VTO’S BLACKSTAR CAMPOUT and EL PRADO

Without a doubt, the 2021 VTO Blackstar Campout and El Prado Show & Shine had to be one of the most anticipated events of the year. Since 2014 it has drawn thousands of VW vehicles of all shapes and sizes, as well as enthusiasts and fans who come out and enjoy the fantastic weather the Inland Empire has to offer. Going into its seventh year, this fan-favorite extravaganza shows no signs of slowing down. It all starts with a three-day campout at Prado Regional Park in Chino, California. It’s the perfect setting for a car show, with plenty of room, tons of campsites, a man-made lake, and plenty of trees and shady spots should things get a little too warm.

Possibly the best part about El Prado is that it’s not about some person or club trying to make a lot of money for the sake of… well, making a ton of money. The organizers of this particular show have one goal: to donate as much money as they can to the Yorba Linda Ronald McDonald House charity! Okay, maybe they have two goals: first and foremost, to raise money for a very worthy charity, and second, to put on possibly the best show and shine ever. Mission accomplished! The organizers raised

SHOW & SHINE 2021

By the VW Trends staff

$20,000 for the Ronald McDonald House.

You could check out the wares of plenty of vendors and snag some swag, and there was an amazing raffle — and not for little trinkets that would end up in your junk drawer, no sir. These prizes were big-time, high-dollar stuff you’d really want. Like a 1941cc dual-carb motor from IAP, or the very last VW Trends signed and numbered Platinum Founder’s Package. Still not enough for you? Well, how about a vintage 1966 sunroof VW Beetle with a Blodgettbuilt 1688cc engine? Yeah, if you weren’t at El Prado, you really missed out.

Our booth was packed all day! We’re grateful for the enthusiasm and support from the VW community. More than one person asked when the magazine was coming back. We were like, “It’s right in front of you! We are back!”

Car Show Awards

BEST OF SHOW:

Bob Clipper, ’67 California Clipper

TOP 5 WATER COOLED:

Janai Carson, Harlequin

Dave Taylor, ’00 VW Jetta Truck

Mike Frechette, ’91 GTI

Juan Espanoza, ’98 VR6

Gabriel, ’90 Jetta GLI

SPECIAL INTEREST:

First: Fernando Ramos, ’66 bug

Second: Shawn Mittleberger, ’66 SingleCab bucket truck

TYPE 2, ’67 AND EARLIER:

First: Joe McRae, ’66 21 window

Second: Don O, ’64 Standard

TYPE 2, ’68 AND UP:

First: Jose Pantosa, ’80 Westy

Second: Dave Taylor, ’71 Bus

KARMANN GHIA:

First: Jorge Correa, ’66 Ghia

Second: Rick Brown, ’71 Vert

TYPE 181:

First: Jon Winters, ’73 paradise tribute

Second: Fidel Rodriguez, ’73 thing

TYPE 4:

First: Daniel Mendoza, ’75 Brasília

Second: Jaime Flores, ’76 Brasília

CUSTOM:

First: Maya, ’60 double door

Second: Jeremy Brook, ’64 Beetle

TYPE 3:

First: Jason Johnston, ’68 Squareback

Second: Lionel, ’66 Notchback

PATINA:

First: Kris Kussee, ’59 ragtop

Second: Gary, ’58 ragtop

TYPE 1, ’68 AND UP:

First: Mike Hall, ’68 Beetle

Second: Mike Gamblin, ’69 Vert

TYPE 1, ’67 AND EARLIER:

First: Saul Estrada, ’66 Standard Beetle

OFF-ROAD:

First: R. Cushman, ’20 Manxter

MOST VINTAGE:

Luis Salinas, ’52 ambulance barndoor

MANX:

First: Bob Clipper, ’67 California Clipper

Second: David Smith, ’69 Monster Manx

Just about every type and style of VW was represented, from pristine paint to perfect patina. Tim’s 1965 Vert and Ben’s 1957 Oval are good examples. Ben is in Rust Worthy — great club name!

By The Numbers

VTO’s BLACKSTAR CAMPOUT: 671 air-cooled VWs

62 water-cooled VWs

THE PRADO SHOW: 723 air-cooled VWs

45 water-cooled VWs (plus 973 spectator cars)

TOTAL, CAMPOUT AND SHOW: 1,394 air-cooled VWs

107 water-cooled VWs thank you

One of the raffle prizes was a 1941cc dual-carb engine from IAP. There was a complete 1966 sunroof VW Beetle with a Blodgett-built 1688cc given away as well! But the biggest prize had to be the VW Trends signed and numbered Platinum Founder’s Package. (We may be biased.)

You don’t see a Type 147 (Fridolin) every day. These little workhorses were commissioned by the German postal service.

Only around 6,000 Basistransporters were built. In Mexico they’re known as Hormigas.

A TV repairman, you say? Bet he has an ultimate set of tools.

Everything in the German Folks area was stunning as usual. Victor Gonzalez Jr.’s dark maroon ’51 Split Oval is packing a 2332cc turbo built by Brothers Machine (see upper right). The black ’52 right-hand-drive Zwitter belongs to Simon Garcia from Las Vegas.

Der Blitzkrieg Kafers’ Tony Guerra had his all-black, lowlight Ghia convertible from the T&A Motorsport Collection on display.

The buggy section didn’t disappoint. We’re not sure it’s possible to see everything at the El Prado show: We never even made it to the swap meet at the front entrance of the park.

THE ORGANIZERS WOULD LIKE TO THANK: VTO (Vintage Transport Owners Club); Stan, Steve, Pearl, and Larki Ford; Johnny and Kristine Salazar; Chuck Anaya and the guys from “Just Cruzin;” Nick Bevis and Die Rostigen Wagens; Straight Buggin’ Club; Type 181 registry; and Type 3 army.

We’d hoped to see Shawn Mittleberger’s 1966 Single Cab bucket truck at the event. Luckily it wasn’t hard to find.

This is what resides out back of the gorgeous ’59 23-window Bus that Jose Rivera built for his wife Martina — now that’s love!

SPONSORS/VENDORS/SUPPORTERS: Wolfsburg West, West Coast Metric, IAP, Skinner Classics, Rancho Performance Transaxles, CB Performance, The Bergs, Gilmore Enterprises, Hot VWs Magazine, Dubparts.com, The Wright Gearbox, Cal Pacific-JBugs, Vintage Speed Taiwan, Pedal Works, Deutschland Metal and Body, OCTO, GabVWkey.com, Smitty’s Smoothies, Daften Classic VW, EMPI U.S., VW Trends, and IAP/Kuhltek

The end. The show was great, but these yahoos were roaming around harassing people. Apparently the promoters will just let anyone in!

ElPrado Show ‘n’ Shine organizers Stan and Steve Ford and Johnny Salazar of Vintage Transporter Owners lead the way by giving to a truly worthy cause — The Ronald McDonald House of the Inland Empire in Southern California. Not only was the Prado show a labor of love and a huge gift to the VW community, it also made a lasting difference in the lives of families who experience life-threatening illness by helping to provide a caring, comforting home to allow parents to focus on their child’s healing.

On July 19 the club gathered to present $20,000 to this amazing charity. This was a community event and the following clubs helped make it possible:

 Just Cruzin

 Die Rostigen Wagens

 Straight Buggin’

 Type 181 Registry

 Type III Army

More about the Inland Empire Ronald McDonald House: rmhcsc.org/inlandempire

▲ VTO members lined the front of the house before gathering for a tour and to present the check. The parking lot was full of club dubs from VTO, Just Cruzin, and other local VW groups.

 The Inland Empire Ronald McDonald House also provides plenty of free on-site parking for future VW enthusiasts.

The ’54 Convertible Beetle

Erick “The Electrician” Martens almost walked away from

What would you pay for a matching-numbers ’54 convertible pan and body in rough shape? How about $600? Not “Erick the Electrician,” as he’s known in Arizona VW circles. What if, as you were walking away, the seller called out, “400 dollars?” That might have stopped you in your tracks, but not Erick. $300 was his “make me buy it” price, and he’s still not sure he got a good deal.

Erick, who lives in Peoria, Arizona, got a tip about the car while he was at work and left early to make sure he didn’t miss out on a rare find. But the car was so rough that he didn’t want it. How rough? So rough that it took parts from several different cars to make what you see here. Although not everything is exactly from 1954, Erick made sure every part was all original with no aftermarket sheet metal. The back half and front clip are from another car. Two different four-tab hoods were spliced together to make one up to Erick’s standards. The rain trays in the decklid were toast, so he found another for a donor. The doors weren’t good enough so a pair was shipped down from Washington State. (Now you know why Erick has dubbed his car “One Piece at a Time,” after the Johnny Cash song.)

▲ Why aren’t in-car coffee makers a still a thing? The Paluxette coffee maker plugs into the cigarette lighter and sticks in place with a magnet. This one is a reproduction. LOL, just kidding.

Levi Weir of Pandraggers blended the various panels together into the Bug Erick actually wanted to buy that fateful day.

Levi worked his magic in record time, too — the car was built in three months so it could be debuted at the build-off in Las Vegas for the Clean and Elite show. But in such a short timeframe, not everything could be returned to its original state. One day Levi needed to talk to Erick about a difficult decision. To have the car completed for the show, Levi had to shave the semaphores. This was not in line with Erick’s vision for the car, but the sacrifice had to be made. Once the sheet metal work was complete, Levi laid down a flawless coat of Tamco Blue Granite paint.

The pristine ’54 body sits on a completely reworked pan that is grounded by various Pandraggers products and Airkewld suspension components. Up front is a Pandraggers six-inch narrowed single-bag steel beam with shock towers mated to drop spindles by way of Airkewld trailing arms. In the rear there’s a dual-bag setup from Airkewld with notched factory spring plates. Brakes are stock with NOS factory drums that were powder coated at Glendale Powder Coating. The car rolls on fifteen-inch Sprint Star wheels and Nankang tires.

A 1954 36hp engine resides out back. It’s all stock, inside and out. Tom Butterfly of Phoenix rebuilt the powerplant to its original specifications. The carburetor is a 28 PCI rebuilt by Ed Fall of Vintagewerks in Salt Lake City. Erick installed a single-tip VW logo muffler, NOS of course. The mill is mated to a Type 1 split-case transaxle built by Bill Kapatch of Arizona Transaxle.

The interior is where things really started to get expensive. Erick opted for just about every aftermarket accessory a Bug could have — and some they were never intended to. Everything you see is real, original stuff, most of it NOS, right down to the Paluxette coffeemaker. The dash is filled with accessories including a Beck fuel gauge, an eight-day Perohaus clock, a NOS grab handle, a Porsche fog-light switch, and even a Perohaus cigar lighter. NOS Hulz seat recliners were installed on the factory frames before the seats were covered with West Coast Classics red leatherette. The German square-weave oatmeal carpet and red door panels are also from West Coast Classics.

It took a lot of effort and money to make Erick’s bargain Bug what he wanted it to be. Now he can share the good times with his wife Tracy and his daughters Airika and Chloe, much like his dad did with him. But did Erick ever make it to the Clean and Elite show in Vegas? Of course he did! And he took all the awards in his class. Since then the car has earned Erick many more trophies — you can say he’s a building a collection of them, one piece at a time.

 1. To be on the safe side after blowing the body off the pan and having all the metal sandblasted and primed, we made a wood jig to hold the pan down so it wouldn’t shift or twist out of shape when we cut out sections of the pan halves. We secured the jig with lag bolts.