VW California Factory Visit & Tour - Hannover

[Stu]

Hypothetically speaking

If someone were to arrange a Factory Visit & Tour in Hannover, possibly this year, when would be suitable dates for the general membership and how many of you would be interested in such an event?

It's approximately 400 miles/ 6 hours from Calais.

The agenda is empty so please feel free to include things you'd like to do along the way - hypothetically speaking of course :crazy

 

[ExploreCampers]

A hypothetical fantastic idea.

I'm up for it, even though I havent met any of you nutters yet. Would like to stop at the Nurburgring on the way, but that would mean we take two vehicles! :crazy

 

[Stu]

Do you have any preference on when you'd like to go?

 

[Californiaman]

VW California Factory Visit & Tour - Hannover

I would be up for it depending on dates. Sept onwards is pretty clear on my calendar.

 

[choplee]

you know i'm up for it stu......will have to see how this goes to sort out dates etc ..

 

[ExploreCampers]

Do you have any preference on when you'd like to go?

I'm fairly flexible with dates, but already have some holidays planned. August should be okay, September I would have to leave the wife behind, or second half of October.

 

[choplee]

got details of a campsite that is only 5 mins walk from the museum and walking distance from the Autostadt that is meant to be worth a visit as well as the factory tour .The castle grounds are said to be lovely and the town has a museum with vw stuff in it as well.....
museum closed on a monday from what i've been told. The campsite do not speak english ,but afew members in my local vw club have recommended it.

:crazy ...crazy cali's on tour... :crazy

 

[BerndRos]

VW California Factory Visit & Tour - Hannover

The Hannover main site produces the van plus the early parts of the Cali. It then goes to another part of town where the Cali production line is. When I went to Hannover I had a good guided tour of the main plant, they also make Porsche Panamerica body shells, but they would not let me have a look at the Cali line or even say where it was in town.

Best to check if access can be agreed before making plans ?

 

[m4rky]

Stu - We would definitely be interested but like everyone else it would depend on the date

For us a weekend would be best but that's if the factory is actually open

 

[choplee]

VW California Factory Visit & Tour - Hannover

So would we be looking at Hannover & wolfsburg visits ..?
Maybe abit more research over weekend .. I maybe meeting up with the guy that's been before

 

[Stu]

Perhaps I should clarify a little more -

I have got an agreement that we can have a unique Club visit at a mutually agreeable time/date.

I'm lead to believe it will be the full tour to encompass the entire California production, as that's what I asked for but I have asked for clarification. It was also suggested that we visit the Autostadt and I have asked if we can have some special arrangements for that too.

So what I need from you is -

1. When would you like to go (I hope we can make the first visit and then follow up annually as other clubs do)

2. How many would attend. I'm not asking for commitment at this stage but without gauging your levels of interest I can't ask for the right amount of numbers and if I ask for a number that turns out to be too low then some people will miss out)

So it seems in terms of timing there are a few questions, some of which are -

Weekday or Weekend
Duration
School Holidays or not
This year or next

 

[Martin]

For me personally I would say next year as it is getting a bit short notice now, we also plan to announce a Cali Europe Road trip within the next few days instead of the four nations meet (next year), we could maybe combine the road trip with the factory tour? Obviously if a small group wanted to get together this year and go across it will make it easier for doing another one next year as we will know the ropes, also I expect more people can attend next year.

 

[Californiaman]

Lets go tomorrow I say... ;-)

 

[ChrisandPenney52]

Sounds great. Good job!

We're definitely interested, though we have some stuff between now and October that we can't yet lock down. So depending on the date we may not be able to confirm for a while.

Next year is an open book. Preference for May or September but understand that this doesn't work for a lot of people and happy to fit in with others' constraints. Day of week not an issue.

 

[m4rky]

For me personally I would say next year as it is getting a bit short notice now, we also plan to announce a Cali Europe Road trip within the next few days instead of the four nations meet (next year), we could maybe combine the road trip with the factory tour? Obviously if a small group wanted to get together this year and go across it will make it easier for doing another one next year as we will know the ropes, also I expect more people can attend next year.

Actually this would be better for us :grin: Making the tour part of a bigger road trip would be great. So if this goes ahead you can count us in

We did a similar thing a couple of years ago with the Audi TT Owners club when did a European Tour. Part of the trip was to visit Audi's tuners ABT in Germany which turned out to be very interesting.

 

[Stu]

If at all possible, and of course if the factory can accommodate us, I'm keen to see if we can pull off a trip this year - Possibly in the form of a long weekend as I understand people already have plans and have used up large amounts of their annual leave allowance.

I'm cautious of going too deep into this at the moment as I don't want to impart my thoughts or ideas on to everyone else, I'd like to hear what your thoughts are as i'm sure there are some great ones.

My reasons for looking to do something this year are to ensure that we don't slip under the radar, fully planning and expecting to have a visit next year, only to find the goalposts have moved. I think, and hope, that if we could get a 'posse' down there this year and set our stall out it would stand us in good stead for the future.

 

[choplee]

i do agree stu .....i would love to do the trip ,so any help i'm up for it ...i have my friend with who does and has done most shows every year in the uk and overseas...
your right we need times ,dates , where to stay ,where to go etc etc ......
also there is the european meet for next year ,so this year probably looks the better option and not having 2 big euro trips in the same year .
i will checkout that campsite and i'll post up if anyone else has any input on my local vw club forum ....

 

[T5WOB]

i went to the Hannover factory when they had the 60yrs meet .it was a blast so much to see in there .we did stay in a nice camp site in hannover .and with the auto stadt in Wolfsburg just up the rd .is a nice day out there to .and the old vw museum in wolfsburg to .i would do it all again any time .winter or summer time .trip . .be good to see lots of WOB number plates on the rd

 

[Californiaman]

If a tour can be organised this year, I'm up for it. Ideally a long weekend if it could done but if not then I'm happy to go with the flow. If we have a 'tour' date then we could just organise to meet nearer the location or drive over in a convoy (10-4 rubber duck) (I have no idea what that means by the way..)

Sept onwards is largely clear for me at the moment.

 

[Rob H]

Can recommend the rare English speaking factory visit, (Nov last year), the giant Shuller presses were a particular favourite of Wifey .. 'the earth moved for her' .. Quality control is impressive, no mention on my visit of the California conversions.

Rob H.

 

[Mike]

I'm up for it. But I would prefer to make it part of a road trip..that would mean it would have to coincide with school hols though :crazy . Mike

 

[aileen]

I will be in Germany mid Sept until 5 Oct '12 and would be very interested to go as I am going over there to see and get information on buying a Cali. I have already phoned a central VW place in Augsburg where I will stay with friends and they said that they will have models in stock for me to look at. It is just too hard to imagine what extras etc to order from here in Ireland and I am not very savvy on specs. By the way is there a place in England with Cali's that I could maybe check out and someone told me that there is a good sales place in Scotland for camper vans in general

 

[Stu]

There are lots of VW Commercial Dealers that are california specialists you could visit, probably closer than Scotland if you are com in over from Ireland.

 

[AndyandLiz]

We would be up for this but it would need to be part of the road trip next year as already have this year planned out.

 

[Khris&Nichola]

Hi all, Khristian and I would like to go we have two weeks off work from 25th aug so we are up for a visit if it falls around then or we could do any long weekend after more or less.))) eeeeeeek.