Ep. 11 | Building VW Community before social media: the story of Local Volks and Dave McFarland

In Episode 11 of VW Garage Talk, we sit down with my longtime friend Dave McFarland, co-founder of Local Volks, Florida’s largest Volkswagen group. For nearly 20 years, Dave has been a central figure in building and growing the VW scene in the Sunshine State, long before Facebook groups and viral reels.

We talk about:

• Dave’s VW origin story: from his dad’s Baja adventures to his first Beetle at 16

• The early days of car culture: how we organized meets without social media (hello, Yahoo chat rooms!)

• The rise of Local Volks: what started as two guys in a parking lot turned into a 5,000+ member group

• VW ownership highs & lows: accidents, restorations, rail buggies, and his current ‘82 Diesel Jetta

• 10 years of Taco Tuesdays and building community over cold drinks and pit bulls playing in parking lots

• Why the community still matters, what’s changing, and how we keep it going into the future

We also talk about our favorite VW events, like No Dough Weekend, and reminisce about the days of flipping through Hot VWs, VW Trends magazines and CIP1 catalogs.

Dave’s leaving Florida soon, but his legacy in the VW scene here will always roll strong.

🎧 Tune in to hear how the VW scene was built before smartphones, how Local Volks became a staple in Florida, and why community still drives everything we do.

Watch on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast app!

VW Garage Talk, VW Podcast, Volkswagen podcast, Local Volks, Classic VW, Air-Cooled VW, VW Beetle, VW Bus, VW Community, VW Florida, VW car meet, Car Culture, Classic Car Community, VW restoration stories, Florida VW scene, vintage VW, Type 3 VW, Rail Buggies, VW Jetta, Early Diesel VW, Classic Car Podcast, Car History Podcast, Hot VWs, VW events, BugJam, VW meets #VWGargeTalk #VWPodcast #LocalVolks #VWCommunity #AirCooledVW #VintageVW #ClassicCars #VWStories #VolkswagenPodcast #VWHistory #BugJam #FloridaVWScene #VWLife #CarPodcast #VanLife #VWCulture #VWMeets #NoDough #SplitWindow #VWBeetle #VWBus #TacoTuesday #VWMeets #AircoolVW #ClassicCarCommunity