A look back at the first European Barndoor Gathering
Posted on April 19 2016
Two years ago to the day we were in the Netherlands after organising a Barndoor bus cruise from the UK. We were there as part of the very first European Barndoor Gathering, also known as the Ben Pon Show.
Taking place over a weekend in April in 2014, this Barndoor and vintage VW event in Amersfoort saw over 11,000 visitors see the 1,200 VWs that were there representing over 25 different countries. 
Ben Pon lived and worked in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. In 1947, Pon's Automobielhandel ("Pon's Car Dealership"), became the first dealer outside of Germany to sell vehicles manufactured by Volkswagen. There is still a lot of VW history out here and that's why Amersfoort is the perfect location to bring these Barndoor splitbuses together!
Helping fly the flag for the Brits, Cool Flo organised a UK cruise over to the event that had over 25 buses in tow at one stage, quite a sight on the road for sure. We managed to bring the largest contingent of Barndoor buses to the gathering, helping smash the previous world record of 58 with a total of 76 buses on show.
On route we stopped off to see our friends at Klassic Fab in Woerden for a BBQ.
What better way to spend the weekend in Amersfoort than camping with mates and checking out some stunning vintage VWs? 
With so many buses in one location it was a memorable weekend and great to be involved with such an epic event. 
Cool Flo even had the honour of producing the official event tee too, as seen above.
We hope you’ve enjoy some of these unreleased images of the 2014 Ben Pon Show. We’ll share some further images via Instagram over the coming weeks.
The big question is can Niels Timmerman of AirMighty Magazine fame and his team top 76 buses at the next European Barndoor Gathering in 2018? One thing’s for sure, Cool Flo will be along for the ride to help break yet another record. That's for sure!
For updates on the Ben Pon Show updates visit www.benpon.nl.
An original flyer for the 2014 event. Let's hope the next show is in a couple of years is just as cool…