Preface: Recently, I was talking to a friend, who loves luxury vehicles, about Vanderhall Motor Works. He was amazed by the classic look and sleek design. Immediately, he looked up the car on Turo.com.
I asked him further about the website, and he said it was the best place to rent luxury vehicles per day. As he scrolled through the pricing, I was surprised at how affordable a day pass was, and was so excited, I talked to my wife about it later that night. I discussed with her that if we ever wanted to arrive to an event in style that we should rent a Vanderhall and show up with it.
A few days later, I noticed a new rental company comments on Stadium Gear & Apparel's Instagram post about our new blog article on great Vanderhall vehicle wraps we had seen online. They had purchased one of the vehicles featured in the blog post, and were now renting it out for others to drive.
I reached out to the company to learn their story and became acquainted with the owners, Warren & Eileen. What they shared is a fun story, and the subject of this article. I thank them for sharing their story and writing it for us to show others.
Enjoy this guest article on how they acquired Root Beer and Sturgie!
Carson, Stadium Gear & Apparel
*This article contains links to official Vanderhall Motor Works merchandise at the end.
Finding Root Beer & Sturgie - A Vanderhall Story
By Warren Hudson, CEO of WE Getaway LLC
It all started with a need for adventure when we were in Hawaii this past summer. We were at a shopping center and spotted a Polaris Slingshot for rent. My fiancée (Eileen) had never seen such a thing before, so I decided to rent it for a day. We truly had a great experience and a blast riding it around the island. Doing so made me want to run a similar business—I was inspired!
When we returned back home to California, I started to do research on three-wheelers and came across the name Vanderhall. It was love at first sight for me! They look so classy, unique and rare. It was the ONE, that I felt I could share with others to experience a great journey on the road.
Coincidentally, during this time, I was already in the process of starting up a new business for short term rental properties. I named it WE Getaway: a company that could provide experiences of getting away from the hustle and bustle to enjoy life. I decided to add auto-cycle rentals to my business portfolio. I started with two and eventually will get four Vanderhalls to rent out.
Finding Root Beer
While starting to search for the first Vanderhall, I was trying to decide between getting a Venice or Carmel. I was so intrigued by the suicide doors of the Carmel, plus the additional spacing in the cabin, that it became my choice. I found my first Carmel through online searching and found it at Del Amo Motorsports in Orange County, CA. My fiancée and I took the liberty to drive from the Bay Area to Orange County to pick it up.
When we first got there, we were told the one I was interested in might have been sold; luckily enough it wasn’t. We were able to take home, our first Vanderhall Carmel Blackjack; which we named, Root Beer.
Root Beer caught my eye with its custom GTS paint of metallic brown, even though it was a Blackjack. I also liked the slick look of his black interior and wheels.
The ride back was truly an experience, especially for my fiancée, who had never driven a three-wheeler. It was about a six-hour drive back home, and she drove Root Beer back halfway through; this was the moment when she fell in love with Vanderhall. She said it was a surreal, therapeutic experience for her where she felt like she was one with the road, since Root Beer sits very low to the ground, but has great traction and control. We live near stretches of winding roads, and when we drove Root Beer on them, it sure did grasp the asphalt. Root Beer was also great at cornering, fast acceleration, and his turbo blow-off sound.
From this first car, we were ready for the second one!
Finding Sturgie
Now, while my fiancée enjoyed that six-hour drive back from Orange County, I was not going to drive that far for the next one. During my search for Root Beer, I came across a very unique Carmel for sale at Vanderhall of Chico. Initially, I didn’t go to this dealership as I thought they were closed down (make a long story short, I called Vanderhall of Livermore who told me due to COVID-19, they had no inventory at the moment. I got them mixed up with the dealership in Chico, so I crossed out Chico thinking they had no inventory). In doing my search again, I realized Vanderhall of Chico was, in fact, in business. Fortunately, they had the Carmel I was intrigued by.
This Carmel caught my eye by its customization. It is #14 of 30 Vanderhalls specifically made for the 2020 Sturgis Rally. Plus, the number 14 happens to be my favorite number! So with this said, we named it Sturgie!
We also drove up to Chico to pick it up, but at least the drive only took three hours this time around.
Future Plans
My business plan is to start this rental business in Hawaii when we move back next year. So while we’re still here in California, I decided to rent Root Beer and Sturgie using car/auto-cycle platforms. They are now live on two platforms, and within a week, I already got three booking requests!
I'm looking forward to more bookings, as I am truly excited with sharing our two unique Vanderhalls with others. We enjoy the intrigued looks and stares the two get while driving them around the Bay Area and want to give others the same type of experience!
Now it's time to find two other Vanderhalls that will build out our family!
To stay informed with WE Getaway or want to book Root Beer and Sturgie in the Bay Area, please email wegetawayllc@gmail.com or info@wegetawayllc.com
To purchase any of the official Vanderhall apparel in the photos above, check out Stadium Gear & Apparel's collection at this link: https://mystadiumgear.com/collections/vanderhall-motorworks
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Are you interested in sharing your Vanderhall or unique sports story? Stadium Gear & Apparel is always looking for new content from contributors. Please leave a comment to this blog post with your email, or message us on social media (@stadiumgearapparel) and we will have someone reach out to you!