VW Club Marks 40 Years, Says Thanks With Free Car Meet (with Video)

PLANTSVILLE, CT – There is such a thing as a free car show. The Connecticut Volkswagen Association provided an example on Sunday by marking its founding in 1985 with a car meet at the Southington Drive-In that didn’t require that money change hands.

More than 100 models from Germany in all shapes and sizes showed up. There were loads of classic, rear-engine, air-cooled Beetles, along with some rarer models. There were models that displayed some custom elements and a few interlopers.

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Best of all there, there was no entry fee for car VW owners. No admission charge for spectators. Vendors didn’t have pay for space to sell their goods. 

“Being our 40th year as a club, we decided to make this a free show to everybody – members, non-members – and it’s just a thank-you for all the years of supporting our club, our group, and making this Volkswagen hobby what it is today,” said Bill Arute, CVA president.

Check out RIDE-CT’s video story on the meet…

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Jim Caruso of Plainville, CT brought the 1979 Super Beetle that he’s owned for 20 years. He spoke for many Beetle owners when he said, “They have personality of their own, I guess. Everybody knows that. They don’t really ever go out of style, you know. They’re always cool. They don’t let you down.”

Caruso has been good to the Beetle and it has likewise treated him well thanks to “Just basic maintenance over the years – tires, brakes, exhaust. A few paint chips fixed on it and touched up and things like that.”

Alex Denette’s VW T3 Transporter Double Cab.

Alex Denette of Rhode Island  brought a VW model that wasn’t sold in the United States – a utility vehicle known as the T3 Transporter Double Cab. 

“Canada still got them and all the Canada ones actually meet North American spec, it meets all DOT and everything. It came with a standard Volkswagen water-cooled engine… It’s very much like a Vanagon, just a different body.

Denette has owned the T3 for six years but just got it on the road this year. “It drives like a pickup truck version of a four-wheel-drive Vanagon, so it drives just like the other Vanagons that are here and all the Vanagons I’ve driven,” he said. 

While 2025 marks 40 years of existence for the Connecticut Volkswagen Association the same cannot be said for the club’s meet. Today’s show was the 21st annual gathering.

Here are more photos from the VW meet…

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(Photos by Bud Wilkinson.)