House of Dub Irish VW Night

For those of you who read my blog regularly, you will know that on the last Wednesday of each month the House of Dud / HOD Imports hold their monthly VW meet. As the previous venue had closed down, Zoe from House of Dub had been searching the local venues trying to find somewhere suitable to hold the club meet. The new location was the Irish Centre in Bletchley, and I have to say what a good venue it is. It has a big enough car park, cheap beer and food and plenty of space we can use for different things. Well done Zoe!

 

Zoe brought the House of Dub latest import
vehicle, a lovely red bay with patina paint
which is up for sale, contact Zoe at
http://www.houseofdub.co.uk/Welcome for
more info about the bus or have a look at
it at VW Action this weekend at Santa Pod
Raceway.

This bay looks great with the sun bleached
paint.  



Spike brought his Audi powered T25, this really
is a beast.



Very unassuming look, until Spike floors the
throttle...

This golf was riding on air suspension, really
cool car, but I didn't catch the owners name.

Alix and Claire brought 'Betty Rose' their T25
which they intend to tour Europe in, and 
eventually get to Australia. Good luck
guys, have fun.

This is the latest H.O.D Imports bus to be
sold and the new owners Matt and Caroline
turned up to join us. They live just across the
other side of town to me, and hopefully we'll
see more of them at various VW gatherings.
Nice to meet you both tonight, see you both
soon.
 

This really is a nice bus, and which I'm sure
Matt and Caroline will have great time owning.

Ben brought his awesome Caddy along. I do
like this, everything about it is right.

I could have one of these as a daily driver.

Mark brought his super clean, super bright
T5, I just love this colour.

Who says single colours on something this
big doesn't work, I think you'll find it does.



Tony brought his lovely T25, with a 2.0 GTI
motor in it, this bus is so nice.

Another view of Tony's T25. One of the
nicest T25's I've seen, lovely colour, nice
stance and with a 2.0 gti motor it has plenty
of go too.

Gavin from Paint Shop Pro's brought his
Baja. As you would expect from a paint shop
owner, the paint is flawless.

The blue is actually a metal flake paint and
looks great when the light reflects onto it.

A somewhat blurry photo of my bay, and I'd
only had half a pint.

That's better, a clear in focus shot. See how
the paint shines in the evening sun...!


So that was the August H.O.D VW meeting at
the new venue. It was quite a good turn out of
vehicles and I think we all had a good time.
Nobody knows if it will be at the same venue
next month, but I hope so, as it has potential.

Brill Fun Day / Classic Car Show

About 15 miles from my hometown of Aylesbury nestled deep in the Buckinghamshire countryside is the historic village of Brill. Every August Bank Holiday they hold a beer festival with a fun day including a classic car show. My friend James asked if we would like to go, so Stuart, his wife Julie and daughter Amelia and I went along to meet James and Helen for a day out

 

We arranged to meet James and Helen at the
services in Thame en-route to the show.

Stuart had to get some petrol so the services
was a good place to meet.

We arrived at the show and parked up. James
brought Helen's yellow beetle, named Fanny.

Classic cars were abundant, and the MG was
a fine example.

Not necessarily a classic but this TVR was
a desirable sports car.

Another TVR in silver... very nice.

1960's Mk1 Lotus Cortina. Immaculate.

The Lotus motor. Not very big in size, but it
has plenty of power.

This TVR 3000M was slightly older than the
other TVR's, but was just as clean as just as
desirable.

Pontiac Trans Am. These Pontiac's get bigger
and bigger very year.

Early 1960's Triumph TR4 in race trim.

It looked fast even when just parked up.

And here's the reason, it participated in the
1962 Alpine rally.

A very early Riley.

A De Dion Bouton, circa 1912 ( I reckon)

You have to admire these guy's that keep
these vintage vehicles maintained and road
worthy. All these vehicles were driven here.

Another De Dion Bouton Tricycle, circa 1899.

I can't even begin to imagine what this must
be like to ride this on the road.

Another De Dion Bouton from 1901. This was
epically nice as it was not restored and still
had all the character it should have. OK the
paint was peeling and there was some wear
and tear present on the bodywork, but I like
to see them as they are and not all shiny and
as new condition.

It's a bit of a 'rat look' De Dion, but it was very
nice.

Big brass plate of the front confirms what it is.

Lovely Triumph TR6.

Early Chevrolet, looks like a Chevy de luxe
4 door to me.. but I could be wrong.!



Whatever model this is, it was lovely. I loved
the 50's turquoise colour.



This lovely dark green classic was, I think
an MG.

A stunning Austin Healey 100 circa 1955.

Even without computers, the designers of
these classics really knew how to make a
car aerodynamic.

Very clean early 1960's Morris Minor Van.

This looked as though it had been restored to
a very high standard. I doubt it was this good
when it left the Morris factory many years ago.

The owner was right to show it off, every
where you looked on this van was immaculate.

This mid 1950's Morris Minor convertible, was
also stunning, although I'm not sure the colour
was available from the factory.

Diamond white Triumph TR4, circa 1963.

Triumph 2000, again in brilliant white.

1960's Hillman Minx, in off white over bright
red.

I'm of that certain age where I can actually
remember these driving on the roads.!

Now this is different... a Rover 75

Another picture of the Rover, can you spot
what's wrong with this picture....

Yep, it has two front ends. Apparently the guy
that built this had nothing to do one Xmas, so
he decided to weld two front ends together.
It only has an engine at one end, but all the
interior is as it should be with 2 dashboards,
4 front seats complete with 2 steering wheels
(although only one steers)

Gorgeous bright yellow Triumph Stag. I do
like these cars.

Another Stag, this time in bright red.

Classic shape of these 1970's British sports
cars.

Time for a VW fix.. Stuarts chequered fronted
bay, Helen's yellow / white beetle and my
green bay.

Once we had parked up, we realised that
because my bay is a left hooker, and Stuarts
is a UK bus, our sliding doors were not facing
towards the beetle, so not to be unsociable
Stu and I changed our positions.

That's better. Stu actually swung his cooker
out and made a cup of tea...

Random shot of the classic car show.

Gavin, from paint shop pro's, brought his baja
along.

Metalflake paint looks so good on baja's and
beach buggies.

Nice photo of the crew all parked up.

 

Stuarts bus with cooker in operation.

 

James, Helen and Julie relax in the sunshine.

Helen's beetle looking shiny.

Helen, Julie and Stuart deep in conversation.

My bay looking along the row of classics.



This lilac beetle arrived mid way through the
afternoon and headed for the VW line up.



It was quite clean, and nice to see it there.

Mk1 Ford Escort 'Mexico's'

Very clean engine bay in the Mexico.

Helen's beetle.

On the way home, James, Helen and I
decided to do a quick photo shoot in the village
centre by the windmill.

My bay and Helen's beetle with the windmill.

Parked up opposite the windmill.

Brill's famous windmill which was constructed
circa 1680's.

The windmill was restored a few years ago,
and is one of the best preserved of the
dozen or so 17th century 'post mills' still
standing in the UK.

After the photo shoot, James led the way back
home via the back roads.

I wasn't even sure these were real roads at
some points, but we made it back to
civilisation eventually.

That was the Brill Fun day / Classic car show.
A very good way to spend a sunny bank
holiday, with good friends and some
very interesting vehicles in a beautiful rural
location.