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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment