Shasta Snow Trip 2012

Coming soon, February 2nd through 5th 2012.

For more information go to www.shastasnowtrip.com

the Tale of the Beauty, continued...

We have been busy grinding on the Beauty, a 1966 VW Standard Microbus that was dragged out from a riverbed to be resurrected once again...

Kudos and major props go to Robert Skinner from Vacaville Auto Body Center, Inc at 938 E. Monte Vista Ave. Vacaville, CA 95688, website: www.vacavilleautobody.com 

The plan of attack once we brought the Beauty over to Robert's shop was to fabricate and install the heating components which were rusted out after years of sitting on the riverbed. We also smoothed up some of the body panels so it will be safer without having to cut us up while walking around the bus- it had too many jagged and rough metal edges all around the bus.

 Towing the bus to the Vacaville Auto Body Center

Clint (Deaf Volks member and owner of the Beauty) discussing the task 

at hand with Robert Skinner (shop owner in dark blue sweater)

Vacaville Auto Body Center, Inc

Patching up the rusted rocker panels with whatever scrap metal parts we can find.

 Work begins on the Heating ducting and system

 Cleaned up and ready to install new piece!

Fabricated and installed scrap metal hose so we have HEAT during Shasta Snow Trip!

 As you can see above, the front heater elbow piece was nonexistent. 

We added in donor metal piece, thanks to Robert!!!

 Cleaning up the area for install

 The donor elbow piece fitted in place, so the heated air can travel to the front cab area.

Welded in the piece after all the measuring and fitting.

Next up: Shaping the body panels to smooth it up.

Pounding away....

Whoo, you can see the rear corner taking shape. It was smashed in all the way in, and its amazing with the skills Robert got, it nearly got its shape back when it first left the VW factory!

Whew, burnt all the midnight oil, gotta stop for the Thanksgiving holidays.

Here, the Beauty is hoisted up in the air among its friends at Vacaville Auto Center...

Heres a parting shot for you all until the next update: STAY TUNED!! 

the Tale of The Beauty...

Hello everyone, lately we have been quiet only because we have been super busy! 

With Halloween over, there is Thanksgiving coming up soon and before you know it, it will be already New Year's day! Some things will need to be well planned ahead of time such as Thanksgiving and Holidays. There are lists to prepare, and shop for... the same goes with some hardcore Deaf Volks members who plan months ahead for a single event that occurs only once a year. Similar to the variety of annual events that are special and precious to you, such as birthdays or holidays, there are some spaces in the calendar that are already marked off for vintage VW enthusiasts...

We will focus on a particular event, the legendary Shasta Snow Trip. For more information and background of this event, please refer to their site: www.shastasnowtrip.com. 

Deaf Volks member Clint Dickinson opted to take up a challenge from a friend: Resurrect an abandoned bus (literally!) off a riverbed and get it in running shape for the grueling annual adventurous auto rallying through the tough back roads for few days.

AS FOUND:

IT WAS ON! We placed it up on jacks, rebuilt the brakes and installed our own wiring system because the original wiring system were just simply too messed up. We also tried to do some bodywork to make panels fit and close snugly. There were tons of parts that were donated or bought to make this effort possible. Motor was on loan from a friend, and using its existing transaxle, it moved under its own power!!! 

Check out this video:

Unfortunately the transaxle was not up to the task. It grinds when placed in 4th gear and would not stay in gear. Timing was not on our side, we could not budget or source a transaxle in time for the trip in 2011 However, it is not over. The next Shasta Snow Trip is coming up in Feb. 3-5, 2012, Team Deaf Volks are already starting the preparations and going through the Beauty once again to make sure it's ready.  

Check out the upcoming videos and photos as it will be sent to Skinner's Restorations from Vacaville, CA next week. Why? It will be on a frame rack to verify the chassis is not bent or twisted. From there, some work will be needed to finish the Beauty for a shipshape and safe trip without any breakdowns.  

We welcome any support or feedback from you... Just post a comment!

Success At DeafNation Pleasanton, CA!!!!

On Friday, some DeafVolkers were busy setting up the exhibition display set aside by DeafNation exclusively for DeafVolks members...

 

After setting up, we had to go home and wait until the next morning when the Expo opened for the final set up and exhibition. We nearly bit through all of our nails worrying if our babies would be all right alone at the Expo through the night... thankfully when we returned the next day the VW's were intact... 

After polishing up and final preparations, the gate finally opened at 9am for the 100th DeafNation special event. The crowd were floored with our display and we really enjoyed meeting all the people from various walks of life- many of them had stories of their childhood memories riding in the VW bugs or busses- especially one guy who groaned that his grandma gave away her old '49 split window bug before he graduated in high school, he had been begging for it!!!

We really want to appreciate the sponsors that made DeafNation possible and their hospitality letting us host a mini-car show inside. 

 Deaf Volks Crew (left to right): 

Darrell Utley, Daniel Briones Jr., Danny Lee, 

Jimmy Roth Jr., Kristeena Thaten, Tommy Lee

 Proud DeafVolks member, Daniel Briones Jr. with his 1974 VW Thing

 Proud DeafVolks member, Jimmy Roth Jr. with his 1956 VW Kabriolett

 Proud DeafVolks member, Tommy Lee with his 1956 VW Oval hardtop

Here are some more pictures of our display in action with the crowd...

We look forward to doing this again in the future and those who attended DeafNation at Pleasanton, please chime in as we would love to hear from you!!
Update: a few more pictures...

Deaf Volks at Deaf Nation

We have exciting news to share...

Coming up on this Saturday select few of Deaf Volks members will have amazing opportunity to present their vintage VW's at America's foremost touring trade show of, for, by, and about deaf people... the DeafNation Expo! This majestic indoor exhibition will be their special one, being the 100th event- starting with 6 expos and currently averaging 12 expos annually, all at no charge to the public.
When? & Where?! October 8th from 9am-5pm at Pleasanton, CA  It will be at Alameda County Fair, Young California Building.

Deaf Volks has been participating in VW shows and camping events in the past and still going strong. We are fortunate to be part of a diverse community that comes together to share their interests. In this case, we came together because of vintage air-cooled VW's and at the same time 'Volkers' who use American Sign Language, Deaf or not, were eventually led to the Deaf Volks club. We are anxiously looking forward to showcasing our vintage VW's, and we hope to meet some new 'Volkers' out there!!!

Also, please look forward to live tweets and postings during the day from Twitter and Facebook. If you are near Pleasanton, CA- feel free to come by and say hey... don't forget to register online for a speedy and free admission!

To get more information how to register for the free expo near you, check out www.deafnation.com!

Accepting Story Submittals

Hello everyone! We are now accepting submittals of stories with pictures. We would like to give this opportunity to anyone that wants to share their stories attached with photos. Our request is to keep the content related with vintage air-cooled VW, also it will be nice if it included some Deaf background (people, places, etc). Stories can be based on your own experience or through second hand experience. It can be a summary of VW shows that you attended or profile of yourself... unleash your imagination!

If you want to share with us, please send your stories with pictures to deafvolks@gmail.com, we will  be more than happy to upload and share. The only thing we will do: crop/edit the appropriate contents (nude pictures will not be posted up, unfortunately) and we will also proofread for English grammar. Thats pretty much it, all you have to do is share! Once you submit a story/photos, we will reply back with a follow up email to make sure the content is approved by the submitter after edits are done as we want to make sure it is YOUR voice as much as possible!! For international folks, we welcome your stories in understanding that it will be much easier to do this in English- I dread using a translator program, they are somewhat hit and miss.

We hope this will allow more diversity in our postings and expose more perspectives... ready set... submit your stories!!!

Wild Wild Wagens, the Movie

Here is a cool vintage short film featuring the ever popular and diverse Volkswagens that caught fever in the 70's. We really enjoyed this film, and definitely took us back to the old glory days...

If you have any cool vintage videos of Volkswagens, please be sure to share with us!

Founding Deaf Volks

The existence of Deaf Volks can be easily rooted back to the late '60's in Southern California when the Baja craze hit it's peak... more about that for other time before I get carried away... The foundations for our current club were laid in late '90's when Jason "the Little Bear" Rosenberg opted to band together a loosely knit group of Deaf Volkers that were lurking around on a new website that soon will change the face of VW world... www.thesamba.com/vw.

As years progressed we were fortunate to have his steadfast loyalty and hardcore enthusiasm for the VW hobby which many can affirm. The club, like everything else, had it's ups and downs but as we reflect back on all those years- we are extremely thankful to be still standing strong and growing! We currently have International Deaf Volks members all over the shrinking globe as the Internet gains it's reach across. We are on Facebook and Twitter now. It all started when we met up at VW events, campouts, hosted BBQ's with Bear's legendary cooking techniques and style. This tradition has continued to this day.

Unfortunately Little Bear isn't around with us in flesh as he passed on in 2007 but we know for sure he is among us in spirit. We are thankful for his persistence and starting a club that caters to our Deaf community promoting fellowship and exchange of information, useful knowledge and passion for the Vintage Volkswagen hobby among Deaf folks.

If you knew Little Bear, please feel free post comments, photos or anything. We have many memorable moments and continue to create them to this day...

Also stay tuned for an exciting announcement regarding the upcoming 100th DeafNation expo in Pleasanton, CA on October 8th! For more information about DeafNation, please check out www.deafnation.com.

Hello World!

We have revamped this site, and through constructive feedbacks in the past- we decided that we will no longer use forums on our site. Instead, we will use the ever-popular blogging style format and link up to two of our popular social media sites: Deaf Volks on Facebook and Twitter. If you haven't visited us there, please do!

This is a beginning of a new chapter for our club, to become more connected and enable us to stream realtime information to our followers. Please follow and come back often!

We look forward to sharing more of our passion of the Vintage Volkswagen hobby, we also look forward to learning more from you!

-The Deaf Volks Team