Grandpa x VW - The Vintage Roadtrip
Vintage and second-hand items have always held a special place in our hearts – it’s in our DNA and has been a crucial part of our identity since the beginning of Grandpa. Now, we are focusing more on our vintage offering, and as part of this, we collaborated with Volkswagen Transportbilar in October.
With the help of an electric ID.Buzz, Grandpa’s founder Jonas Pelz set off on a road trip to the Netherlands for a buying journey focused on securing vintage finds. The trip can be seen as a sort of tribute to all the journeys he made during Grandpa’s first 10 years. Back then, he regularly went on buying trips to both the Netherlands and Germany, driving a Volkswagen Transporter.
Jonas! It’s been 12 years since the last vintage trip, how did it feel to be on the road again?
Haha, it felt good, but actually a bit nerve-wracking too. I really had no idea what to expect when it comes to vintage and second-hand in Holland these days. Would I even find anything this time?
What was the biggest difference since last time?
I would probably say the prices, combined with the fact that the Netherlands has developed a much more organized second-hand approach similar to what we see in Sweden with charity-driven flea markets such as Myrorna and Erikshjälpen. In the Netherlands, they’ve gone even further, and there are several organizations that run very structured, well-organized flea markets. Which is great in many ways - but unfortunately, you rarely find anything there. Instead, you're more likely to be struck by the incredible excess of products in today’s society.
Also, during the first ten years of my buying trips, Google wasn’t as prevalent, and I didn’t even have a GPS – I navigated with a regular map. Now, you can search for interesting places and simply follow the GPS. So that’s a big difference, obviously.
What was familiar?
As a country, I think a lot was the same. I’m really fond of the Netherlands, and especially their “brown cafés” – all the simple restaurants with lots of wood interiors. Simple places that are incredibly charming for that specific reason. They’re places that everyone visits, and they’re not conceptualized in any way. They timeless, so they don’t really change, which is very refreshing.
As for the vintage hunting, several of the vintage dealers I’ve worked with before were still there, so that was familiar. A few of the markets I used to visit were still around but with a more limited assortment. I also found several new interesting spots and markets, so the overall feeling was still that a lot was still the same.
What was the highlight of your trip?
Hard to say, I found so many exciting spots. But one of my personal highlights was one of the accommodations. I had planned to stay in Amsterdam for a few nights over the weekend, but it turned out to be nearly impossible to find a decent place to stay. Apparently, it was the Amsterdam Marathon that weekend, which likely had an impact. Eventually, I found a small place in a village 30 minutes north of Amsterdam. A typical small Dutch village with a bar/restaurant and a place to stay. The room was super simple but the bar downstairs was lively, and I showed up like some sort of alien. Incredibly charming.
[b]Do you have any recommendations on places to visit for someone who wants to do a similar trip, or is everything top secret?
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Some places are definitely top secret. But as I mentioned, there’s a lot that’s easy to find just by searching on Google, and also plenty of good recommendations on Instagram or TikTok. But I would absolutely recommend visiting "Noordermarkt" in central Amsterdam on Mondays. Get there early (07:00) and experience the atmosphere. It doesn’t get much more “Europe” than that.
What was it like driving an electric car all the way down? And what do you think of the ID.Buzz?
The feeling of driving electric is unbeatable. Both from an environmental perspective but also because of how quiet and smooth it is. It’s a bit more challenging in terms of charging and planning, but you learn quickly. The ID.Buzz doesn’t have the longest range (400 km), but I didn’t find that to be a problem. You need to stop every 2-3 hours anyway to use the bathroom or stretch your legs. The difference is that you can’t just stop anywhere; you want to pick a charging station to go with. In my case, I used Ionity as much as possible, which was fine, but I found their charging stations to be poorly located. Sometimes there was no restroom or restaurant available, which was strange and irritating. But most of the time, charging stations are connected to that kind of service. Another thing I noticed was that when driving in cities, charging wasn’t an issue at all. The battery lasts a long time in that case, and the ID.Buzz is incredibly smooth in cities. It feels like a regular car but with a higher seating position and better visibility. I love it! Plus, it attracts a lot of attention. It has a cool look- a bit bold but still very friendly.
[b]Finally, what is your best find from the vintage trip?
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Also hard to say. A “find” for me could be a really nice book or some of the more unique items, though they’re not always bargains price-wise. I did buy a very nice display cabinet, one of those cabinets that are practically NEVER for sale because they’re used by the dealers, but I was able to buy this one. So that was definitely a great find. The rest of the treasures – you’ll have to come see on November 29th at 4 PM when we’re hosting an after-work / release event to showcase my purchases!
Keep an eye on our social media channels for more content from the trip. And the actual vintage finds? They will be released in our Södermalm store in Stockholm on November the 29th. See you there!