Volks Folks

Every first Sunday of December a large group of Volkswagen afficionados from the country converge at a single point to display their steeds, shop for parts, and compete for small trophies. It’s called Volkswagen Day, and this year chapters of the Volkswagen Club of the Philippines have come from provinces like Laguna, Batangas, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Quezon, Bulacan, Isabela, and Baguio to talk shop and flaunt restored classics like the Beetle, Karmann Ghia convertible, and the rare camper van.

At least 45 entries are here this December 2 at the Fort Bonifacio. Men and women from all walks of life are here today, each with a "people’s car" from as far back as forty years ago. Scattered in and around the grandstand are small stands and mattresses laid out with Volkswagen parts and memorabilia.

There’s a cream Beetle convertible in immaculate condition, with authentic white walled tires. There’s a 2-door Karmann Ghia coupe. A convertible. Several Vanagons. A customized, short-wheelbase Beetle. A lowered Beetle just inches from the ground. The story goes that the owner couldn’t reach the roof when washing it, so she had a shop lower it for her. And over there at the end, there’s a Porsche 911 Carrera, the highly evolved, high performance offshoot of the original Beetle produced by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche.

It is the 14th edition of this event. It began way back in 1985 when a small group of enthusiasts got together and called themselves the Karmann Registry. Renaming themselves the Volkswagen Club of the Philippines, the club organized its own shows and grew to several chapters while trading parts and knowledge about the quaint, little air-cooled cars they have an affinity to.

The demographics reflect the original intent of the good Dr. Porsche in designing a "people’s car". The people here are businessmen, doctors, retirees, students, professionals, military personnel... even CEO’s of both large and small corporations.

One such example is Eddie Roces, president of TV station ABC 5. He owns two Vee-dubs: an orange 1961 Karmann Ghia convertible, and a black 1968 Beetle convertible. The Karmann’s fair market value — were he to sell it — is somewhere in the neighborhood of P600T to 700,000 pesos. The Beetle is between 400 and 500 thousand. He drives the Beetle.

His son, Inigo, a 2nd year Ateneo undergrad taking up Creative Writing, takes care of the Karmann. It’s his daily driver. When Eddie originally acquired the Karmann, it needed quite some fixing up. Passed on to the son, it’s now a fair looking classic with most of the parts working. Some spots of rust show on the body, but that’s the least of Inigo’s concerns. "The small parts are the hardest to find. Small rubber bits, chrome trim, those wear the most."

Eddie’s a director of this event, which means he’s not competing. Competitors, however, have a 3-step judging process to think about. Prejudging involves a 50-point checklist over the mechanicals of the car (headlamps, signal lights, starter, etc.). Few cars pass this first test with high marks. Then a "detail" judge checks the vintage of the car and compares its components to see how close it was to the car when it first rolled off the assembly line. Finally, another judge examines its paint job, trim, and overall appearance.

Centra Batteries has sponsored this event and will give away a battery each for the Best Original VW and the Best Customized VW. There’s another battery to be given away for raffle purposes. Other than that and a small trophy for the many categories in the event, it’s plain and simple pride that drives these VW owners to spend so much time and effort in restoring, maintaining, and possibly customizing their cars for events like this.

Aside from VW Day and local chapter events, there’s another event: "World VW Day". Celebrated every June 22, it commemorates that day in 1938 when the German government and Dr. Ferdinand Porsche first agreed to produce the Beetle as a cheap, mass-produced car for the general population. In 2002, the Philippine chapter will likely celebrate World VW Day in Baguio City. Count on the people this day to show up in that city.

As a footnote, there’s a New Beetle sitting pretty on the sidelines alongside a modern Jetta. As cute as it looks, its new age cutesie-ness somehow can’t compare to the original appeal of the original Beetle. I ask Eddie what they think of the New Beetle, which afficionados know is more or less an original Beetle-inspired body dropped over a front-wheel drive, watercooled, Golf platform. The original Beetle, of course, was a rear-wheel drive, aircooled car designed from scratch. Eddie replies "People used to ask us if we’d trade our old Beetle convertible for a New Beatle. We’d always ask back ‘Magkano idadagdag nila?’".