Home » Become An Autopian Member, Maybe Win This Fancy Camp Blanket

Become An Autopian Member, Maybe Win This Fancy Camp Blanket

Blanket Time
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Hey y’all! It turns out I won a Volkswagen caption contest at the launch of the 2024 Volkswagen Atlas. The prize? A super fancy camp blanket that’s too nice for me to keep. The good news is, one of the perks of membership (at all levels) is that we’ll randomly send out awesome swag we get from events to members (sign up here!). Also, let’s make this fun.

As detailed in our first ever Junket Report, I hadn’t participated as a journalist in a car launch in like six years and mostly spent my time reacclimatizing myself. When the very nice PR folks announced they’d be having a social media contest I was too preoccupied to enter. Huzzah! Someone else must have entered me, because I won. Here’s the tweet btw:

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

What I’m pretty sure I won is a fancy Rumpl (I think that’s what they said) camp blanket, like this one, but with a cool Volkswagen logo on it. The value is probably over $100 and I generally don’t keep anything I get from automakers worth more than a nominal amount, so I’m going to give it to you (…but I will accept a fancy brand new car with a full tank of gas and a free trip? The first rule of Automotive Journalist Ethics is to not think too much about Automotive Journalist Ethics).

[Editor’s Note: Yeah, Matt, be cool, be cool – JT]

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How do you get it? Just be a member and at the end of the day I’ll use a random number generator to randomly select a person based on their internal member # (which is based on when you signed up).

[Editor’s Note: I’m gonna write the random number generator in BASIC on one of my Apple IIs because I trust that pseudo-random number generator more than Google. – JT]

That being said, let’s have a little fun: Come up with the most Volkswagen-sounding name for a new, convertible Volkswagen crossover (a la CrossCabriolet) that will probably never exist. It can be an extremely simple English word (Golf, Rabbit) or a wind (Passat), or a group of people (Touareg). Just make it sound both hilarious and realistic at the same time.

BTW, as mentioned, I’m keeping this post open for non-members so everyone can play. Only a member can win, though (and again, the winner will not be the person with the best response, this is just for funsies). If you want to be up for being randomly chosen, do please sign up and become a member! We are two short of 900 members and Peter made a fun graphic he wants to share on social when we hit that number.

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MATTinMKE
MATTinMKE
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Hardigree

Very NPR of you.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
1 year ago
Reply to  MATTinMKE

Still no Autopian tote bag though.

Andreas8088
Andreas8088
1 year ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

You joke, but I would actually love an Autopian tote bag. All the stores near me are BYOBag now.

Myk El
Myk El
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Hardigree

Do it! I’ve been using these Toyota bags I picked up over the course of several autoshows for years. I’m afraid their nearing the end of their natural lifespan.

Alec Weinstein
Alec Weinstein
1 year ago
Reply to  Myk El

I ran out of those and moved onto Hyundai a few years back. Expendable, but keep one or two nice to show the whippersnappers

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Hardigree

DO IT

Cryptoenologist
Cryptoenologist
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Hardigree

If you ever want free help with ideas and execution of free or paid merch, I have been responsible for corporate gifts before and have figured out some really choice items.

AC2DE
AC2DE
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Hardigree

I had a couple of tote bags from the Performance Racing Industry trade show that I used for years. These would sell, especially with the graphic design chops that several staffers here have!

Ben
Ben
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Hardigree

I always keep a tote bag in my cars in case of unplanned shopping trips while I’m out and about so I would be 100% in favor of an Autopian tote bag. Also, my 15 year old Target tote bags are finally starting to fall apart (RIP) so I’m going to need replacements anyway.

Trust Doesn't Rust
Trust Doesn't Rust
1 year ago
Reply to  Andreas8088

I’d take an Autopian tote bag. I could finally stop carrying spare parts around in my pants like a sucker.

Not Sure
Not Sure
1 year ago
Reply to  Andreas8088

Same, I could probably make do with an Autopian five gallon bucket. Sure, store clerks might look at me funny but it could do double duty as a wrenching seat and tool carrier. But then there’s the shipping cost… never mind, I’ll make my own.

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago
Reply to  MATTinMKE

…does this mean we get an upcoming audio feature on the Jeep cats?

(Sidenote: NPR actually had a feature on Jeep owners “ducking” each other the other day, which made me chuckle. They know about the ducks! RUN!)

Last edited 1 year ago by Stef Schrader
Taco Shackleford
Taco Shackleford
1 year ago

How about: sol der sonne-cross

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
1 year ago

Das Sphincter Volks.
AKA buyers of such an offering.

MaximillianMeen
MaximillianMeen
1 year ago

The Thing was essentially a convertible crossover, so…
The Thing II – Electric Boogaloo.

Last edited 1 year ago by MaximillianMeen
Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago

OOH YES

Icouldntfindaclevername
Icouldntfindaclevername
1 year ago

I’m now a member!

Eileen Seibert
Eileen Seibert
1 year ago

Luftwagen

Trust Doesn't Rust
Trust Doesn't Rust
1 year ago
Reply to  Eileen Seibert

Absolutely this and I’m mad I didn’t think of it first.

Andrew Bugenis
Andrew Bugenis
1 year ago

I’m going to say AllAtlas. The Atlas name is already on two different vehicles – Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport – so a crossover convertible base on, probably, the Cross Sport makes sense. All is… a good sounding word and marketing can probably come up with something about how you can see all going on around you, how all includes you and your environment and you’re now closer to it – a part of it, and so on and so forth.

Chris Stevenson
Chris Stevenson
1 year ago

The Volkswagen Murano?

Acrimonious Mofo
Acrimonious Mofo
1 year ago

VW Heiserwindschulter

Chemodalius
Chemodalius
1 year ago

The VW ID.10T. It’s the car that has a painfully simplified interior with everything labeled in the simplest pictograms possible.

Tap-n-Die And Some WD-40
Tap-n-Die And Some WD-40
1 year ago

Introducing the 2025 Volkswagen Heckbland

Tap-n-Die And Some WD-40
Tap-n-Die And Some WD-40
1 year ago

I’m not saying VW’s design language has gone entirely downhill (see ID.Buzz) but somehow they’ve nailed “swoopy but still generic”. Honda and Hyundai are looking more German by the minute (maybe because they hired all the German designers).

The Artist Formerly Known as the Uncouth Sloth
The Artist Formerly Known as the Uncouth Sloth
1 year ago

I’ll chime in with the Betrügerisch

Eric Brandt
Eric Brandt
1 year ago

Flue

Alec Rosenbaum
Alec Rosenbaum
1 year ago

Kreuzbohrungen.

German translation for Cross Boreas.
Boreas is itself an ancient Greek name for North Wind.

Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
1 year ago

Volkswagen New Thing.

OrigamiSensei
OrigamiSensei
1 year ago

Well, they already have a Golf and a Polo, why not a Rugby or ID.Rugby?

MaximillianMeen
MaximillianMeen
1 year ago
Reply to  OrigamiSensei

Seems wrong to name a topless car after a style of shirt.

Jb996
Jb996
1 year ago
Reply to  OrigamiSensei

Because the named sport needs to appeal to the upper-class:
VW Badminton
VW Croquet
VW Tennis
VW HomelessPeopleDeathMatch

You get the idea…

Stronk
Stronk
1 year ago

VW Atlas Avoauto

10001010
10001010
1 year ago

My favorite German word is Sitzpinkler.

BentleyBoy
BentleyBoy
1 year ago
Reply to  10001010

Gesundheit!

Icouldntfindaclevername
Icouldntfindaclevername
1 year ago

VW Cleair

Maymar
Maymar
1 year ago

VW Rumpl sounds like an early coachbuilt Beetle convertible.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  Maymar

It’d work now, too. They could talk about their safety with crumple zones and the fun of the “Rumpl zone.”

Last edited 1 year ago by Drew
NewBalanceExtraWide
NewBalanceExtraWide
1 year ago

The Volkswagen Flatus. It’s a kind of wind, right?

Amberturnsignalsarebetter
Amberturnsignalsarebetter
1 year ago

How about the breakwinder?

Mrbrown89
Mrbrown89
1 year ago

VW Caribe was the name of the Golf MK1 in Mexico. Caribe translate to Caribbean, when you are driving with the top down you can feel the breeze of the caribbean lol need more coffee

Max Headbolts
Max Headbolts
1 year ago

Volkswagen Up! Down! Edition!

Amberturnsignalsarebetter
Amberturnsignalsarebetter
1 year ago
Reply to  Max Headbolts

Take your damn blanket, that is excellent.

Angrycat Meowmeow
Angrycat Meowmeow
1 year ago

Volkswagen Harmattan sounds very believable

Arrest-me Red
Arrest-me Red
1 year ago

Nice perk, grants in advance on whoever wins. I used to use a C64 Random Number generator.

VW name? Farfromworkin? The Bugout?

NewBalanceExtraWide
NewBalanceExtraWide
1 year ago
Reply to  Arrest-me Red

Aren’t German scouts called Fahrtfinders? I would love a Fahrtfinder.

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago

I mean, that’s gonna be anyone in my wake as soon as I digest this lox bagel.

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