Wednesday 17 September 2014

House of Dub Open Day with show and shine, (part 2 of 2)

The House of Dub / H.O.D. Imports are a Volkswagen repair shop specialising in both air cooled and water cooled VW's. Every year they hold the annual open day at their workshop near the village of Wing in the glorious countryside of Buckinghamshire. This is where local VW owners can visit the workshop to look around, chat to Zoe and Spike about what they can offer and of course enjoy the open day with a show and shine. (If you missed part 1 of my blog review of the show you can check out 'my archive' to the left of this page). Part 2 of my blog review continues in the show field at the water cooled line up.
 
Paul came along to the open day in his very
distinctive Mk2 Golf. I do like that chequered
front end, it really makes this car stand out.
Paul is a House of Dub VW club member.

This superb hot rod themed Beetle arrived
late in the afternoon. It features a wicked roof
chop, and sitting super low, (without air
suspension) and it's running fender less with
spoked wheels that remind me of 1940's Ford
spoked wheels.

The front end was amazing. Not only running
without wings, it also has the inner wings
removed exposing the floor pan and steering.

Interior was pure old skool hot rod. A central
billet alloy instrument panel housing all the
clocks, and a classic look steering wheel
made from steel. A nice touch was the alloy
door cards with the punched holes, and the
alloy bucket seats.

The rear end carried on the hot rod theme with
the rear wings, rear valance and deck lid all
being removed. The rear lights on the side of
the body were side, tail and indicators all in
one.


That low stance, the roof chop and those
lovely 17" spoked wheels make this Beetle
look amazing. I did like the drilled holes in
the body behind the rear wheels.
 

Another neat touch was the fuel filler. To put
petrol in this bug you simply put the nozzle of
the petrol pump through the back window.

Sitting so low with those big hot rod style
head lights and the roof chop really make this
car something special.

Another House of Dub VW club member was
Tony who attended the open day in his cool
looking 1985 T25 crew cab pick up.

This really is a nice looking pick up, OK it's not
painted and shiny but sometimes there is more
to a nice VW than just a fresh coat of paint.
The voters at the show must have agreed with
me because Tony won the best T25 category.
Well done mate.

Andy, Annaliese and the kids came over from
Aylesbury in their 1970 baby blue early bay.
Andy and Annaliese bought their Californian
 imported bay from the House of Dub about 18
months ago. This really is a nice looking bay.

This late bay single cab pick up was looking
so cool sitting very low with a narrowed front
beam and painted decals.

Moving around the show field I arrived at the
T4/5 show line up. This is just a very small
selection of the T4/5's that attended the open
day. As with every vehicle category at the
H.O.D show there was plenty of different
styles on show to suit everyone's taste.

Mark came along in his immaculate T5. The
colour of this T5 is gorgeous as is the black
gloss wheels and the newly re-trimmed leather
interior. Mark won the award for 'Best T5'
Well done mate.

A pair of red Beetle's. Only 1 year separates
these two bugs but the styles are so different.
The '71 on the left is sitting low with a nice coat
of paint and plenty of chrome work and in show
condition. The '70 bug on the right is used for
off road trails so things like a nice coat of paint
and chrome are surplus to requirements. The
'70 Beetle belongs to Kevin from Aylesbury who
cruised over in our small convoy.

Kevin's son Sam popped over to the show
in his own trail style Bug and parked up in the
Beetle line up. Every show needs variety to
make it interesting and Kevin and Sam made
sure there was plenty of styles at the H.O.D.
open day.

A gorgeous 1965 split screen panel van
finished in an unusual yellow / green and
white with Fuchs wheels. The full length roof
rack and safari screens, and not to mention
that narrowed front beam just add to the overall
look of this bus.

This really is one nice and straight panel van.
The lovely colour of that body is complimented
by the white bumpers and upper body / roof.

This gorgeous metal flake blue beach buggy
arrived later in the afternoon. The body is an
original Meyers Manx. Bruce Meyers was an
engineer from Fountain Valley in California
who first created the kit car based on a
shortened Beetle chassis way back in 1964.

There are various manufactures that produce
beach buggy bodies now-a-days, but you can't
beat an original Manx and this one was stunning.
The white fabric hood was in stark contrast to
the blue metal flake paint, and it looked great.

As most buggies are open to the elements the
interior is at best sparse with only the essential
equipment required.

The original Meyers Manx badge on the front
of this buggy.

This lovely early Beetle arrived quite late in the
afternoon. This early '60's bug was finished in
beige with colour coded wheels and whitewall
tyres, and it looked gorgeous.

This beauty looked all original and was so
straight and clean. If you look closely you can
see the front inner wheel arch is painted to
match the body and the paint finish was as
good as the body.

This really is a gorgeous looking Beetle, and
in showroom condition.

A late comer to the show was this late bay
with military heritage. I didn't catch the owner
to ask him the origins of this bay bit I'm pretty
sure it started life somewhere in the military.

Very unusual rear body shape, maybe a troop
carrier? The interior had been converted to a
camper but you could see the possibilities for
Army use.

I'm not sure if that side window would have
been part of the original specification, but I'm
sure the ladder to gain access to the roof is.
Riding at standard height with a spare wheel
on the front, you can imagine this bay carrying
troops across fields.

This is such a rare photo, that you will probably
never see another like it again. Before we left
Aylesbury to cruise over to the H.O.D open day
Claude was having a spot of battery trouble.
And as we were planning to leave the show
the battery was flat again, but fellow Outcast VW 
club member John was on hand to help Claude
get started. This is the first time that I have known
of, that Claude's bus has let him down. Just goes
to show you need to use your bus more Claude.

So that was the House of Dub / H.O.D Imports
open day 2014. Overall a very enjoyable day
with old friends and some new friends. The
weather was good and with a chilled and layback
atmosphere everyone enjoyed themselves. My
blog review only contains a small selection of
the vehicles that attended the open day. My
apologies to anyone who attended the show and
who's vehicle I haven't included in my review, but
I only a limited amount of space on here.
For more photo's check out the House of Dub's
photo album on the event, which is more
comprehensive than my review.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=oa.10152629359565673&type=1
 

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