Oktoberfest Car Show Preview – Air & Water Cooled Event

Oktoberfest Car Show Preview

Oktoberfest and Volkswagen are both undeniably German.  And for the second year running Ontario VW is honoring its heritage with its 2nd Annual Oktoberfest Car Show.

Everyone is invited to this free event!  Great food, music, and soft drinks will be served.  Yes, Oktoberfest with no beer, but you can test-drive all the V-Dubs you want!

And there will be some incredible cars on display.  We get the details from Jimmy Willhide, one of the event organizers, in this iDSC Podcast.  Click play to listen and check out pictures from last year’s event in the gallery below.

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***Transcript***

Recorded August 30, 2018, in Ontario, CA

Oktoberfest Car Show Preview – Both Air & Water-Cooled Event

Jimmy: Everybody is welcome to come out, check out the new cars and check out the old cars, it’s just a really good event. We want our Volkswagen people to come out and have a good time together.

We’re going to have food and drinks for everybody, we’re going to have music, we’re just going to have a good time and hang out and talk cars, you know.

Tom: Welcome to iDriveSoCal, the podcast, all about mobility from the automotive capital of the United States, Southern California, Tom Smith here, with my good buddy, Jimmy Willhide.

If you’ve been listening to the podcast, you know that Jimmy Willhide is a VW guy, pretty hardcore actually, has eight VWs at home. He is one of the service advisors here at Ontario Volkswagen in Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, California, just off the 15 here. And Ontario is a great partner of iDriveSoCal and we thank you guys as always for that.

This here podcast that we’re going to be talking about is a really cool event that … easy for me to say. Ontario Volkswagen is going to be having in October and it’s actually called Oktoberfest and obviously, Volkswagen being German, it all ties in, it’s really cool and we’re in the automotive capital of the world here, so it makes sense that we are honoring the heritage of the brand that is VW, right?

Jimmy: That is correct. All generations of Volkswagen. Everybody is welcome to come out, from old-school classic air cooled to old school classic mark three to mark two, Jetta’s and GTIs and so forth, all the way to the new gens, we want everybody to come out and have a good time.

Mark and Generation

Tom: And just to clarify, if you are a Volkswagen person, you already know, but if you don’t, because I’m an appreciator but I’m still learning the specific lingo.

You heard Jimmy just interchange the word mark and gen, so generation is what gen stands for and mark is also so, for instance, well let’s go the Beetle, the old slug bug, what gen are we on on that one? It’s not being made right now, but what was the most recent?

Jimmy: That would be … Most recent would be the 1975 Beetle, anything from ’57 on is a classic Volkswagen air cool. The generation/mark situation, it started from mark one from ’75 on up, to the mark two is from ’85 on up and then the mark three is from ’93 and up. And then our four, five, six and sevens are newer generation Volkswagen’s, we’re all welcome to come out.

Tom: Okay. So you don’t have to be an old-school Volkswagen person, guy or gal, a new school Volkswagen … it’s everybody.

Jimmy: It is everybody.

Tom: And even, hey if you’re not a Volkswagen owner, but you’re an appreciator, if that’s a word, if not I just made one up, that’s cool, you know, come on out, it’s a good time and it’s going to be, of course, in October, which is… Isn’t it funny how so many Oktoberfest’s are actually in September?

Jimmy: Oh yeah, it’s crazy. But it’s a lot of fun.

Tom: Right. So, Oktoberfest… this is going to be your second year of the event. You guys did this last year as well, right?

Annual Oktoberfest Auto Show – Preview

Jimmy: We did it last year, we had a great turnout. A lot of folks showed up with a lot of nice cars and we want to do it again this year to show appreciation to everybody that drives a Volkswagen.

Tom: Where did the idea come from? It makes perfect sense and when I saw it on your website, I was like, duh, how is this not something that has been going on for the last 30 years in the United States?

Jimmy: Well, it’s something we’ve been working on for a while. We’ve wanted to do it, we just haven’t had the time to do it and last year I finally got the okay to do it. And the managers and everybody just saw how great the event went and how many folks showed up and how nice everybody was and it was just a really nice appreciated event.

So because of the turnout and the number of cars that showed up and the number of people that came out to check out the new cars and check out the old cars, it’s just a really good event. We want our Volkswagen people to come out and have a good time together.

Tom: So the way that you just described it, was this kind of your brainchild that you were pitching for a while and the higher-ups finally bit?

Jimmy: Well I was one of the brainiacs that was trying to get it done. Gabriel and Earl both wanted to get it done. We just… It was a time crunch kind of a thing.

Concept Origination

We just were never able to jump on it and finally we said, you know what? We’re doing it and we got it done.

Tom: All right. All right. Excellent. So we’ll drop the date a few times but I don’t think we’ve done it yet.

It’s October 28th, coming up here, 2018, October 28th, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM here at Ontario Volkswagen and the deal is come and bring your Volkswagen, of any year, come and bring your non-Volkswagen and check out the Volkswagen’s.

There’s going to be some prizes, cool prizes, but to be determined.

Jimmy: To be announced.

Tom: We were talking about what those were. We couldn’t actually make any decisions, we were like, “Oh, we’re just going to TBD this one.” To be determined. Or TBA, to be announced. But the broad categories are going to be air-cooled, which is the Volkswagen world is 1957 – 1975, and then water-cooled, which is 1975 all the way up to current, 19 … 2019.

Jimmy: Yeah, 2019 already.

Tom: 1919, what a minute, that doesn’t sound right.  So, Jimmy, this thing being your brainchild, and if you’ve missed the first podcast that I did with Mr. Jimmy Willhide here, he does, in fact, have eight Volkswagen’s at home.

He’s a huge Volkswagen dude and I love that. Part of your whole thing, with the success of the first year, from my understanding, was that you’re tied into a few of the local car clubs that Volkswagen’s part of or specializes in.

Oktoberfest with German… Cars!

Jimmy: Well, basically it’s part of the generations that are here in SoCal, Northern California as well, we’re all over the place and we all try to meet every show that we possibly can. A lot of guys aren’t able to come south, a lot of guys aren’t able to go north.

There’s a lot of car shows here in Southern California that are just unreal. It’s always just such a big focus group and it’s really cool. I’ve always wanted to plan a show of my own.

We did it last year and it was a great success so the man up top said, “Let’s do it again and let’s get our people out here and have some fun. Check out some cars.” So, that’s our whole objective. As far as awards and stuff like that, that’s just a little extra.

Tom: Sure.

Jimmy: And we’ll talk about that later.

Tom: Make it fun.

Jimmy: Yeah. But we’re going to have food and drinks for everybody. We’re going to have music. We’re just going to have a good time and hang out and talk cars, you know.

Tom: Right on. Non-alcoholic drinks, of course, this a driving event.

Jimmy: Unfortunately no alcohol, sorry guys.

Tom: The only Oktoberfest on the planet that doesn’t serve beer.

Jimmy: Exactly.

Tom: But bratwurst will be had I understand.

Jimmy: Yeah, we have bratwurst, hot dogs, hamburgers, we’ll have some pretzels out, some drinks. It’s a good time.

Oktoberfest Preview And Volkswagen Culture

Tom: Right on. And all kinds of VWs. So let’s go back to when I was talking about the clubs. I brought up the clubs. You were talking about we, as if it was a family and what I want to get to is kind of the Volkswagen culture that you and your eight cars are a part of. But you don’t have to have eight cars, you can have one car.

Jimmy: Right.

Tom: You could have a skateboard, not have a car at all, right?

Jimmy: Correct.

Tom: But tell me a little bit about… ’cause there’s more than one club that you’re part of right?

Jimmy: Well, it’s essentially not part of a club but have friends at all VW clubs, you know, I’m not just part of one kind of club society. I’m part of four or five different clubs that I have friends with, not particularly in one certain club but in all general aspects. There’s probably a dozen car club members in different car clubs that I’m friends with all.

Tom: I understand. So you’re the great connector.

Jimmy: Yeah, I guess you could say great connector, yeah.

Tom: And I suppose that it doesn’t hurt, you being an expert in the service realm of the vehicles, so you gotta be a popular guy amongst all the VW lovers, ’cause, “I got a 20, 30-year-old VW and I need a wrench turned or something, I want to do it myself but I’m not quite sure how to do it, hey Jimmy, how you… you want to come over for a sandwich?” You ever get that one?

A Friend in the Business

Jimmy: We get that quite often, yeah. Yeah. But that’s what it’s all about. I mean, even though I work at Volkswagen, we’re always here to help. And I’m willing to do anything to whatever we gotta do to help, get information, a part, or if you need service. I’m here for the whole thing, so …

Tom: So what … name some names, as far as these clubs go. Unless it’s like a secret society and you can’t. You’d have to kill me after telling me.

Jimmy: I would say first off you have Renner, you have-

Tom: Renner?

Jimmy: Renner.

Tom: R-E-N-N-E-R?

Jimmy: And then you have Scrappy Dubs, you have-

Tom: Like Scrappy V-Dubs.

Jimmy: Correct.

Tom: All right.

Jimmy: You know, it’s hard for me to name all of the groups. There’s so many of them. But just the two that I kind of spend most of my time with lately.

Tom: Are Renner and Scrappy Dubs.

Jimmy: Right.

Tom: And these are Volkswagen specific? Or do they open themselves up to vehicles-

Jimmy: No, well I mean, we stick with the VW brand, but part of that VW brand is also with Audi, so we also have Audi’s that we have in our car clubs.

Tom: Sure.

Jimmy: And that’s pretty much it, Volkswagen, Audi.

Tom: Okay. All right. So, Scrappy Dubs, I get that name. Where does the name Renner come from?

Volkswagen Car Clubs

Jimmy: Renner. Okay, so Renner-

Tom: Is that a German name?

Jimmy: It’s a German name for, I believe it’s for something to do with being very fast, I’m not sure. Or for motorsports.

Tom: Okay.

Jimmy:  I’ll have to define that for you.

Tom: Okay.

Jimmy: But Renner is a car club that was basically started way back in the 90s, way back when, and it was a club that a couple of friends of mine and myself started back up and it’s not like a full-on car club like you gotta meet every Sunday or whatever.

It’s a friend thing, you know, when you have the time, come out. So it’s a very cool set up and it’s a good society, you know. And especially now that we’re getting older and we have kids and we have responsibilities, we can’t always do what we want to do of course.

So this is the opportunity to come out and bring your kids, bring your friends and have a good time.

Tom: And if people get into the whole vibe, the whole scene, and they want to participate in either of these clubs, is that open to people?

Jimmy: It’s completely open.

Tom: Do you have Facebook groups? Or do you have a website? Or do you have …

Jimmy: You can look up on our Instagram page, it’s called Renner Performance.

Tom: Okay.

Jimmy: And it has all the club member’s cars in it and it’s mainly older generation Volkswagen, from the mark two era, which is ’85 and on and to the mark three era, basically from ’93 on.

Tom: Okay.

Water-Cooled Volkswagens

Jimmy: So it’s more of a classic water-cooled club, but everybody is welcome to come out and join and have fun.

Tom: All right. And you guys get together weekly, a couple of times a month?

Jimmy: Maybe once or twice a month if we’re lucky.

Tom: Okay, so it’s not a set thing, it’s just something that you determine online and-

Jimmy: It’s basically like-

Tom: …go from there.

Jimmy: Yeah, it’s just like a long-lasting relationship that when you have time to hang out, we’ll hang out.

Tom: That’s very cool. Anything similarly that you want to note about the Scrappy Dubs?

Jimmy: Scrappy Dubs is another-

Tom: I just like that name, Scrappy Dubs.

Jimmy: It’s catchy.

Tom: Yeah.

Jimmy: Scrappy Dubs is another club that I hang out with these guys. I went to high school with these guys and they live close by and he actually makes performance aero kits, you know body kits and stuff for Volkswagen and Audi.

Tom: Oh, okay.

Jimmy: So I got a pretty close relationship with them as well and we hang out all the time and just have fun.

Tom: All right. Cool.

Jimmy: Yeah.

Tom: So, you want to get yourself, you want to get into the tinkering with it kind of, so would your buddy that you referred to, do you want to drop his name by chance? Does he have a little business that might get a-

Jimmy: Oh yeah, his name is Mike Fleming, he owns basically a body kit shop, mostly fiberglass automotive, European parts.

Tom: Okay.

Ontario VW’s 2nd Annual Oktoberfest Car Show

Jimmy: Really cool dude. You should look him up. I can’t remember the name of his new company. He’s just changed his name, so I’m sorry about that, Mike, but you could drop me a text and I’ll be able to get the to you out there.

Tom: Right, right. So what you want to do is you come here, buy your Volkswagen from Ontario Volkswagen, have Jimmy Willhide be your service advisor and then have Jimmy’s buddy, Mike, give it a body kit and away you go. You are set for Oktoberfest’s here at Ontario Volkswagen for many years to come.

So again, the event is the second annual Oktoberfest right here at Ontario Volkswagen in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, California. The date, October 28th, the time from 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM. There will be food, soft drinks. I understand they’re going to open up the morning with some coffee and pastries and then kind of transition into lunch as lunchtime gets closer.

Jimmy: Right, right. Yeah, we’ll get everybody a little snack while they’re rolling in, getting set up and we’ll get started.

Tom: Come to see a bunch of cool cars. Meet and chat with a bunch of cool car people. Pick yourself up a new Volkswagen here at Ontario Volkswagen while you’re at it. Jimmy, thank you as always. It’s always fun talking cars with you my friend.

Jimmy: Appreciate the time.

Tom: And thank you guys, Ontario Volkswagen, for being a fantastic partner to iDriveSoCal.

Jimmy: Thank you and thank you, everybody, else for coming out.

Tom: Yeah, we’re looking forward to it. We’ll be out here as well. For iDriveSoCal, I’m Tom Smith, thank you for listening.