mike: Our name on there so far is Dubs by the Shore.

Tom: Dubs by the Shore-

Mike: Yes.

Tom: And that’s D-U-B-S by the Shore. B-Y the Shore.

Mike: Yes sir.

Tom: And then… So that’s for the event. Do you actually have a Facebook page for the club itself?

Mike: We do have one for Scrappy Dubs and that’s exactly how it’s spelled. Scrappy Dubs.

Tom: S-C-R-A-P-P-Y-

Mike: R-A. yes.

Tom: D-U-B-S.

Mike: Yes sir. And we mostly just share our love, so the things we do on our cars. Like I said, right now we just got done completing a right-hand drive Mark 3 turned into a Bento now.

Tom: A right-hand drive which… For those of you listening that don’t know, literally they move the steering wheel and all controls of the vehicle from one side of the car to the other, just because they love the cars. And they can.

Mike: Exactly. And just to be different, just to have the car kind of be a little different from the rest and just to try out our luck and our skillset to see if we’re able to do it, and the only way to test it out is to jump both feet in.

Tom: Alright, well that’s cool. I look forward to seeing that car. Facebook you’ve got Scrappy Dubs, Dubs by the Shore, and then Instagram?

Mike: Same thing. We also have SoCal water-cooled as well.

Tom: SoCal water-cooled. And the significance of that is from ’84 on its water-cooled. From ’84 prior it’s air-cooled for all the Volkswagens.

Mike: Yes, yes. SoCal water-cool we like to just share great cars, so anybody’s cars.

Tom: Is that a website or is that Facebook?

Mike: Facebook. Facebook and Instagram as well. SoCal water-cooled, we just share the love. We go on there and we share a lot of cars. Cars that we come across, cars that are inspiring to others. Scrappy Dubs are mostly our cars. We like to just share progress on things that we do, and then also Dubs by the Shore for the show we’re having July 20th.

Tom: Man, you guys are busy. You’ve got social media management going on here.

Mike: Right, right.

Tom SoCal water-cooled Volkswagen club on Facebook, Scrappy Dubs on Facebook, and Dubs by the Shore on Facebook.

Mike: Yes.

Tom: Alright. Mike Pitman of Scrappy Dubs, SoCal water-cooled VW club, and Dubs by the Shore, thank you for coming on the iDriveSoCal podcast here at Ontario Volkswagen during the Ontario Volkswagen second annual Oktoberfest, 2018 style. Is there anything you’d like to add before we wrap it up?

Mike: I just want to say thanks for having us on. I appreciate it. It was great talking to you, and like I said this is a great event and I’m glad you were able to come and make it out.

Tom: Thank you sir. Thank you for joining me and we’ll look forward to doing it again in the future. Who knows, maybe I will come down to Dubs by the Shore. We’ll have to see.

Mike: Definitely. That’d be awesome.

Tom: Alright Mike, thanks again.

Mike: Thank you.

Tom Smith: For iDriveSoCal I’m Tom Smith. Thank you as always for tuning in.

The Latest Volkswagen News HERE.

Oktoberfest Car Show

Ontario Volkswagen’s 2nd Annual Oktoberfest Auto Show was a huge success!  The 2018 event brought out V-Dubs from old to new and, of course, they were driven by the owners/lovers of them.

VW is known as a quality German import vehicle with a serious cult-like following. But working with Ontario VW this past year I’ve developed a completely new appreciation for the vehicles and its enthusiasts.

They all love Volkswagen – seriously.  But there’s a fun-loving division amongst the devotees.  That main division being; are you air-cooled or water-cooled?

If you missed the event we’ll take you back there in this on-site podcast recorded live during the event. And be sure to make next year’s event at Ontario VW – great people, great cars, great time and oh yeah – great giveaways too!

***Transcription***

Recorded October 28, 2018, in Ontario, CA

Jimmy: Volkswagen was always a part of that history, you couldn’t talk to anybody and not mention a Volkswagen because guaranteed somebody had one.

Everybody’s in love with the car. They’re all there to hang out, and they’re having a good time.  We wanted to express our gratitude to our folks that buy Volkswagens, service Volkswagens, in love with the Volkswagen brand.

Tom: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California. Tom Smith here.

And I am. We are.  You and me and a whole bunch of other people are out at Ontario Volkswagen in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, California for the second annual 2018 style Ontario Volkswagen Oktoberfest.

And joining me is Volkswagen guru – Volkswagen resident guru – of Ontario Volkswagen, Jimmy “VW” Willhide. Jimmy Willhide, ladies and gentlemen.

Tom: Obviously as you can hear by the background noise, this is a…live podcast is a complete oxymoron, right?

Jimmy: Sure.

Tom: Because a podcast is never live.

Jimmy: Right.

Tom: Although with YouTube Live and Facebook Live we probably could do a live podcast. Maybe we’ll do that one of these days.

Jimmy: Yeah.

Tom: In this case, we are outside. You can hear the music in the background, and we are here at the Oktoberfest auto show which Mr. Willhide is one of the key organizers of.

Jimmy: Yes. Yeah, we try to set up a really nice show for everybody to come out and enjoy the day, see some really cool cars from different generations and have some food and drinks and hang out and talk to new and interesting people and their cars.

Tom: And we’ve been doing quite a bit of that, and actually we’ve already started talking about the actual event that we’re here for. So, I think we just dive into that.

Jimmy: Sure.

Tom: We’re also going to talk about the history of the Volkswagen Beetle.

Jimmy: Yes.

Tom: Because really everything, it all started with the Beetle. Right?

Jimmy: Yeah, it pretty much started with the Beetle for the U.S. You had a five [inaudible 00:02:05] two-door car that everybody could afford.

Tom: But the Beetle started as the “people’s car” in what year was it? [crosstalk 00:02:17]

Jimmy: Was it 1934? That would be right after World War II?

Tom: And that was the first car that Volkswagen, right? That was it.

Jimmy: Yeah, that was the first car I believe introduced to the U.S.

Tom: But that was the first car they made.

Jimmy: Yeah.

Tom: Right?

Jimmy: Yeah.

Tom: And then, when did it come to the U.S.?

Jimmy: I believe it was 1934? Or no.

Tom: No.

Jimmy: It would be 1950?

Tom: Okay.

Jimmy: 1950.

Tom: So at any right, the point is there’s been a whole bunch of generations of Beetles, right?

Jimmy: Yeah.

Tom: The Beetles started the whole thing.

Jimmy: There’s so many different generations of Beetles I don’t know where to start. I’m sure there’s more that we don’t even know about. This is a car that they started producing after the war, and I couldn’t tell you exactly when the first car was.

Tom: Right.

Jimmy: And when it started. But when it did start it became a big crave, and everybody wanted one.

Tom: And what’s significant about that is we’re here at 2018. 2019 I believe they’re gonna have two versions, and then they’re going to stop production yet again, at least here in the United States, right?

Jimmy: Correct.

Tom: Now, my bet is that the Beetle comes back as an all-electric platform, just like they’re doing with the Bus.

Jimmy: That could be a possibility, yes. I think that would be something in their mix.

Tom: And to be clear, you and I are just guessing at that. Even though you work for Ontario Volkswagen, and I work with you guys. We don’t know. We’re just guessing.

Jimmy: Correct.

Tom: But it would seem to be…

Jimmy: It would be a surprise if anything, yes.

Tom: So, and actually I’ve done a vehicle review recently on the Beetle, the 2018. But there is gonna be a 2019. I was just talking to Shant Bashian, the General Sales Manager here. There’s gonna be a 2019, and the 2019’s gonna have two different trim levels from what Shant was telling me. Do you know what those are off the top of your head by chance?

Jimmy: I’m not quite sure, but I’m guessing it’s probably gonna be the 1.8T or it could be 1.4T, I’m not sure. And then what we have now is the R, which you can’t really get those anymore. They’re gone. And then we have those new ones which is the Volkswagen Dune which is the limited edition.

Tom: Yeah, I saw somebody just buy one of those here today.

Jimmy: Yeah.

Tom: And that’s a cool looking ride.

Jimmy: Very cool, yeah. It’s got a nice aerodynamic package on it. It’s got some bigger wheels on it. Stands a little bit taller. Really cool.

Tom: And it’s a play on what used to be done with the old Beetles, the Dune Buggy, right?

Jimmy: Correct.

Tom: But this one isn’t really intended. It’s a wink and a nod to what that used to be, but this one isn’t intended to go off-road.

Jimmy: This one is not to go off road, yes. You could take it off road, but you’re not gonna be doing any serious driving.

Tom: And it is a little bit raised. It has some bigger wheels as you mentioned. A little bit of… around the wheels, and the interior is really cool.

Jimmy: It is really cool.

Tom: The interior is really cool.

Tom: So the point is, the Beetle is an iconic vehicle. It is a legendary vehicle, and it’s going away yet again.

Jimmy: Yes.

Tom: A betting man would be wise to bet that it does come back, and I think it does come back. But nevertheless, these things, I was just talking with somebody from – we’re gonna talk about clubs here as well.

There’s a couple of different clubs, there’s the Scrappy Dubs Club, which you’re a part of, and we’re gonna talk to one of your colleagues in Scrappy Dubs. There’s another Volkswagen Club here called Old Skool.

Jimmy: Yes.

Tom: And I was talking to one of the Old Skool guys, and they were just talking about the – obviously Old Skool they’re all the older models of the Volkswagens.

Jimmy: Right.

Tom: And they have a couple of Bugs here as well as a really cool Bus, and they were talking about the value of these things has just gone through the Bus.

Jimmy: Yes. I don’t know if you’ve paid attention but if you watch Barrett Jackson, you watch these guys sell these Buses that are completely restored inside and out and just amazing. I mean, they’re hitting 200, 300 thousand dollars.

Tom: Isn’t that crazy?

Jimmy: It’s insane.

Jimmy: I mean, yeah, I would buy one.

Tom: For a car that brand new loaded with absolutely everything was what, a couple grand?

Jimmy: Oh yeah. I think it was like 3500 dollars.

Tom: Alright, so I think we’ve covered the history of the Beetle. It’s been around, there’s been lots of iterations. There’s a couple of 2018’s left out there.

There’s gonna be a handful of 19’s that are gonna be made and available, and if you want a slice of history – quite literally – this is going to be history on wheels. Every car is, but this is the Beetle. This is an iconic vehicle that has had a cult following for years and is going to continue to do so.

Jimmy: Right. It has such a great history. If you think of every from the 50’s to the 60’s to the 70’s, they always had a part. Volkswagen was always a part of that history, you know? You couldn’t talk to anybody and not mention a Volkswagen because guaranteed somebody had one.

Tom: Everybody, yeah. For sure.

Jimmy: I mean I don’t know if you ever seen the old Volkswagen love commercials. You know, they had the guys in that old Bus that looks like it’s a rendition of, what was that famous concert in New York?

Tom: Woodstock?

Jimmy: Right. And these guys are helping each other out because they’re stuck in the mud, you know, camping out. That’s what it’s all about.

Tom: That’s not an old commercial. That’s a new commercial!

Jimmy: That’s a new commercial but it’s based on –

Tom: It was an old Bus that they had in it.

Jimmy: Correct. But just that kind of history, and even think about that commercial. That’s what it was all about. Everybody’s in love with the car. They’re all there to hang out, and they’re having a good time.

Tom: Well, and in that sense, it defines a generation.

Jimmy: Right.

Tom: I mean the Woodstock generation and everything else. Certainly the first Woodstock. The next Woodstock that they did was kinda ridiculous.

Tom: Okay, so we are out at Oktoberfest. Second annual Oktoberfest. Great event. Tons of people. Awesome beautiful cars. Awesome people as well. How does this come together?

Jimmy: This is something we put together. We wanted to, you know, express our gratitude to our folks that buy Volkswagens, service Volkswagens, in love with the Volkswagen brand. I go to plenty of car shows, and they get super big. These are not very big, and it’s more personalized.

Tom: The funny thing is not everybody that I’ve talked to knows everybody else.

Jimmy: True.

Tom: Right. I’m the iDriveSoCal guy going around just kinda like chatting up everybody. There’s certainly pockets here of people that know each other and whatnot. But you’re one of the organizers and these Old Skool guy clubs – the club guys – you didn’t even know how they got here.

Jimmy: Oh, we advertise. Bring everything. We want to see what you got.

Tom: The show is going to culminate with some awards, and what are those categories?

Jimmy: Basically we’re doing best water-cooled Volkswagen, which is from 84 to current.

Tom: Okay.

Jimmy: That’s 2019. And then we have the classics air cooled. Air-cooled is from Beetle, Bug, Bus, whatever we got on the lot. Basically just checking the cars out and see how clean they are and see how they love ’em and how they take care of them.

Tom: Now, that is a real significant point. And you and I have done a couple of podcasts before and you’ve mentioned this to me, and I’ve talked about it like I know what I’m talking about, but I really don’t.

I like cars. I’m an aficionado. I’m an enthusiast, but there’s so many niches of automotive enthusiasts. And the significance of the air cooled/water cooled thing in the Volkswagen universe is…well it’s significant, isn’t it?

Jimmy: Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

Tom: The significance of the air-cooled/water-cooled is very significant. It’s almost like political parties in the Volkswagen world, right?

Jimmy: Well you basically, you know, most of the folks that have the air-cooled cars had to have a piece of history. They’ve had one when they were kids.

Tom: It’s the Old Skool guys.

Jimmy: Yeah. They’ve had one when they were a kid. They wanted another one. They built it back the way they wanted it, or if they’re original. I’ve got a guy here that’s got an ’86 Volkswagen Golf. He’s the original owner. The original owner.

Tom: ’86.

Jimmy: Yeah. His dad bought it for him; his first car.

Tom: There ya go. And now that’s water-cooled?

Jimmy: That’s water-cooled.

Tom: ’84 they became water-cooled, is that what you said?

Jimmy: ’84 they, yeah, they became a water-cooled vehicle. [crosstalk 00:11:16]

Tom: Alright so, is that the two categories? Air-cooled and water-cooled, that’s it?

Jimmy: Air-cooled and water-cooled.

Tom: So one award for each, or?

Jimmy: Yeah. We’re just doing one award. Just an appreciative award. You know, nothing crazy. It’s not like you have to spend a lot of money to win an award.

Tom: Okay.

Jimmy: Just something we appreciate we see. You know, how you took care of the car. If it’s nice and clean and it’s greaseless, which is hard to do on an air cool, we’re gonna show our appreciation.

Tom: Okay. And who is judging, what’s the criteria?

Tom: I got to comment again, we’re in a pretty noisy environment. We’re outside of Ontario Volkswagen. Ontario Volkswagen is right by the Ontario Freeway and the 15 and there’s some 200 cars that are coming and going.

Jimmy: Right.

Tom: So there’s some significant background noise.  At any rate, the judging is gonna be done by I’m assuming you and a couple of others?

Jimmy: A couple of friends of mine that are, you know, they’ve been around a Bug quite a long time. What they’re doing is looking for cars that have different features, extra features, how they built their car, what’s in the car, and just show our appreciation.

Tom: So this isn’t a really scientific measurement as far as who’s gonna win.

Jimmy: Right. No, there’s no judgment. It’s just what we think should win an award as far as participation and how she’s looking.

Tom: And that is for both air cooled and water cooled?

Jimmy: Correct.

Tom: And what are we winning?

Jimmy: It’s just a little plaque. It just shows that it’s 2018 Oktoberfest Car Show.

Tom: So you’ve got some bragging rights there.

Jimmy: Yeah. Something to put on your mantle.

Tom: You can’t key us into any insight as to who the winners might be?

Jimmy: Uh, I’m not gonna spill the bags just yet.

Tom: Mr. Willhide, thank you as always for joining me for the iDriveSoCal podcast, and thank you and the whole crew out here at Ontario Volkswagen for being a great iDriveSoCal partner.

We love you guys. We love coming out here, and I’m looking forward to many more Oktoberfests to come. Perhaps I’ll be participating with a VW of my own one day down the line.

Tom: You know, somebody’s pulling out right now that just made me think, within Volkswagen or the “VW” kind of fan clubs – plural – right?

Jimmy: Yes.

Tom: There’s the Old Skool. There’s the Scrappy Dubs guys. One of the women that just pulled out, it was like I think they’re called like VW Divas or something like that?

So, it’s just fascinating how within the somewhat, you know, niche kind of set there’s even subsets of the niche kinda set. That’s cool.

Jimmy: Like that car we just saw when it came through here. It’s a newer style Jetta, and it’s got an old classic look to it. It’s got that old moon cap Beetle look to it that had the turquoise wheels on it, you know?

Tom: Yep. And there goes Michelle and her son Ryan, who I was actually mentioning. On the front license plate of hers, she has I want to say – there she goes. Bye Michelle! If you’re listening to this, you can hear yourself pulling away.

Mr. Willhide, thank you as always. Ontario Volkswagen definitely the place you want to come for all of your Volkswagen needs. Obviously the sales side of things but Mr. Willhide is – look if I’m a Volkswagen driver, he’s like the only guy in the planet that I’m bringing my Volkswagen to.

Jimmy: Well I appreciate that.

Tom Smith: For iDriveSoCal I am Tom Smith. Thank you as always for tuning in.

The Latest Volkswagen News HERE.

Best Selling Vehicles In History

What do you think are the Top-10 best selling vehicles in history?  When we saw the headline we had to dive-in… it’s not only a fun topic but interesting – truly.

Before reading, on listening, jot down what cars, trucks and or crossover SUVs made the list.  Bet you don’t get them all.

In this iDriveSoCal Podcast, I give Clinton “The Professor” Quan a puzzle that he comes close to figuring out, and does a great job, but even he was stumped and surprised by a few of the answers.  I hope you enjoy this one – we sure did!

–>Continue reading or click play below to listen.<–

***Transcript***

Recorded September 5, 2018, in Los Angeles, CA

Tom Smith: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast. All about mobility, from the automotive capital of the United States. Southern California. Tom Smith, here, with the good professor, Mr. Clinton. Say, “hello”, Clinton.

Clinton: Hi, Tom.

Tom: Hello, my friend.

This here podcast that we’re going to be putting together, actually, it was an idea from our good friend out at Ontario Volkswagen, Randy Holcomb.

He came across a list that was from Autoblog – but it was published originally – Autoblog referenced Wall Street Cheat Sheet. And what it is, is the ten best-selling vehicles, globally, of all time.

And now, I nicknamed the, “Professor,” because he knows the most granular detail of things that you shouldn’t really know, I don’t think, but he does. He’s like, “Oh dude, can you believe that they’re making the muffler out of this material on this car, for this year? It’s crazy!”

I wouldn’t ever think of that, ever. But the Professor knows about it and gets excited about it, so that’s why we call him the Professor.

But at any rate, he keeps his finger on the pulse of everything coming out of domestic carmakers, import car makers, luxury, exotics, you name it, he knows it. So this list is going to be a little bit of a challenge for him.

And actually, to be honest, this is the second time we started recording this podcast, because the first one that we did, I tried to get him to tell me what the top ten were, and there was so much dead air.

He was doing good, he was doing good, I think he had four or five out of eight. But there was so much dead air, that I just like, “Okay, dude, we got to start this one over again.”

Tom: So, at any rate, this is what we’re going to do. The list is ‘The Top Ten Best Selling Vehicles of All Time’.

And at iDriveSoCal, I’ll link this post to the Autoblog post, and you can see, and props to Autoblog, well, actually, they republished it from Wall Street Cheat Sheet.

So, Professor, a little hint for you: Our good friend, Randy Holcomb, from Ontario Volkswagen.

Clinton: VW Beetle.

#4 Volkswagen Beetle

Tom: Correct. Volkswagen Beetle is one of the top ten. VW Beetle is actually #4. #4 best-selling car, globally, of all time. Volkswagen Beetle.

Clinton: Toyota Corolla.

“…there was so much dead air, that I just like, ‘Okay, dude, we got to start this one over again.'”

Tom: Okay, now he’s just going to rattle off all the ones he got right before. Toyota Corolla, yes, that’s the #1 best-selling vehicle –

Clinton: Of all time.

Tom: Of all time.

Clinton: Honda Civic.

#6 Honda Civic 

Tom: Honda Civic, he got that one right too, folks. That is the

Tom: [whispers] let’s see one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight

Whoops… That is right, Honda Civic is the #6 best-selling vehicle of all time. What else you got?

Clinton: Volkswagen Jetta?

Tom: Jetta is not on the list.

Clinton: Honda Accord.

#8 Honda Accord

Tom: Honda Accord. You got that one last time too. Honda Accord is on the list. #8 best-selling vehicle of all time.

Clinton: Nissan Sentra?

Tom: Nissan’s not anywhere on the list.

Clinton: Nissan’s not anywhere on the list.

Tom: Global. Global. So, when Randy first told me about it, my first guess was the Model T.

Clinton: Model T?

Tom Smith: Model T was #9.

Clinton: Really, wow! Even though I know they did sell a lot of vehicles, I didn’t think that it would still be –

Tom: But you got to think, the Model T, Henry Ford mass-produced the Model T in such a way, he had an insane market share for a number of years.

And actually, I’ve read a couple of biographies on Henry Ford, and, he kind of got a little kooky in his late age, or whatever.

However you perceive it, he got kooky, he was always kooky, whatever. But, he was criticized by his executives around him, because, they had all kinds of inventory, be he kept on saying, “We got to make them faster.” And then they’re like, “But, Henry, we’re not selling what we have anymore.”

“Henry Ford mass-produced the Model T in such a way, he had insane market share for a number of years.”

And actually, one of the docents that I talked to at the Automotive Driving Museum, the head docent there, actually. He was telling me, and there’s a picture of me from that podcast on iDriveSoCal.com, sitting in one of their Model T’s. I’m like, “Man, I can sit in this? Yeah.”

Obviously, we know, the Automobile Driving Museum, you get to go for rides on Sundays, in their actual cars, but in this case, they let me sit in the Model T that was in the showroom, and the docent said, “Yeah, the Model T. They made so many of them that there are plenty of Model T’s still available.”

Clinton: Really?

Tom: “And beyond that, there are plenty of parts still available.”

Clinton: Wow.

Tom: Yeah. So there you go. And actually, Ford is also represented on this list in two different ways.

Clinton: Two different ways?

Tom: Two different ways.

Clinton: Okay.

Tom: The Ford Escort, #7.

Clinton: Wow. Which they don’t even make anymore.

Tom: And the Ford F-Series.

Clinton: Okay, that doesn’t surprise me.

Tom: Totally makes sense, right?

Clinton: Yeah, well the F-Series isn’t a surprise, because, that’s consistently #1 selling vehicle in the United States. Month after month.

Tom: So then, you also have Volkswagen, again. Randy, from Ontario Volkswagen, tipped me off to this. So, we’ve already mentioned the Beetle. The Golf is actually #3.

#3 Volkswagen Golf

Clinton: Oh yes, the Golf.

Tom: It beat the Beetle. Right? We just did a vehicle review on the Golf.

Clinton: Yeah. Yeah, the Golf. Yeah.

Tom: And there’s a family of Golfs.

Clinton: Yes.

Tom: Some manufacturers don’t make as many cars as the various options of Golfs.

Clinton: Yes.

Tom: Right?

Clinton: Yeah.

Tom: And then you also have at #10, the Volkswagen Passat.

Clinton: Really?

#10 Volkswagen Passat

Tom: Yeah.

Clinton: I’m shocked.

Tom: So, here’s the list: #10, the Volkswagen Passat; #9, the Ford Model T; #8, the Honda Accord; #7, the Ford Escort; #6, the Honda Civic. #5 is the outlier. I would have never gotten this one. You wouldn’t either. The Lada Riva.

Clinton: The what? I have no idea what that even is. I wouldn’t even know how to spell it.

Tom: I’m sorry, did I say that was #7?

Clinton: #5, I think.

Tom: Yeah no no no, I’m sorry, yeah #5. The Lada Riva.

Clinton: I have no idea what that even is.

Tom: Exactly. And it’s actually a Russian vehicle.

Clinton: Oh okay. So I guess they must sell a lot of those in Russia.

Tom: Yeah and it’s older. Let’s see, it first hit the scene in the former Soviet Union in 1980.

Clinton: Hm?

Tom: Okay, so that’s a situation where probably, one of the only cars that you could buy, right? It was probably a similar situation to, with completely different political circumstances, but a similar situation to the Model T.

Clinton: Hm.

Tom: I would assume.

“The F-Series goes back before the 150 and 250 and 350 as we know it…”

Clinton: Yeah.

Tom: Supply, demand, and availability of whatever there is. So, again, #10 is the Volkswagen Passat; #9, is the Model T; #8, is the Honda Accord; #7, is the Ford Escort; #6, is the Honda Civic; #5, is the Lada Riva; #4, is the Volkswagen Beetle; #3, is the Volkswagen Golf; #2, is the Ford F-Series, which is the same thing as the Golf, right? The F-Series, I mean there’s a gazillion different F’s.

Clinton: No.

Tom: Obviously, the F-150’s the biggest seller.

Clinton: Yeah.

Tom: The F-Series goes back before the 150 and 250 and 350 as we know it, I believe, right?

Clinton: I believe so, yeah. Yeah.

Tom: Okay, and then #1, is the Toyota Corolla.

Clinton: Wow.

Tom: So, interesting little list.

Clinton: Three Volkswagens on that list.

Tom: Right?

Clinton: Quite impressive.

Tom: Yeah.

Clinton: I’m trying to remember, I think they still are the #1 automaker when you include all of their brands.

Tom: Say that again.

Clinton: I believe they’re still the #1 automaker in the world when you include all of their brands.

Tom: And, but the Volkswagen brands include: Volkswagen –

“…they’re still the #1 automaker in the world when you include all of their brands.”

Clinton: Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, so there’s a number of –

Tom: Porsche.

Clinton: Yeah, Porsche. And then there’s some brands that aren’t sold in the US.

Tom: Alright.

Clinton: Yeah.

Tom: So.

Clinton: Wow.

Tom: Just to throw that out there again.

Clinton: Very interesting list.

Tom: #1, Toyota Corolla. #1 best-selling car of all time, globally. #2, Ford F-Series pickup trucks. #2 best-selling vehicle of all time, globally. #3, Golf. Volkswagen Golf. Bestselling vehicle of all time, globally. Four, Volkswagen Beetle, globally best-selling vehicle. Five, Lada Riva. The Soviet Union.

Clinton: Is that a compact vehicle?

Tom: It’s a four-door.

Clinton: It’s a four-door, but is it similar in size to a Corolla or Civic?

Tom: Hard to tell by that picture, but to me, it almost looks like an old Volvo or an old Saab.

Clinton: In that decade, that would probably be comparable to a Corolla.

Tom: Okay.

Clinton: Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic.

Tom: The Lada Riva’s five. The Honda Civic is six. The Ford Escort is seven. The Honda Accord is eight. The Ford Model T is nine, and I’m still proud that I got that one right. And then the Volkswagen Passat is ten. So yeah, Volkswagen’s got thirty percent of the top ten vehicles, of all time, in sales.

That’s pretty significant, huh?

Clinton: Yes. Very very significant.

Tom: Alright.

Clinton: Yeah, of all time. That’s very impressive.

Tom: Well, there you have it. It was a fun list to share with the Professor.

And, folks, I think you’re going to appreciate the fact that we’re posting this podcast as opposed to the previous one because it was just the Professor, I couldn’t get it out of him. But you were doing good, you were doing good.

You got, you know, five, four, well, I think five of eight. You were doing good, but it was taking forever.

“…China and India, the two countries that have the most people, aren’t represented at all.”

Clinton: Somewhere around there. Yeah.

Tom: We’re ten minutes into the podcast, and I think four words were spoken. Come on.

Clinton: Well I don’t know what vehicles are sold in a lot of the other countries. So, yeah.

Tom: You know what’s surprising, is that China and India, the two countries that have the most people, aren’t represented at all.

Clinton: Yes. Yes. I’m trying to think, there are currently no Chinese vehicles sold here in the US.

Tom: But they have their own vehicles that they sell to their people.

Clinton: Yes, they do.

Tom: As does India, right?

Clinton: Yes, correct.

Tom: The Tata, I believe, is an Indian vehicle.

Clinton: Yes, I believe that’s an Indian vehicle.

Tom: Yes, big seller.

Clinton: Yeah.

Tom: Yeah, okay, anyway Professor, thank you for joining. Everybody, thank you for listening. I know this was a little bit of a random one, but we had fun talking about it.

Clinton: Yeah. That was a fun one.

Tom: And it’s interesting, right?

Clinton: It is. That is very interesting.

Tom: It is interesting.

Clinton: Yeah.

Tom: So before we go. #1, Corolla. #2, Ford F-Series. #3, Volkswagen Golf. #4, VW Beetle. #5, Lada Riva. #6, Honda Civic. #7, Ford Escort. #8, Honda Accord. #9, Model T. #10, Volkswagen Passat.

Professor, thank you. Thank you for listening, for Tom Smith, no? For iDriveSoCal, I’m Tom Smith, thank you, again, for listening.