The drive wasn’t for nothing… and the dinner more than likely necessary to keep emotions under control for this almost unbelievable beautiful day of pure Vintage VW genugen in Japan….

The morning start at the host hotel to the venue!

Mount Fuji watched us, but the top was cloudy almost all times!…:(

Larry was a great co pilot…. and he knew how to leave a car with suicide doors in style!! Watch the line up too!

Sponsor boots were nicely detailed as ever… BBT prominent in the middle!! …:) Thanks Nao…:)

Drive in to the showfield was one of its own! downhill… was wonderful!

My Dannenhauer (for the weekend) had a beautiful interior… thought that my MOON bag fitted perfectly…

not only the interior… also the engine was nicely detailed! a real Okrasa power plant! dove like hell!

already to show off!

this was the other cars flat 4 brought out, a freshly restored Rometsch Laurenz and a 1948 chassis that was awaiting its body…

This Rometsch carries a WOB West Okrasa kit! oh yes available @ BBT … we distribute these as well..:)

Swapmeet was cool… look at this little publicity for KOOL cigarettes, don’t think any brand dare to try written such things anymore… Japanse is weird language sometimes, translations are not easy…:)

The show is strictly vintage, but vendors and swappers brought off course other cars, nice ones too!

always good to see my old Fridolin back, where are the days I cruized this in California????

Also this year the new owner asked me to sign his dashboard…:)

The Flat 4 booth…

Lunch time, maybe we need an extra strong Pepsi????

here some pictures about the show…

everything captured by drones!

As said the swapmeet was cool,  and I saw a lot of goodies… maybe I should have bought this one… I didn’t ask for the price… never saw this Tipco Tow truck in this color combination…

Larry the king! in a MONSTER seat!

Award time!!

Tony choose this Zwitter… we sold the car to Japan about 15 years ago, One low (The owner) restored last three years, the car is better as perfect!!

My personal pick was this 1956 coral-red oval window…. all patina, just perfect, not one single spot of rust… absolutely my favorite!

Larry picked this wonderful cool bus, probably for the color? Lol, no, this was a real nice finished bus in postal yellow! very special!! loads of detail and 100% correct! And Larry has a weak point for buses, he drove his Super 90HP powered double door over 200.000miles in the seventies!

This was mr Komori’s pick, sorry I do not have the details of this car, but it looked fabulous!

Oldest participant… this gentle man owns his 1967 beetle already for over 50 years!!! Now that is what we call dedication!!…:)

The winner line up!

Koji san and his friend Hide with the crazy bar Cafe Streamline . very good friends of DaHouze and very big fans of BBT!

This is the man that makes it happen!! all of it!! he steers, coordinate, organise! Nao you’re a hero!

Mr Komori and his team, beautiful picture!!! Thanks Mr Komori, thanks to the team, you’re all the best!! and your service is never seen anyplace!!

Garage Vintage came down from Osaka with their barndoor on wheels!! yes!!! we’re VW people!!

Before taking off, this is the picture of the car i picked for the awards, now You might understand why…:)

Mr Komori’s 356 Porsche looked like a million!

the show is over and we had to drive back…. but Japan, is not over yet, so more news, more info and more crazy pics about a crazy trip! Stay tuned!

Saturday morning in Tokyo…. Good morning!

This is my drive for the weekend! wowh! what a car! For those of you not familiar, this is an ultra rare 1953 Dannenhauer & Stauss Coachbuild car on a VW platform! Thank You to Flat 4 for granting me seat time!!

Preparing for the trip…  This is Japan famous cartoonist Tomy Kezuka preparing his 1957 convertible he owns already over 24 years!

My co driver for the weekend, Larry Dustman from the Thingshop in Arizona,

Ready to Go? For sure! I was, driving behind Tomy’s car wasn’t a punishment at all!

Our friend Shin Watanabe, photographer of Let’s Play VW’s,  and recently also editor for Hot VW magazine, sticking out in the back… camera’s are always ready when Shin is in the back of the car!

Tomy had Tony Moore (from Wolfsburg West fame) as a co driver, Tony sold this car about a mere 30 years ago to Japan to start his business. So it was a real nice get together for Tony and his old car!

Every stop was a blast and was a mini show on its own, I let enjoy you the cars and hopefully You can feel the atmosphere….

This is what seems to be a popular car in japan, You see many of these on the roads…. I call them Mini Big cars, as inside the feeling of space is just big!!

Barndoor participant!! respect!! very beautiful bus!

Now this is what I call an educational concerned way of raising your kids… doesn’t they look cool in the back of dad’s Oval window convertible???

Suitcase on the back, let’s go baby, its time to rock and roll!!

Mr Shin from Toa fame, Japan’s absolute Type 3 specialist and recently also the owner of HOT VW magazine brought out is incredible nice 1958 ragtop to participate the cruize!!

After a couple of hours being on the road we arrived at the host hotel, cars were lined up properly on the parking lot!

Mr Komori drove his 356 to the show this year, gorgeous car!!

Woeps, that’s a dealer badge we do recognise!! Stavelot is one of the communities where the race track of spa Francorchamps drives through…. a belgium car spotted in Japan?

You bet!!

This is a funny story! In 2011 this gentle man asked me to draw a beetle on his rear window, what i did with a marker… to him it was so holly he hardly washed the rear window, after 6 years it was still there, but almost faded away…. now he brought a glass paint marker and asked me to draw the beetle again… what I did with all pleasure…. a die-hard fan you can’t refuse anything, do you?…:)

Zoom in to see my art work!

Small swap meet took place already….

What a beautiful car the Dannenhauer! wowh??? still thrilled!

Welcome to the evening dinner party!

Great food, great atmosphere, a lot of speeches and thank You’s even a (small) word from me… Thanks to Shin to translate…

what a great day we had!! beautiful drive, i met a lot of my Japanese VW friends, had VERY interesting conversations with several persons, and a dinner party to die for!

Evaluation of Day 1? just PERFECT!!

Can’t wait to wake up to start Day2, the real show! The real reason we’re here…:) I will try to feature tomorrow, in between i wish a good and lay back Sunday… stay tuned!

Invitations to drive a vintage Volkswagen in the land of the rising sun don’t come to me every day. So when Nao from Flat4 asked me, I booked my tickets right away!

Maybe I should have thought twice…. what direction shall we go???? Thanks God, I was in a bus from the airport to the hotel and the driver… was Japanese…:)

Buildings and buildings and… buildings…

For sure yeah!…. eu… yes or no?

First stop after check in Hotel was Flat4 ..based in Meguro part of Tokyo a very nice street with a lot of cool memorablia shops and …a lot of VW’s!

Always good to see my old Rometsch back… Mr Komori and his team take really good care!!

Flat 4 shop is very impressive, every time over and over again!

and I was not alone! We had some very important visit from the USA. Larry from the Thingshop and Tonny Moore from Wolfsburg West fame also came over for the weekend! All three of us white gringos before the camera with Mr Komori, big chief of Flat 4!

ok after a splendid afternoon take the train back to the hotel… can you read the signs? I need to go to Shinagawa station…:)

This morning I woke up with a tremendous view from the 37th floor ….

We left pretty early for the cruize to the show… fore cast looks good, so we’re all happy, try to update You as soon as I can…stay tuned!