Today the House of Dub / H.O.D. Imports held their first 'Open day' with show and shine at their workshop near the village of Stewkley, nestled deep in the glorious Buckinghamshire countryside. Zoe, from House of Dub advertised their open day on facebook to the local VW clubs and all their VW friends. It was a chance to take your VW along to the show and chat with other VW owners and some old friends, to have a look around the HOD workshop and maybe buy some of the parts we had all been meaning to buy. It was to be a laid back show with time to chill and enjoy the sunshine.
 |
| Claude, Jean, Andy and I got their early, but even then the split screen line up was looking promising including Andy's blue panel, and Claude's grey kombi. |
 |
| The Beetle line up soon filled up with some really nice bugs. This pale blue early bug was really nice. |
 |
| It had all the right accessories and period parts. |
 |
| This later bug, owned by Simon Thomas had an awesome paint scheme, black over red with areas of the black removed to give a really cool patina look. |
 |
| Elliott and Alanna brought their cherry red beetle. |
 |
| For those of you who read my blog regularly you will have seen this ragtop beetle many times before. It seems everywhere I go, it's there.It's owned by Tony Smith and looks so cool. |
 |
| Yep, looks as good from the back as it does from the front. |
 |
| Pale blue beetle was low and had a narrowed front beam. The single spot light really makes the front end of this bug. |
 |
| Now that is low. Love the camber of those rear wheels. |
 |
| Talking of single spotlights, how good does this look on this early green beetle? |
 |
| The overall look of this bug was just right. Nice colour, nice wheels, nice and low... way to go! |
 |
| Tony from the Oxdubz Club brought his well cool notch back, and ended up winning best runner up in his catagory. Well done Tony. |
 |
| Lovely Ford truck arrived, I do like these types of trucks. |
 |
| Chevy engine had loads of Eddlebrock performance parts. |
 |
| Another vehicle from the Oxdubz was this lovely yellow buggy. I just love the polished alloy sides on this. |
 |
| Very nice looking buggy. |
 |
| Big T. also from the Oxdubz brought his super clean, square back. This is probably the cleanest square back you will ever see. I think I'm right in saying it used to belong to Jay Kay (Jamiroquai) |
 |
| The attention to detail is amazing. Hat's off to chilli n cheese (?) for keeping it so clean, it certainly paid off as Tony won 3 awards, best in his catagory, best interior and best of show. Well done Tony. |
 |
| A lovely looking Ford Popular arrived. Not sure what motor it was running but it sounded like a V8 as he left. |
 |
| I used to have one of these very much like this one, except mine was two tone pink.!! |
 |
| The water cooled line up was popular. A very good array of vehicles. |
 |
| Photo taken early in the day, for the T25 line up. Tony brought his blue 2.0L powered T25 and won the trophy for best T25. Well done Tony. |
 |
| In the bay line up this super bright green bay really stood out in the sunshine. |
 |
| A friend of mine form the Aylesbury area Shaun, brought his bay along, unfortunately he couldn't stay long as he had previous commitments. |
 |
| Another local, and good friend of the House of Dub was Alden who brought his red and black bay. |
 |
| Andy from Aylesbury came along in his split screen panel van, with the very distinctive Union Jack painted on the roof. |
 |
| This patina red bay looks very much like Spikes from the House of Dub. |
 |
| Claude and Jean followed me over to the show in his grey split screen kombi which won the 'runner up' award in the split screen category. |
 |
| Claude's bus from the rear. |
 |
| I didn't catch the name of the owner of this orange and white split, but it was very clean. |
 |
| The same goes for this red and white split. This had a lovely interior. |
 |
| A view of the water cooled line up looking towards the House of Dub workshop. |
 |
| Part of the line up in ' Best other' category. |
 |
| Looking across the show from the workshop. |
 |
| Beetle's basking in the sunshine. |
 |
| Mark Odell, from Dunstable Dubbers brought his gorgeous lime green T4. More of Mark later... |
 |
| Kevin Jackson from the Oxdubz also brought his lovely green and white T4. I do like this van. |
 |
| Again early in the day photo of the T4 / T5 line up. |
 |
| In the water cooled category this pair of Caddy's caught my eye. |
 |
| Here is a T25 I haven't seen before. Loved the chequered roof. This bus got the runner up award in the T25 class. Well done. |
 |
| Alix and Claire from the House of Dub brought their silver T25. I actually got talking to the guy and his partner who built this. A lovely couple who I'm sure we'll see again. |
 |
| Elliott and Alanna brought their super clean, super shiny cherry red beetle. |
 |
| If you look closely you can actually see where Elliott has been polishing..! |
 |
| Another shot of the Beetle line up looking towards the HOD workshop. |
 |
| This was the first HOD open day, and Zoe and Spike had thought of everything. We had a catering van, benches and tables and even a kids zone where the little ones spent hours colouring in VW pictures. |
 |
| Mark's grey and white bay was at the work- shop for some tender loving care from Spike. |
 |
| Being a company that imports bay windows from the sunny parts of California, it was only right that House of Dub displayed their latest additions. P.S the blue and white one is spoken for, isn't that right Andy..??? |
 |
| Everywhere you looked in and around the workshop there were patina'd bay windows. |
 |
| Yet another couple outside. These two are part of their latest consignment from the states. If you fancy any of these buses, get in touch with H.O.D http://www.houseofdub.co.uk/Welcome.html |
 |
| The sun shone all day, the vehicles kept arriving what better way to spend a Saturday. |
 |
| Elizabeth came to the show in her bay, I'm sure she almost lives in this. |
 |
| A very nice looking ratty split panel van. |
 |
| Looks like he had a subaru motor or something similar, definitely wasn't air-cooled.!! |
 |
| A very nice split screen with equally nice interior. |
 |
| Just a few of the split screens that were at the show. |
 |
| This green split was very clean and finished to a very high standard, and it won best Split Screen. |
 |
| Interior was a bit sparse, but still very well finished with some nice attention to detail. |
 |
| Ok, it's very nice but does it warrant the price tag?? |
 |
| My best mate, Stuart came along later in the day in his '71 bay, and entered the 'Rat' class alongside me. |
 |
| Stuart's bay in his now infamous red oxide with the chequered front. |
 |
| My bay trying it's hardest to shine in the sunshine... it just ain't gonna work, is it..! |
 |
| Looking across the field at the T4 /T5 line up. |
 |
| House of Dub had trophy's made up by a friend of theirs, Ash, who done an excellent job. |
 |
| This is the trophy for 'Best Rat' which both Stuart and I had entered in for. |
 |
| Zoe, form House of Dub carefully adding up the voting forms for each class. |
 |
| The prize giving saw Mark (Bod) win best T4/ T5 with his lime green beauty. Well done mate. |
 |
| How pleased does Mark look with his trophy. |
 |
| The voting for 'Best Rat' went down to the wire, with Stuart and I scoring exactly the same number of votes. Zoe had to then work out which one of us had more first places. and I just pipped Stu by one vote. Unlucky mate, I'm sure you'll beat me next time. So that was the House of Dub open day. A superb effort from everyone involved in organising the event. A special thanks to Zoe and Spike who without them this show would never have happened. Here's to next year. ! |
