Serving delight since the 1960’s, Florence and Matilda both have quite the story leading up to their current lives with Polly’s Parlour.
Florence
The Volkswagen High Top Van was a popular vehicle and remains a vintage VW classic icon.
Between 1962 – 1967, the Swiss postal service bought 350 VW high tops. Florence was one of these and her number was P18647. Florence was used daily in Bern from 1966 to 1977 before being sold to a private Swiss buyer who used her for camping.
In 1992, ‘Florence’ was moved to Hungary and used as a camper-van and eventually as a tour bus for a local rock band.
It is in Budapest where Florence’s story began with Polly’s Parlour. After decades of travel and use throughout Europe this VW High Top was in poor condition, and work began for her full restoration.
Love, care and attention to detail was paramount keeping her as close to her original state as possible including restoring original parts. Keeping to original Volkswagen elements, even the paint used for Florence features two signature Neapolitan colours to create a true vintage look including hand-painted sign.
Following extensive restoration and care, Polly’s Parlour began in 2012, and the UK was introduced to the wonder of Florence.
Matilda
Similarly to Florence, Matilda was originally set for Switzerland with her birth certificate with original factory specifications showing she left the Wolfsburg Volkswagen plant, west of Hanover in September 1966. However, Matilda’s life with food service began much earlier to Florence where she was redirected to Belgium, modified for a life as a waffle van.
During the mid-1990’s, Matilda continued her foodie heritage relocating to Scotland to become a hot dog van. In time, she relocated again to be discovered in 2019, slumbering in a Cheshire barn requiring some TLC similarly to Florence.
Dedicating the same love, care and attention, Polly’s Parlour restored Matilda adding similar enhancements to Florence finished with a cream and pink candy stripes creating her vintage look and feel.
The Polly’s Parlour Experience
Care and attention to detail is clear with both vintage VW ice cream vans not only to their appearance, but to the experience brought to your event.
Inside both vehicles, ice cream is served from bespoke holdover freezers that require no running engines, generators or electricity during the day meaning peace & quiet for you to enjoy our delicious ice creams.
Along with our beautiful vintage VW ice cream vans, Polly’s Parlour enhance the experience from our signature dolly pegs for guests to redeem their delicious dessert, provide a unique photograph prop for guests.
To book Polly’s Parlour for your wedding, event or even for TV or photography purposes, get in touch today using our contact form.
