San Diego Vintage VW Christmas Cruise 2025

The North County AirCooled and San Diego Air Cooled VW Groups helped to make children’s holidays a bit brighter on Saturday with their 12th annual Vintage VW Christmas Cruise toy drive at Herman Cook.

A new record 85 VWs participated in the San Diego Vintage VW Christmas Cruise, filling the Herman Cook VW Encinitas dealership & service areas.

Hot coffee & donuts were served and donations collected for Toys For Tots. This year more donations were given than ever, all being distributed to the Marine Reserves at Miramar.

Enthusiasts marveled at the unique Air-Cooled VWs, each one unique and full of character.

Members of the Air Cooled VW Groups reminisced about the Vintage VW’s they’ve restored and are proud to have out on the road today.

Within each vehicle, there were many opportunities to see the classic VW culture that we all know and love.

The VW Christmas Cruise is organized by Poway-local Lee Hedges, leader of the North County Aircooled VW club with over 1000 members from Temecula to Mission Beach.

Hundreds of toys collected from the Herman Cook VW Toy Drive and the Air Cooled VW Groups were piled into the van to be delivered to Toys for Tots for donation.

Lee’s two daughters loaded the two VW trucks with toy donations & Lee’s wife Kathe was responsible for navigation.

The Christmas Cruise started at Herman Cook Volkswagen and went through Rancho Santa Fe down into Del Mar and stopped for an amazing Pacific Ocean view in La Jolla. The Cruise continued through Bird Rock, Pacific Beach, and stopped again on Fiesta Island. Then the Cruise hopped on the freeway going over Coronado Bay Bridge, dropping down into Coronado and driving along the beautiful Silver Strand into Imperial Beach. Last stop was Big Kahuna’s for lunch and giveaways to the drivers that completed the 3-hour Cruise. The total Cruise was 100 miles. This annual event is the highlight of vintage VW owners in San Diego!

Alas, they ended their journey at the Toys for Tots Marine Corps Reserve Center near Miramar and delivered the toys for donation for the children.

The Toys for Tots drive was a huge success thanks to the generosity of the North County AirCooled and San Diego Air Cooled VW Groups, Herman Cook VW customers and employees, and the support of the local community. If you would like to participate in the next annual Vintage VW Cruise, contact the dealership at (760) 753-6256 for more details.