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Wednesday, 19 March 2014

An Afternoon with the Californias

It was with some trepidation that we rolled in to a car park full of T5s that were all very different from ours. All with owners that on first appearance seemed very different to us...

The natural preconception is that your average California owner isn't necessarily into the 'scene' but have bought themselves a slice of ready-made-cool without the usual rights of passage associated with working your way through some of Volkswagen's earlier models.

How would they view our van?

Kindly organised by my father, owner of an early T4 California, the club meet was one of several taking place up and down the country; an opportunity for like-minded owners to get together and share hints and tips on California ownership.

So after a morning of cleaning and detailing, we pulled up and aired-out:


On the whole I think most Cali owners liked it - a chance for them to see something different from their own (almost identical) vans. There were some funny comments, 'its on them modified springs' being the best, and it was great to see people's reactions when you tell them the van started life as an empty panel van, 'you'd never know' was the comment from one owner that made me smile.

On closer inspection you could see some variations in the Californias in attendance; variations in model year, headlight upgrades, interior accessories etc. One van that did stand out was a California that had more individuality than others - blacked out badges, awning and bike rack made this van stand apart from the others:



We hung around for around an hour and half, chatting away about our interior, camping trips and van life in general - it turns out that most California owners are cut from pretty-much the same cloth; they all crave the same spirit of getting-away in their vans...


Would I go to another? Probably. There's talk of a camp-out later in the year - chance for a longer natter over a beer with fellow campers...

If you're interested in a VW California or the California Owners Club, follow the link to their forum here.

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