Saturday 25 April 2015

Emberton Park with the H.O.D.

The House of Dub (H.O.D.) is primarily a Volkswagen repair shop based near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. On the back of this repair shop they have formed a Volkswagen club for owners of both air-cooled and water cooled Volkswagen's to meet up once a month and generally discuss everything Volkswagen, as well as the normal chat that comes from a group of like minded friends. The H.O.D. have their club night on the first Monday of each month however this month it fell on the April bank holiday, on Monday 6th, so rather than have the normal evening club meet at the Boot Public house in Soulbury, they decided to have a family day at the Emberton Country Park in Buckinghamshire. Emberton Country Park is an ideal location for a family day because the children and dogs could play within the safety of the park and it's where the adults could get the BBQ fired up and enjoy some like minded company. Zoe from the H.O.D. put a post on their face book page inviting all the friends of the club page to come along and attend the family day. Check out the House of Dub face book here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/houseofdubvwclub/ The weather forecast was promising with plenty of sunshine assured so hopefully the attendance would be good...My apologies to some of the owners who turned up but who's name's I didn't know.
To see all my other blog entries, go to ‘My Blog Archive’ to the left of the page. Simply click on an arrow for a particular year, then click on an arrow for a particular month, this will then give you a drop down menu for all the blog entries for that month.

Upon entering the 200 acre parkland site I did
wonder if I would be able to find the H.O.D club,
but I need not have worried as the glow coming
off this super bright orange late bay helped me
find the way through the maze of lakes.

This lovely 1976 LHD Westfalia  with a pop top
looked great parked up in the sunshine. I think
this is a U.S. import, it certainly looked clean
and solid enough to be one.

The rear of the Westy sporting a U.S. number
(licence) plate, maybe this is the original plate
for this bus?

Colin and Zoe came over to Emberton Country
Park in their super clean 1997 bright red T4
with it's cool looking matt black bonnet.

This really is a nice looking T4 that Colin has
done a lot of work on recently and it shows.

I have to admit that I don't know much about the
new T5's, except that I do like them. This silver
T5 was parked up and looked awesome, I love
the colour, that massive tinted rear window, and
those huge custom wheels.

This beauty looked great in the sunshine, this
looks as though it has a pop top, which would
make the interior so much more spacious. The
bike rack on the back meant they could take
their bikes, so they could get around easily at
the campsite or even a country park.

This gorgeous 1966 LHD split screen was also
parked up in the sunshine. This bus really did
look immaculate in it's white over light blue paint.
The interior of this split screen was as nice as
the outside. A neat custom made interior with
cream vinyl seats with blue piping. The attention
to detail was amazing.

Gorgeous looking padded vinyl door cards
finished in the same blue and white as the body
add a classy touch to the interior. 

I don't know the owners of the split, but I believe
they are a family with young children, now why
couldn't have my parents have had a cool looking
split screen like this when I was a kid??
A better look at the door cards and seats, and 
the classic standard interior of a split screen.
A slightly messy front bench seat, but it proves
the bus is used and enjoyed as it is supposed
to be and not locked away in a garage.

Mark, (AKA Bod) is a member of the H.O.D.
and came along in his immaculate green T5.
This van must be one of the cleanest T5's
around and in such a gorgeous colour.

Such a vast amount of a single colour should not
work, but this gorgeous green on Marks T5
certainly does work, the contrasting tinted
windows, and the black painted wheels add a
nice amount of contrast.

Mark is serious about how his van looks and
even has colour co-ordinated stickers on the
tinted windows.
Neil is another House of Dub club member and
came along with his daughter to the family fun
day at Emberton. Neil's white T4 has a few old
skool hot rod traits, such as the red painted steel
wheels with white wall tyres, and the custom pin-
striping on the bonnet. Chatting to Neil he was
saying that he is thinking about painting scallops
along the sides of the van which is yet another
hot rod theme.

Neil has done a lot of work on his van recently
including a functional interior which includes a
bed and a sink. I do like Neil's recent e-bay
purchase, the old skool cruiser type cycle on
the roof rack which actually matches the van.

Just one of the 2 cartoons Neil has recently had
drawn onto the side of his T4 as you can see in
the above photo.

This lovely green T4, was I think owned by a
couple from the Dunstable Dubbers VW club
(although I could be wrong) This really was a nice
clean van, and that shade of green looked great
in the spring sunshine.

Lovely straight body panels and a lovely coat of
paint is all you need to stand out. A neat touch
was the sign written name of the van, 'Envy' on
bottom of the tailgate.

Another  neat touch was the use of used shotgun
cartridges as covers for the wheel nuts. 

Zoe, from the House of Dub and her daughter
came along in her recently purchased white T4.
 This pop top model is an addition to Zoe's VW
collection, she also owns a 1967 beetle which is
currently having  some restoration work done at

the House of Dub workshop.

Just a plain white T4, ideal for some stealth
camping although I'm sure Zoe will put her

mark on the exterior, she already has all the 
home comforts inside this van. I did like the 
custom rear light clusters.

Aaron and Robyn cruised over to the H.O.D
club meet at Emberton Park in the spring sunshine
in their gorgeous blue and white 1960 split screen.

This really is such a nice straight and clean bus,
it's amazing to think that it's 55  years old.

I was trying to be artistic in this photo by taking a
picture of the red bay window looking into Aaron's
hubcap, needless to say it did work very well...

Although it does show how clean Aaron's wheel 
and hubcap are..!!

Aaron had left his safari screen's open to cool
the bus down in the sunshine, so I took the
opportunity to get a photo of the interior of this
lovely split screen bus.

This bright red and white late bay looked amazing
in the sunshine, I do like the contrasting white
pop top and bumpers. I also liked the twin spot
lights mounted onto the bumper.

This bus looks like a nice clean and straight
example of a 1978 camper van. 

My 1969 VW Microbus parked up in the field
at Emberton Park that the H.O.D. have been
allocated for the family day gathering. I have just
purchased some new side reflectors, as she
would have had them from new. When fitting the
new reflectors I realised that the old mounting
holes had just been filled with some filler, so all
 I had to do was knock out the old filler and re-use
the original factory made mounting holes.

I am pleased with her new look, but think the
new reflectors are just a bit too shiny at the
moment. The wood effect bumper is coming
on nicely.

This 1987 all white T25 parked up alongside me
and it did look good. This lovely bus was at the
standard ride height, which always looks good,
and the bodywork looked amazing straight and
rust free.

I didn't catch the owners names but again they
were a family with children. I do like the solar
panel fixed to the rear side window. This is
something I have thought about for my bus as

it would ideal for charging the phone and other
small items.

My '69 in line with a variety of other air cooled
and water cooled Volkswagen's at the family
fun day at Emberton Country Park.

The family day made a nice change from the
normal evening club meet in the pub. There
were a  lot of people with their children and a
few dogs and everyone had a great time.

The other visitors to Emberton park were quite
interested in all our vans and buses parked up.

As I always say, variety is the key to a successful
club meet and at the family fun day they had plenty
of variety in all the members vehicles.

This cool looking 1972 baby blue beetle arrived
a bit later in the afternoon complete with the
retro roof rack with suitcases.

This beetle looked petty much standard apart
from the lowered ride height. Beetle's do look
nice when lowered, as this one proves.

I do like the flowing body lines of a classic
 beetle. This one had incredibly good body work
for a 43 year old car that has spent it's entire
life in the cold damp conditions here in the U.K.

This is the House of Dub club meet at Emberton
Park, members vehicles parked up, and the
owners are relaxing in the sun, the BBQ is getting
hot and the beers are cold.

Spike, from the House of Dub workshop came
along in his new works vehicle. Chatting to
Spike he said it was a good enough vehicle
it but seriously needed lowering, and soon.!

This late bay arrived later in the afternoon. It's
grey primered lowered body with white roof
stood out in the sunshine. I did like the 2 bow
roof rack and sun visor which helped this bay
window stand out.

I often say that it's being different or the small
touches that make all the difference and this late
bay was no exception. I kept looking at this bus
and felt something was different, but I couldn't
figure out what it was. After a while I realised
that the sliding window and the one piece side
window are opposite to that on 99% of other bay
windows. The sliding window is normally towards
the front and the one piece window is normally
towards the rear, this bus has them the opposite
way round, but it's all about being different.!

The chequered tape along the white bumpers
was a nice touch and suited the bus well as did
the old skool slot mag wheels.

Tony came along with his partner and their 2
Rack Russell dogs in his super cool looking
1987 T25 crew cab. 

Even though the pick up is suffering from a few
teething problems, Tony decided to drive it
over from his hometown of Luton. 

The matt blue / grey body with the bright orange
cab roof and wheels make this pick up stand out
anywhere. Tony was saying that he needs to
replace the gearbox as the current box has the
wrong gear ratio's.

The event was billed as a Family day, so every-
one is welcome, and that includes the dogs.
Tony's Jack Russell's enjoying the sunshine in
the back of the pick up.

This stock looking 1969 Westfalia arrived later
in the afternoon. This U.S. import looked as 
though it was totally stock and original. OK it
had the odd knock and scratch but it was the
real deal, it had not been molested or repaired.

The front hinge pop top is my favourite version
of the Westfalia roof options. The interior was
just as original as the exterior, this really was
a lovely bus.

So that was the House of Dub family day, held
at Emberton Country Park in Olney, Bucks.
This was a very enjoyable day, and even though
I had to leave early(ish) and therefore missed
several other vehicles, everyone had a great
time in the sunshine. It was great to meet some
old friends who I haven't seen for a while and
nice to meet some new friends who I hope to
see again soon. A big well done to Zoe from
the H.O.D. for organising the day, and a big

well done to everyone who turned up, because
without them it wouldn't have been what it was.
I for one am looking forward to the next
 family fun day at Emberton Country Park.

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