Bug-O-Rama show downtown features the four-wheeled variety

There were a lot of Bugs in downtown Wichita on Saturday.

But most of the Bugs in the east-side parking lot of the Midian Shrine went by the names of Beetle, Karmann Ghia and the Thing.

That’s where the Shriners were hosting Bug-O-Rama, a car show and fundraiser at 130 N. Topeka for the Shriners Hospital for Children in St. Louis, and where aficionados of the Volkswagen brand were displaying their mostly vintage automobiles.

There were shiny, restored Beetles and rusty ones. There were well-maintained Volkswagen camper buses and others that were just the opposite.

There were some Beetles in chassis and engine only, sporting a dune buggy – or “sand rail” – body instead. And then there were a couple of more rare Volkswagens, like a 1973 Type 3 Fastback and a 1960s-era Notchback.

In all, there were nearly 60 Volkswagens of different vintages and types on display.

The show is in its fifth year, and in its second year of ownership between David Ryan and Robert Hoch, a couple of Shriners who decided to make it a fundraiser when they bought the show.

“There’s Bug-O-Ramas all over the U.S.,” Hoch said.

Hoch estimated this year’s show raised about $2,800 in registration fees and sponsorships, almost triple from last year’s show.

He said there are a number of reasons why Volkswagens appeal to owners and collectors such as himself.

“It’s like any other Volkswagen owner will tell you,” Hoch said. “They’re easy to work on, the aftermarket (for parts) is huge, and they’re very inexpensive to own and maintain.”

Compared with the money it would cost to restore a muscle car from the 1970s, “I could restore three Beetles,” said Hoch, who owns a 2002 Turbo S Beetle, a 2000 Beetle, a Passat and a 1974 Volkswagen Bus.

The simplicity of vintage Volkswagens is the allure for Robert Hyle.

“It’s because they’re so dirt simple and they were designed and made so anyone can work on one,” said Hyle, who owns two vintage Volkswagens: a 1968 Karmann Ghia sport coupe and, more recently, a 1962 Beetle, which he has named “Bob the Beetle.”

Except for the mechanical parts of Bob the Beetle, Hyle has kept the exterior in the condition he found it.

“I was kinda wanting a rusty, patina-looking Bug,” he said. “These old cars, they’ve got stories to tell … all the dings and dents.”

Kelly and Lora Harper said their 1969 Camper Bus has a lot of stories to tell.

The shiny, immaculate bus that they bought about 10 years ago started its life in the U.S. under the ownership of a Utah professor who Kelly Harper said “put over 200,000 miles on it” taking his family on summer trips up and down the West Coast.

“I have every piece of paper” on it, he said, going back to “when it came into the harbor in San Francisco.”

Kelly Harper said the professor who owned it also attempted to set a land-speed record with the camper bus and its engine that the professor souped up.

The Harpers bought their bus from Lora Harper’s boss. He owned it after his son – who bought it from the Utah professor – died.

Lora Harper said she had admired the bus for years. Her boss occasionally drove it to work, and for several years following his son’s death he was unwilling to sell it.

And then one day, she said, he offered to sell it to them, and for a “super” price.

“We feel honored to own it,” Lora Harper said. “It meant something for us to buy it from him.”

“We love it and I’ll never sell it,” she added.

This story was originally published June 20, 2015 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Bug-O-Rama show downtown features the four-wheeled variety."