When a gang of thieves in California decided to make off with three classic VW buses it was inevitable they would be rumbled sooner rather than later – especially as they were funky cut down versions painted orange and used to promote cheese!

There’s no doubt VW buses make excellent marketing tools and one of the most distinctive uses has to be these cut down ‘cheese loaf’ buses owned by Oregon company Tillamook. Yet three were stolen recently while on tour in Sacramento, only to be recovered shortly after – presumably when the thieves realised how difficult it would be to disguise their origins!

The fleet of three shortened buses, candidly called ‘Yums’ by the US dairy products company, were fabricated by Cameron Johnson of VolksFab in Port Orchard, Washington from rusted out examples and are used to give out freebies and generally promote the firm’s cheese. There’s a 1959 single cab pickup, as well as a ’64 and ’66 and all are shortened by around 4ft to resemble cheese loafs.

The restored buses, valued at $300,000 (£175,000) are transported around the US on a special truck (called Daddy Loaf) which was found burnt out following the theft without the vehicles on board, thankfully.

But that’s not all. The company also use vintage VW buses to promote its yogurt and ice creams – and we particularly love the crew cab pickup with slatted wooden rear section used to promote the former!

If you’re holidaying in the States anytime soon, look out for them – there’s a tour calendar on their website.

Ian

The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage