It was the Bulli journey of their lives – three months, two continents, 20,000 kilometres and one destination, the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles assembly plant in Hannover, Germany.
At the beginning of March, five Bulli fans left their homeland in Malaysia in three Bullis and one Beetle. They reached the Hannover production site in June and were even allowed to bring their vintage vehicles into the production halls where they observed production of the latest T-Series model.
Cliften Nathaniel (T2), Terence Moses (T1), Stephen Pang (T1), Monica Xavier and Udhaya Kumar (Beetle) arrived safely at their destination. Proudly, they drove their cult vehicles into the factory where they were given a warm welcome by Friedrich Mattiszik (Production).
“We know that we have Bulli fans across the globe. But to see them travel to us from such a distance in their vintage vehicles – we have never experienced this before. It is an honour for us to show our plant to these globe-trotting fans. This is, so to speak, the birthplace of the vast majority of T-series vehicles.”
Stephen Pang said: “This is a dream come true for us. We always wanted to go to the place where the Bullis were built.”
Their journey in the Bullis (two vehicles from model year 1967, one vehicle from 1978) followed a route over hills and dales across Thailand, Laos, China, Russia and Europe.
Terence Moses said: “Bullis are simply indestructible. And when they do need repair, we can usually handle it ourselves.” That is because they have lashed tyres, replacement parts and tool sets on their fully laden roof rails, along with countless pieces of luggage.
Another highlight for the Malaysian Bulli owners was their weekend visit to the Volkswagen vintage meet in Hessisch-Oldendorf). Around 45,000 fans attended this event to admire the approximately 900 vehicles from 28 countries, including the group from Malaysia.
After their intermediate stop in Lower Saxony, the Bulli fans all the way from Malaysia resumed their journey, which now takes them to other European countries including Belgium, France and Scandinavia. That is because they added another mission to their long journey.
With their charity campaign #Live2Drive, they want to do some good in the world and make children happy. They are visiting orphanages in various countries and participating in a number of charitable events. After travelling a total of 50,000 kilometres, the epic road trip with their VW vintage vehicles will finish in Malaysia.
Read about our 1700km Malaysia road trip in a VW Golf GTI and a VW Scirocco Sport.
Read about our ride-and-drive road trip in Thailand with a BMW R1200 GS and a BMW 640i Gran Coupe.
