Manteca, California police recovered three Volkswagen Microbuses owned by Tillamook County Creamery Association from a self-storage locker on July 14, 2014. The buses, which were part of a marketing tour, had been parked inside a Wells Fargo enclosed car trailer hooked to a Ford Super Duty in a hotel parking lot on Saturday, July 12th, when thieves stole the entire setup. The Ford and trailer were found on the side of the road near Sacramento, torched.

Each of the Volkswagens, which have been restored and have had their wheelbases shortened, are valued at over $100,000 apiece and are used as promotional tools during Tillamook’s tours as the “Baby Loaf Buses”.

Photo: Manteca (CA) Police Department

Here’s what we don’t understand: these are arguably three of the most distinctive Volkswagen buses on the planet. Even the gauges were cheddar cheese orange. What, exactly, was the plan when it came to stealing them? First they had a large-by-huge orange Ford truck with an equally large-by-huge car trailer with the vans PAINTED on them driving around town! Because nothing screams “subtle” quite like that combination, right?  Then they stuffed the three Microbuses into a storage locker, like nobody would notice. No cameras, no people around, nobody noticing a big orange truck offloading little orange trucklers…yeah, that’s plausible. And if they had been quick enough to maybe change the van’s color, what then? “No, officer, that speedometer came from the factory orange!” The whole plan seems to be face-palmingly stupid. Luckily, the vans seem to be undamaged and will be returned to Tillamook in Oregon.

It’s okay, little Baby Loaf, you’re safe now.

(Photos courtesy Charity Maness/Copper Gazette)