House of Dub, August monthly meet.

On the last Wednesday of each month the House of Dub VW club hold their monthly meet at The Globe Inn, in Linslade, Bedforshire LU7 2TA. The club meet is organised by House of Dub / H.O.D. Imports ( http://www.houseofdub.co.uk/Welcome.html ) I met Stuart / Liza and Steve at our club meeting place, The Charter Pub in Aylesbury for the short 10 mile cruise over to The Globe Inn.

My 1969 bay window which is a Californian
import and imported by The House of Dub.

Steve's '70 white beetle complete with roof
rack but minus the usual accessories he
normally carries around.

Steve mentioned that he very rarely drives his
bug in the rain, this could be why it's so solid
and relatively rust free.

Phil and his son Nathan came along in their
1975 red and white beetle. Phil had spent
most of the day polishing the car and it was
worth it, because this bug did have a nice
shine.

From the side view of Phil's bug, you can see
his hard work has paid off.

This was new to the HOD club meet, it was
owned by a guy called Kevin and he was
saying that the car was built some years ago
in Wales and was regularly used for time trials
up the sides of muddy Welsh mountains.

It certainly has the 'time trial' look about it.
Sitting quite high to provide ground clearance,
and minus running boards. I assume the rack
on the deck lid was for spare wheels and to
also provide weight over the rear axle to help
provide grip.

Plenty of ground clearance helps the car over
the muddy ruts and small rocks.

A regular at the HOD club meet is Tony in
his immaculate 1990, T25. This is one of those
vehicles that you never see with any dirt on.

Mark came along in his stunning T5. The
colour of this bus has to be seen to be
appreciated as the photo's do not do any
justice as to how nice it really is.
 

A single colour so bright on a bus this size
shouldn't work, but with the black tinted
windows, black wheels and black stripe, it's
just enough to make the paint scheme work.

Liza came over from Oxfordshire, met us in
Buckinghamshire, and then cruised with us
over to Bedfordshire to the club meet. Three
county's in one night, Phew.!

Stuart parked up at the meet and promptly
opened his engine hatch to let his turbo cool
down. Stuart has now re-designed his exhaust
system, to reduce back pressure and it now
consists on a piece of pipe about 8in long.

Mystery T4 parked up. I'm not sure who owned
this, but it was nice to see it at the club meet.
I have just been informed by Mark with the lime
green T5 that this T4 belongs to Darren, a
member of WGC VW Club, thanks Mark.

Simon and Amanda joined our convoy en-route
in their latest vehicle, a 1997 T4. I had a chat
with them both and had a look inside... very nice
and kited out with the camping interior.

Amanda had the right idea, order food from
the bar, and get it delivered to your camper.
Now that's what I call style. !

Another car I haven't seen at the club meet
before was this 1970 Notch-back. I did chat
to the owner briefly and he did tell me his
name, but I'm at that age where I forget things
espicially names, sorry mate. Phil just sent me
a message saying the owners name is Doug!
Thanks Phil.

Very clean from every angle. The U.S. style
all red rear light lenses, the roof rack and the
BRM wheels compliment the car perfectly.

Lovely straight bodywork finished off with
deep gloss black paint.

The Interior on this left hand drive notch-back
was lovely, it looked original and was in such
good condition.

Josh arrived later in the evening in his T4,
which I believe is up for sale.

Elliott and Alanna came down in their stunning
1970 cherry red beetle. This is another of
those vehicles you never ever see with any
dirt on it, quite a feat with the weather we
have in the U.K.
 

Such a pretty bug and very straight, look at
the reflection in the door of Elliott and Alanna's
bug. I do like those clear indicator lenses on
top of the wing, it's all about the small details.

Ash came along in his newly acquired Jetta.
You would never believe this cars paint was
so faded when Ash got the vehicle it was
a dull pink colour, but lots of polishing later
and it's gleaming deep red paint is back to
how it should be.

A lot of hard work has gone into this to make
it look this good, but it's certainly well worth all
the effort.

Lewis came along in his tough looking '82
Golf. This must be a menacing sight in your
rear view mirror.

Lewis's Golf tucked away under the trees at
dusk. This really is a nice looking car.

Neil came over in his '97 Golf, with the instantly
recognisable paint scheme, orange flecks over
gloss black. I do like the paint on this car.

Those orange wheels compliment the paint
scheme perfectly. A really nice looking Golf.

Ben decided to come along in his '99 Golf,
having left his spilt screen and T5 at home.
 

Ben's Golf tucked away under the tree's in the
car park. Ben works long hours so it's always
nice to see Ben and have a catch up.

Another Elliott, made his debut at the HOD club
meet with his impressive '71 deep red beetle,
even more impressive is the fact that Elliott is
still a teenager.

I believe the car belongs to Elliott even though
he's not old enough to drive yet, so was driven
to the meet by someone else. A pretty nice
ride for your first car! Apparently it has just been
M.O.T.'d and flew through with no advisories at
all.

Interior is pure '70's classic bug and looking
good. I bet Elliott can't wait until he's old enough
to drive this lovely bug on the road.

Stephen has started to work on his 1960 beetle
so he came over in his 1978 Californian bay
window import with pop top. Finished in a
lovely beige colour which looks like the original
paint and has the original chequered seat
covers and original curtains.. although these
are faded from the hot Californian sun.
 

Stephen was saying that like my bay, having
lived most of it's life in the sunny U.S. the bus
was quite solid and relatively rust free... not
sure how long that will last in the damp U.K.

So the August House of Dub club meet came
and went in the blink on an eye. It was good
to see so many familiar faces and meet some
new faces, (just wish I could remember their
names!) I'm not sure if the Globe Inn was
exceptionally busy or whether the HOD club
meet have almost outgrown the venue but
it was extremely busy and difficult to park
later in the evening. Still, could be worse,
the rainy season starts soon...



Photo quality: Unfortunately although it's still
only August, it's almost dark by 20.00hrs.
(it doesn't help that the car park is not
illuminated, apart from one bright orange
spotlight) I don't use a fancy camera or any
accessories and only use a Panasonic Lumix
FS16 14 mega pixel camera, so my apologies
if the photo's are not up to the usual quality,
but I guess we should be used to this living
in the U.K. !

Brill Village Classic and Sports Car Show.

Every year on the August bank holiday Sunday, the small picturesque hilltop village of Brill, nestled deep in the Buckinghamshire countryside holds a fun day with beer festival and a classic car show. This really is a good one day show that I and a few friends have attended before there is always plenty to do including: Craft stalls, face painting and junior disco and merry-go-round for the children, steam engine display, penalty shoot out, cream teas, Beer festival and of course plenty of classic and sports cars. This years theme for the fun day was The Great Train Robbery as it's 50 years since the daring robbery took place. In 1963 the Village of Brill became the centre of attention for the worlds media following the discovery that the train robbers hideout had been at Leatherslade Farm situated between the villages of Brill and Oakley. On display at the show was a Great Train Robbery exhibition including original media coverage and press cuttings, maps, photos and memorabilia relating to “The Great train robbery”

Stuart and I met James and Helen in the
usual meeting place at the lorry car park at the
Thame Service Station. James and Helen came
in Helen's beetle, with Stuarts chequered front
'71 bay and my '69 micro bus.

James led the way from the service station to
the village of Brill, a short distance of about
6 miles. The weather doesn't look promising.

Stuart brought up the rear of our small convoy.

After about 10 Min's we arrived at the show
and parked up. I think the weather forecast
had put many people off going to this years
show, as we had some heavy rain in the last
24 hours but the rain had stopped by the time
we arrived, and it was getting clearer by the
minute.

This nice looking pop top early bay was parked
up just 2 vehicles away from us, and of course
we had to go and say hello.They turned out
to be a very nice couple who lived quite local.

A lovely bright red 1969 Triumph Vitesse
convertible. Twin headlights on the Vitesse
make it instantly recognisable. 

I'm not sure what difference there is from the
back between the Triumph Herald and the
Vitesse, maybe there isn't any difference?

This stunning 1972 TR6 was immaculate and
had recently undergone had a total restoration
from the chassis up. The number plate is
pretty cool '1972 TR'  the owner also had a
1971 TR6, and yes it's registration number
was '1971 TR'.

There were quite a few Fiat 500's at the show
and this 1967 grey one was totally original
and in 'as new' condition. 

Immaculate from every angle. Stuart and I
were talking to the owner of another Fiat 500
and he was saying that they have recently
had a convoy of 6-7 Fiat 500's that travelled
down to Rome, in Italy for a holiday. A total
round trip of something like 2,500 miles.

The Ford Zephyr is as British as fish and
chips, and this late 1950's / early 1960's MK2
green and white one was immaculate.

With it's American influence on the bodywork
styling it soon caught on in the U.K. When
new the top speed of this MK2 would have
been 88 mph, and a 0-60 time of around 17
seconds. This was deemed to be quite
fast back in 1960.

This lovely white TR4A convertible was
another vehicle that must have been restored
as it's condition was amazing. The TR4A was
only produced for 3 years, from 1965 to
1968, and this one is a 1967 model.
 

Lovely looking car and when new this would
have cost £968, with the optional extras of
wire wheels (£36) Overdrive (£51) heater
(£13) and the seat belts were £4 each.

Another TR4A but this one had obviously been
raced in the past. With it's 2138cc engine it
was built to race and in 1966 in the Sebring
12 hour race, TR4A's finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
 

Classic design that still looks tough today, but
in the late 1960's this must have looked
amazing.

The classic Mk2 Cortina 1600E. This was
a higher spec model from the standard MK2
Cortina. The 1600E was introduced in October
1967 and featured the Lotus suspension, and
the high tune GT1600 Kent engine and had
a burr walnut wood grain dashboard with a
full compliment of instruments and walnut
door capping's with the Rostyle wheels.

Immaculate engine bay on the 1600E. Another
trade mark of the 1600E was the black
'dog bone' grille, compared to chrome versions
on other MK2's and the twin spot lights.
 

The MK1 Lotus Cortina was produced from
1963 - 1970 and only offered as a 2 door
model, and only in the white with green flash
colour scheme.

The 1557cc twin cam Lotus engine in this 1966 
model Cortina engine bay.

A 1938 Aston Martin International 2/4 seat
tourer in classic British Racing green,
although I'm sure Aston Martin would have
called it a different colour.

This had the 1.5 litre engine and the short
chassis. This Aston Martin is probably worth
in the region of £80,000

A very nice looking Standard Vanguard
Vignale, from 1958. It featured Italian styling
and was introduced at the 1958 Earls Court
Motor show. The cost new was £1147 and
had a top speed of 82mph, and 0-60 in
around 20 seconds.

This lovely 1949 Beford OB 2 axle bus was a
blast from the past. This 27 seater bus had a
3204cc petrol engine and was totally
immaculate.

The standard of the bodywork was amazing.

Inside this lovely old bus, the interior was even
better than the outside. Lovely wood detailing,
re-upholstered seats in original fabric and it
even had a sunroof.! ( that front section of the
roof slides back)

More lovely wood detail above the driver, and
that clock is pure period.

A Bedford CA Dormobile in a light green /
yellow with white flash. These were in production
from 1952 - 1969.

This one had the transporter style interior with
rear seats compared to the camping interior.

Lancia Fulvia Coupe, circa 1960's finished in
a lovely shade of red. More futuristic styling
from the 1960's.

A 1973 MK1 Ford Escort Mexico, in the red
and white colour scheme. Complete with the
4 spot lights and clear perspex headlight
covers. (note how the 2 lower spots point
outwards, this was first used on the rally cars
so the 4 spots illuminated not only the road
ahead but also the edge of the road, very
important when rallying)

A classic British car that I remember so well
as a kid, well OK a teenager!

This lovely 1958 MGA 31 AKF fixed head
coupe was amazingly clean. Finished in clipper
blue (although not a factory colour, it is very
close) with a factory fitted Webasto sunroof.

A stunning example of a 1973 Porsche 911
Carrera RS, finished in brilliant white with
bright green stripe. The 'RS' stands for
'Rennsport' in German, meaning
Racing sport.

I just love the styling on the rear end of this
1961 Daimler Dart.

Styling in the 1960's was so sleek, why do we
have to have such shapeless car styling today?

A stunning example of the Austin 7 saloon,
circa 1931. This car had some neat features
including a spare set of spark plugs on the
bulkhead, next to the fuel tank and a rear
window blind operated with a pull cord from
above the drivers side window.

Interior was complete with brass instrument
surrounds, and brass window winders and
door pulls.

A Morris Oxford Traveller, circa 1953 in a
restored condition. 

The single yellow spotlight on the Traveller
stood out, and upon closer inspection it is the
same Wipac spotlight, with the same design
glass lens as I have just put on my bus.

No classic car show would be complete with
out a Jaguar XK150, and this gleaming white
example was simply stunning. They were made
from 1957 - 1961 and you can tell the XK150
from the previous XK140 / XK120 by it's one
piece windscreen. The previous models had
a split screen.

The badge on the boot of the XK150, showing
the success of the XK series over the years.
 

This lovely looking 1958 Greeves Scottish
250cc trial motorcycle caught me eye. This
had the Villers engine designed to go almost
anywhere in the Scottish highlands.

Inside the pavilion was the 'Great Train
Robbery' exhibition. It had press cuttings from
the time showing the progress the police made
from the initial discovery of the robbery to the
capture of most of the robbers.

Probably the most famous train robber, Ronnie
Biggs, and how he looked in 1963.

The discovery of the train robbers hide-out, of
course the robbers had fled by this time.



So that was the 2013 Brill Fun Day with Classic
Car show, overall a very good day with good
friends. The weather could have been better,
although it did brighten up in the afternoon.
This is a small local show with not too many
VW's, but plenty of other classic cars, and
you know sometimes it's nice to go to
a show and see what other classics are
out there, overall a show well worth going to.