If you're up on the goings-on in the cheese world, chances are you've heard of Tillamook Dairy's tiny fleet of three promotional VW buses, all shortened, looking like a trio of drivable cheese cubes. Incredibly, someone stole them, along with their carrier truck, and Tillamook is offering $10,000 to find them.
The carrier truck and trailer was found burned in the Sacramento area, where the buses were stolen. The buses, of course, are still missing. The buses aren't just painted a distinctive color, they're all "shorty" buses, which means they all have severely shortened chassis, making them almost cubical.
According to Tillamook's site, it looks like only one is an actual bus; the others are a single-cab VW pickup and a Bus modified to be a convertible. The "shorty" look is a relatively popular conversion for VW buses, since they're so bizarrely cute and extremely willing to pop wheelies.
The buses have all been restored and modified to an extremely high standard, including custom cheese-orange instruments. It seems pretty insanely stupid to steal such distinctive vehicles, which will be almost impossible to sell intact. Unless whoever stole them is some anti-cheese supervillian and just wants the buses as trophies for his underground lair. I bet his name is Lactose The Intolerable.
It's a shame the buses were stolen, and I hope they haven't met the same fate as their carrier vehicle. If anyone has any information, you can call the Manteca Police Department at (209) 456-8101. Remember, there's a big reward!
I suggest checking the back lot at that Kraft factory first.
(Thanks, Ray!)