South
Africa held on May the 28th, 2011 an event to form a VW
logo with
60 meters in diameter, formed by VW
Approximately
160 VW vehicles form the huge VW- Logo
South
Africa is a country that built the Beetle and also has
a great tradition of Fuscamania (Beetlemania). Unlike
the VW of Brazil Volkswagen of South Africa demonstrates
in practice to have much more respect and love for its
own story, so that there is a small VW Museum. With a
strong European influence the maintenance of traditions
is an important value in the local culture. The Beetlemaniac
movement is present and has already held large events,
this is one of them.
The VW activist from Johannesburg, Pierre Eksteen, known
as Bugger, assumed the responsibility to organize and
the realization of the Vee Dub Logo-Day 2011, see how
this happened. Before that South Africa has already formed
two other logos, the last in2001, and he was also involved
in these events.
Pierre
Eksteen, known as Bugger
Pierre has extensive experience in events and had already
organized, among others, the Bugfest in 2001 at the Kyalami
Racetrack. He is known to be crazy about Beetles and that
he spares no effort to demonstrate it. In 2010, encouraged
by appeals from Beetlemanicas who participated in Kyalami,
2001 Bugfest, Pierre suggested to the Johannesburg and
Volkswagen Beetle Club to carry out a new event, but his
request did not get an echo at the time.
The Logo of 2001,
held in Witbank, distant 100 km from Johannesburg
Heide-Marie Von Der Au
( a good friend who did the layout of the
Engine Air-cooled VW farewell logo)
Heide-Marie Von Der Au publishes an Agenda for oldtimer
fans called Motorheads, where events planned for the year
are listed the, and in the end of 2010, when the 2011
edition was about to be closed, the club had not yet taken
a decision on the execution of an event; then Pierre decided
to go on with the event on his own risk and costs. But
this time the choice fell over the formation of the VW
Logo, an undertaking that is less complex than a complete
Bugfest Show.
In early February 2011 and the Johannesburg Beetle Volkswagen
Club had a General Assembly and Pierre’s two best
friends, Harold van Herden, known as Bonny, and Deon Watson,
were elected vice-president and organizer of events, respectively.
And surprisingly, Pierre, even absent in the assembly,
was also "elected" an event organizer! With
this strategic move the club went into co-organizing an
event that Pierre had been organizing and continues to
call as only his ... But Pierre has decided to give a
chance to the club that needed help to improve his image
and let the club's name appear in conjunction with the
event. In his position as the Beetle lover Pierre dreams
of seeing the club strong and active as a decade ago.
At that time Pierre and Bonny used to call themselves
the "Herbie and Friends Social Club, that performed
incredible events and charged no fees; and just organized
social runs that every one really enjoyed.
The Bugger Transmissions
chopped roof car
Pierre has a transport and Logistics Company and a company
specialized in special transmissions for VW Beetles, with
emphasis to equipment for competition. This is the Bugger
Transmissions. This companies’ products demonstration
car is a Beetle chopped roof, equipped with turbo and
competition transmission that reaches 180 km/h in 3de
gear.
The venue chosen for the event was the Riversandsfarm,
Fourways, about 40 km north of Johannesburg, in the Gauteng
province. This farm had a large enough space to house
the giant logo with 60 meters in diameter. The marking
of the logo for the event was made with the help of a
drawing made by computer, in CAD, from an old VW Kombi
front Logo, which was used as model. With the help of
the computer the outer diameter was set and further measures
to make the VW Logo were determined. To mark the track
in which the cars should align with, Renay, Pierre’s
wife, suggested using a lawn mower. A 30 meters log rope
was tied to a small post stuck into the center of the
planned logo and Pierre drove the lawn mower doing the
outer circle. After that the rope was shortened to mark
the inner circle. The other demarcations were made by
means of triangulation. The process became more economical
than the use of ink used for sports fields and it worked
much better than in the previous two logos, were Pierre
also was involved previously.
Renay, Bonny e Deon
According to Pierre he have organized 97% of the event
starting with the choice of the venue, placement of the
AD on Motorheads, marketing the event using the pamphlets
created by Heide-Marie, and meeting with vendors interested
in attending to the event. The race to get sponsorship
was difficult and the three, Pierre, Deon and Bonny participated
in this challenge. All three and another friend had to
sponsor the trophies. Organize lucky draw prices; sort
the trophy’s, and so on.
Trophies of the event were
distributed to participants
The event occurred on a Saturday. On Thursday before
the event a team, composed of Pierre, Deon and Bunny,
with the help of Pierre’s gardener and a friend
of his, have marked the logo. On Friday, the three friends
went to many places seeking the sound equipment, tables
and chairs, and all the equipment needed for such an event.
Two inflatable jumping castles were also borrowed to amuse
the children. They were assembled to check whether they
were in order. While the crew was marking no go areas
with tape, someone turned off the compressor of one of
the jumping castles, let the air out and robbed it. This
seemed to be a bad omen for the event ... But, luckily,
it was not.
In trophy’s detail we see:
a citation to the South African Guide-Dogs Association
for the Blind, this year's event Logo and on the
background the picture of the 2001’s Logo-Day.
With no doubt a beautiful memento
The Saturday dawned cold, when the first cars began arriving
at Riversandsfarm the temperature was around 4 degrees
Celsius, the grass was all white, covered with frost.
This must have made some Beetlemaniacs to give up the
event, but the attendance was within expectations.
The cold grass and
Heide-Marie’s icy boots, demonstrate how
cold it was
The "pool of money"
has resulted in a check for 10,000.00 Rand,
equivalent to approximately U.S. $ 1,500.00
The event aimed to collaborate with the South African
Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind, and the idea was
to collect donations at the event entrance, so as to cover
expenses and to help this association. But things did
not go as planned, the amount collected did not cover
the expenses and Bonny ended up making an additional contribution
in order to raise the amount that was donated.
Who gave a look at the picture of this year’s VW
Logo may have noticed a huge two colors (yellow and white)
Kombi, at the top of the image. It is the largest inflatable
Kombi of the world. This Mega-Kombi was manufactured for
a business event and was on sale and Pierre ended up buying
it to use in this and other events. He hopes that this
investment will bring returns as an attraction for the
public. The interior of this Kombi is hollow and can be
used for various activities. In this event it housed the
staff that was printing the air photos of the VW-Logo.
Its dimensions are 10m x 5m x 4m.
The
extremes: the Mega- Kombi and the tiny shortened
VW Beetles...
Several gifts were raffled to the participants, for
example: Motorheads agendas, books about the VW Citi (see
article about the end of production of this car in www.maxicar.com.br/old/reporter/56312despedidavwciti.asp,
books written by my friend John Lemon and edited by VW
of South Africa and that were donated by AutoPavilion,
which is the Volkswagen of South Africa’s Museum.
Volkspares,Adendorff ,Auto Pursuit,Supa Quick Birchleigh,
Refrigerated Transport Services.Bugger Transmissions etc.
were helping sponsors. Three over flights by helicopter
from the completed VW Logo were also drawn, a fantastic
prize!
The table with the
gifts for the public. With books, diaries, trophies
and much more...
The
helicopter, a fundamental part in this event
allowed the registration of finished VW
Logo
Another attraction of the event was the flea market
that offered parts, clothing and other items intended
for collectors. Also food stalls were set up.
In South Africa there are also women who like Beetle so much
to do tattoos with the bellowed car
Besides the Beetle and VW club Joburg, other invited
clubs, like the VW Beetle and Bus Sport Club and Jacaranda
Beetle Club, attended the event.
The event was held peacefully and was another Pierre’s
success, are hereby congratulated for his determined and
successful initiative. As we can see in this report, the
relationship situation does repeat itself in clubs in
several countries and the condition of having strong people
who take to heart the realization of events and the coordination
of clubs is not an exclusive from this club or that country.
Thankfully, events are carried out regardless of the
difficulties, as each event is an important step towards
the maintenance of cars and the hobby as a whole. Surely
some of you could report similar situations that have
occurred here in Brazil
The following video shows pictures and facts of the event;
this is a mode that allows having an overview of the event
in a few minutes
To complement the photographic report, please see the
photo album by clicking in the following link.
Article: Alexander Gromow Collaboration and Photos: Pierre “Bugger”
Eksteen and
Heide-Marie Von Der Au
Details search on the Internet
Alexander Gromow
- Former Chairman of the VW Beetle Club of Brazil.
Author of the book I LOVEBEETLE compiler of the
book and I LOVE BEETLE II. Author of articles on
the subject published in newsletters of clubs and
national and international press. Participated on
the launch of the National Day of the Beetle and
presented the project that led to the approval of
the Municipal Day of the Beetle in São Paulo.
Launched the World Day of the Beetle in Bad Camberg,
Germany. Amateur historian recognized worldwide
and activist of movements that aim to preserve the
Beetle and vintage cars in general. He participated
in several TV and radio on the subject. Gives lectures
about the VW History
South
Africa is a country that built the Beetle and also has
a great tradition of Fuscamania (Beetlemania). Unlike
the VW of Brazil Volkswagen of South Africa demonstrates
in practice to have much more respect and love for its
own story, so that there is a small VW Museum. With a
strong European influence the maintenance of traditions
is an important value in the local culture. The Beetlemaniac
movement is present and has already held large events,
this is one of them.
