29th blog – date: February, 21st 2026
In May 2025, I finally attended a local VW Bus meet again.
From May 16th to 18th, 2025, the „75 Years of the VW Bus Meet“ took place at the Salzburgring racetrack.
Almost „as usual,“ I was back with Bernhard in his VW T5 – although it wasn’t air-cooled again – but at least it was a fitting VW Transporter this time.
And to still pass as a „VW Bus,“ we came up with something special. We packed both the front end and the engine cover from a T1 we found in the woods and attached them to the T5.
The sign on the rear says „not quite finished“.
Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire weekend, but that didn’t dampen our spirits. We were happy to catch up with old friends and make new ones. And when it really poured, the few buses with awnings were the most popular meeting places.
There was all sorts of different buses to admire. From a 1950s panel van in the pit lane to a 1954 Samba, and even a T2b (Jet Air Starter) with a built-in aircraft turbine – which it regularly started up. Then there was Peter’s 1951 panel van, which is always impressive. Especially when you see the photos from about 12 years ago when it was still being used as a goat shed in Greece. That’s why the bus deservedly won a prize, as did another T1 that traveled all the way from Scotland! Several Swiss friends also made the journey and were there.
… Overall, it was an extremely successful meeting organized by a very dedicated Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Austria team who invested a great deal of time, energy, and effort into the event. Even the boss got up early in the morning in the rain to hang a „breakfast bag“ on the side mirror of every participating VW bus. We sincerely hope that such a meeting will take place more frequently in the future!
What was also brilliant was, that every visitor could register their VW bus for a drive around the track. Following an official escort vehicle – and in small groups – and at a manageable pace, many VW bus drivers took advantage of this opportunity.
Equally fantastic was the chance for everyone to register for a free test drive in the many classic Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles collection on display.
Unfortunately, most of the participants left on Sunday morning, so the place was already quite empty by midday. This was probably due to the heavy rain beforehand. A real shame, because suddenly the sun came out!
So we finally packed our things and headed to the „afterparty“ at Christian’s place in Upper Austria. There, we not only got to admire his garage, but also his current project – a 1952 panel van, which he plans to finish by HO26. You can see for yourselves just how impressive his work on the barn door is in the linked post on TheSamba forum!
His sea-blue 1967 Sparsamba is also a real eye-catcher – practically an identical bus to our T1 „Eve“ – however, during the restoration, he added some roof windows and transformed it into a 21-window Samba. And it turned out really well!
It was a fantastic weekend – unfortunately with a bit too much rain, but I was all the more pleased with all the interesting conversations with other VW Bus enthusiasts. Hopefully, another such gathering will take place so we can participate with our T1.
