On a business trip through Northern Alabama in 2008 I spotted this little piece of VW (and come to find out Porsche) heaven. The closer I looked into the foliage the more German engineering I could see. Unfortunately there was no one around the little shack that day and like a true gentleman I passed on by sending my best to these blessed souls as they take a rest from serving.

I was working in the area for a few days and passed by this place a couple more times. On one trip I noticed a Chevy truck pulling a trailer with a nice doublecab on it stopped in front of the old shack.. At first I felt protective of the little cars that I spotted first! But I realized there was a Father, Wife and two kids with an older gentleman walking through the property. VW families are good people. I decided to pull in and ask if I could take some pics.

Denny and Kathy and their two kids had stopped by out of curiosity and were greeted by Wayne, The owner of the property. Wayne started tinkering with VW’s 30 years ago.

Wayne welcomed the company and I had a feeling we weren’t the first visitors to inquire about the VW’s. Although it seemed like it had been a while. He walked us through the property where old Single Cab VW’s were overgrown with plants. There were baja beetles, fastbacks, ghias and more.

Around 10 years ago Waynes’ grandson took an interest in the cars.  Shortly after they began working on a Karmann Ghia Drag racer project, his grandson was tragically killed in a 4 wheeler accident. Since then Wayne closed the doors to his old barn, the memories and put a cover on the Karmann Ghia. He was kind enough to let me take pictures of all of the cars. Best of all, he pulled off the cover (which were kids bedsheets with car prints on them…) and he posed for this photo with his Pride and Joy, the drag racing, Porsche Powered Karmann Ghia.

I hope that Karmann Ghia has since been fired up and I can only imagine how bitter sweet it would be to see it pulling out of that old barn.

Rust in peace-