[karlosdeville]

I've just returned from a great drive we had today - fellow Beetlenuts from Bombay and Pune gathered at Volkswagen's Chakan facility for a plant visit.

8 cars left Bombay this morning, though only 7 reached the venue by afternoon. 4 of us from Pune reached much earlier, naturally.




My 1956 Beetle was oldest, the newest cars must have been around 1972. TBHP was represented by the Shirkes (randomusername), Amit (blueoyster?) and myself. Kasli couldn't make it, but his lovely blue ragtop was there. The rain was a bit of a spoiler, but barring one car there were no problems. The Bombay boys are still on their way home.

Enjoy the pictures.





This orange car has had many performance mods, and has only recently come on road. The red cabrio is an original car, and the only cabrio at the event.



This was the longest drive I have taken my Beetle for (around 50 kms one way), and she fortunately behaved well. I had some teething trouble that I only recently sorted.

[karlosdeville]

My second and last set of pictures. Incessant rains meant I couldn't get as many pictures as I'd liked.



The dark blue 63 Bug is a special car - the current owner bought the car a few years back from the first owner - an erstwhile Police commissioner of Goa, who had purchased the car new in Portugal, and DROVE the car to Goa back in the day! She is in fine fettle.



This bright green car simply cannot be missed when on the road! In regular use, she too originally came from Goa. Like many cars at the event.



This 69/70 orange Bug belonged at some point to Sippy - and can be seen in the original 'Khatta Meetha' movie, in dark green colour.







Annirudh's car was looking top notch, missed getting shots of the very cool interiors. And he will be pleased to know the ragtop didn't leak













A special thank you to the good guys at BSMotoring who made the drive happen. Do catch their next issue for coverage of the event.

Also a special thank you to the good guys at Dupont who specially made great quality custom car covers for us.

And of course, Volkswagen India for being gracious hosts, and MD Dr. Chako for spending time with us.

[ariesonu]

DROOLING PICS man. The rain adds that romantic touch to these SEXY beauties. The colorful hues by all cars is like rainbow of colors. If I was ever jealous of someone than its you today.

Ironically I was also in Pune today? Well not exactly in Pune but just at the outskirts of the city for some Industrial survey. Alas didn't catch any BUG on expressway too while returning.
I'm BUGGED :(

Which of these Bugs belongs to Mr. Shirke (randonusername)?

Raab Rakha.

[samsag12]

Superb pics and a great lineup of the Bugs. VW's plant seems to have a nice scenic background.
Was wondering apart from your Bug all other are having wipers. so this means you drove all the way without them or have you kept it inside after they fell off (true fiat style) That 3059 reg. Bug looks totally period.

[KPS]

Must have been a fun event. Karl without the wipers it must have been difficult.

Another unique thing was that no two cars had the same colour. No white Bug surprisingly.

Cheers

[S@~+#0$#]

Fantastic pics Karl, looks like you all had fun. Loved the last couple of pics with the entire line up of colorful bugs - like a rainbow in the rain. Thanks for sharing.

Please post more pics of the engine bay of the modded beetle. TIA.

[moralfibre]

Thanks for the thread Karl.

Is the Beetle is in good shape to go to Mahabaleshwar and get photographed at the royal gates?

Originally Posted by ariesonu

Which of these Bugs belongs to Mr. Shirke (randonusername)?

Raab Rakha.

The Maroon one.

[inderpalgill]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Thanks for the thread Karl.

Is the Beetle is in good shape to go to Mahabaleshwar and get photographed at the royal gates?



The Maroon one.

wonderful pics and a beautiful line up of 11 bugs, i wish i cud see some pics of one the way to chakan,pls share what all did you guys do,were you lucky to see the beetle production line- i wish i could be there,i earlier expressed my wish and idea on T bhp, of why not start with an event or a festival of get together at chakan once an year,may be on the birthday of vw every year,iam sure the number will increase in each passing year,an iam sad to live sooo long from chakan-any ways thanks for sharing such a beautiful pictures-

Note from the Team-BHP Support Staff : SMS / Slang language is not the preferred mode of communication on Team-BHP. We would much appreciate if you type your post out in clear and concise english for the benefit of other community members.

Thanks!

[GTO]

A special drive indeed. Thanks for sharing these pictures, Karl.

Interesting to see how each of the Beetles present is different in its own unique way. Congrats on your lovely bug. Bet you spend the entire of Sunday cleaning her & getting rid of any spot of rain.

Originally Posted by inderpalgill

were you lucky to see the beetle production line

What production line? It's a CBU.

[Jaggu]

Looks like a packet of Cadbury Gems strewn around in the parking Looking good indeed!

Am still trying to figure out the various permutation combinations these came out in. Hats off to the owners who keep these beauties running around.

[ariesonu]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Thanks for the thread Karl.

Is the Beetle is in good shape to go to Mahabaleshwar and get photographed at the royal gates? WITHOUT WIPERS!!!

The Maroon one.

Thanks Kiran. I also see a white Fiat Select MHI 4671 parked near his covered Beetle everyday.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Looks like a packet of Cadbury Gems strewn around in the parking Looking good indeed!

Damn JAGGU, either you are too fond of GEMS or your color calling is excellent. Indeed all those bug colors look like GEMS. I can vouch because I'm holding a GEMS packet right now in my hand.

Raab Rakha.

[hillram]

Wonderful line up of Yesteryear Beetles.What a colour spread and delight to see these cars.Im floored completely !!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

Thanks Kiran. I also see a white Fiat Select MHI 4671 parked near his covered Beetle everyday.


Damn JAGGU, either you are too fond of GEMS or your color calling is excellent. Indeed all those bug colors look like GEMS. I can vouch because I'm holding a GEMS packet right now in my hand.

Raab Rakha.

Actually parle poppins is the candy with the exact match of colors!

Beautiful pictures. Although the rain probably prevented lesser pics being taken, but at the same time these beauties look better in the rain only!

[mbz180]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

My second and last set of pictures. Incessant rains meant I couldn't get as many pictures as I'd liked.

A special thank you to the good guys at BSMotoring who made the drive happen. Do catch their next issue for coverage of the event.

Also a special thank you to the good guys at Dupont who specially made great quality custom car covers for us.

And of course, Volkswagen India for being gracious hosts, and MD Dr. Chako for spending time with us.

What a nice line up! It great to see a mark specific drive and that too a fairly long drive for classics. I wish there were more working Mercs of the 40s, 50s and 60s in Kolkata for a drive like this. I know a great 200 km drive (one way) where one could relax for a day and head back the next day.

Regards
Prithvi

[the mole]

Karl your car looks quite superb, is the front suspension a little higher than it should be? Kasli how did you car perform on the drive down?