At last we hit Camberg just after the restaurant closed and, after a brief detour, found the hotel. At this point a number of good things happened. There was a sight to gladden the heart of any VW enthusiast as we parked next to line of immaculate vintage Type Is, including John Maxwell's '49, Simon Parkinson's '56, Keith Vipond's '55 and Clive Cunio's '55. Parked next to these was Martin and Blanche's Type IV, looking very cool after its lowering job and tasty alloys with low profiles. These were a good sight. The next good thing was the lady at the hotel offering to open up the kitchen when she heard about our journey. Then there were the beers before, during and after the meal. Last but not least were two very comfortable beds although I probably could have slept on a washing line.
The next morning we were up refreshed and tucking into a substantial German breakfast to set us up for the day. Straight away it was clear it was going to be hot, and hot was to be how it stayed until we got back to the U.K. Shaun got the dead flies off PLJ before they cooked on any more and we were down to the sportsplatz in the centre of town to be one of the first dozen cars to park up in the show area. One of the many good things about Camberg is there isn't an actual concours competition--it would be impossible to judge in any case.
The show itself really was the most fantastic collection of vintage VWs anyone could hope to see. It ran from Friday through Sunday with Saturday as the day when the full compliment of cars turned up and the variety and quality of the display was just mind-boggling. In fact I've now learned it's possible to be VW'd out. We got to the stage where we would walk round again and be unable to remember what we'd seen. The beers and heat may have had something to do with that but it was more to do with the sheer volume of the rarest VW and VW-based cars that you'll ever see in one gathering.