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| Heading towards the entrance of the leisure centre I spotted this lovely looking high top T25 syncro in an army green colour. I don't know what it is about this syncro, but I loved it. |
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| This off road T25 really did appeal to me, I do like off road Volkswagen's and this T25 looked so good. It wasn't flash or have a fancy paint job but I think that just added to it's 'rough and ready to go anywhere' appeal. |
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| This gorgeous teal / turquoise late split screen panel van belonged to the guys from 'Karmann Konnections' who supply parts and accessories for classic Porsche's, and it looked awesome. |
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| Inside the Montem Leisure Centre main hall, the traders were all ready for a days trading. Tonya, Claude and I got in early due to pre booking our tickets so for the first 45 minutes we could walk round with ease. |
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| But very shortly after the mass crowds started to enter the place became packed very quickly. There were guys selling parts they have had kicking around their garages / workshops for ages and traders selling new parts and accessories. It was a nice mix of new and old parts, and the variety was immense. |
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| A slightly blurred photo from the balcony of the main hall. You can see just how busy it gets, and trying to have a good look at the traders stands in quite a task due to the depth of the crowds. You really can get everything here from ariel's to axle's to wing mirrors to windows and everything else in between. |
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| After looking around the stalls inside the main hall, Tonya and I headed back outside where I saw this lovely early 21 window split screen. I did like the look of this bus, with it's slight RAT look patina paint scheme. |
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| This T4 crew cab is outrageous. It's so unique, and whether you like it or hate you have to give the owner credit for ingenuity. Not only has he mated a caravan body to the chassis, but all the other accessories he has fitted is amazing. |
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| OK it looks like something out of 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and It's so ugly it's beautiful and I love it. I did like the ship lap siding on the caravan body which gives a contrasting rustic look against the shiny custom wheels. |
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| However do you come up with the idea for this? I suppose this could be called Volkswagen Glamping? I would have liked to have spent more time looking at this but time was pressing on and there was still so much to see. |
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| It's almost mandatory to have a Fire bus at a VW show / event and this lovely looking late split screen van fitted the bill perfectly. I do like Fire buses and never get tired of seeing them. I did like the unusual single spot light on the roof as opposed to the usual cyclopes light a lot of split screen buses have. |
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| This lovely 1967 early bay panel van looked so nice with what looks like OG paint. I do like the whole look of this van from the narrowed front beam, to the rear window blind and the all red U.S. style tail lights. |
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| This gorgeous 1970 fastback was immaculate and amazingly straight as you can see from the reflection in the lovely green paint. This really was a nice looking type 3. |
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| A truly diverse variety of air-cooled and water cooled Volkswagen's is always guaranteed in the Slough Swapmeet car park. |
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| This gorgeous Volvo Amazon, (also called the 122S in the U.S) looked amazing in it's bright red paint and chrome 5 spoke wheels. I do like these old Volvo's. The Amazon was produced from 1956 - 1970, but they never looked this good when they left the factory. |
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| This really was a nice looking car. The body was so straight, and the paint was flawless and not to mention that bright shiny chrome work. |
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| This lovely 1967 split screen crew cab pick up gave me some Déjá vu as I'm sure this bus was parked up in exactly the same position last year. This has to be one of the cleanest crew cabs out there at the moment. It really is super straight and super clean. |
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| You can see just how straight the panels really are from this photo. The inside of the cab bed is finished to the same high standard as the rest of the body. |
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| As you would expect the engine bay was also super clean. How bus owners manage to keep their engine bay look so clean is a mystery to me... I just wish mine was as clean. |
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| Taking of super clean crew cabs, how about this bright orange 1978 late bay. This really was an immaculate bus that looked great in it's almost perfect paint. I did like it's standard ride height. |
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| This stunning early split screen was without doubt my favourite split screen at the swapmeet. The single white coat of paint, with the chrome 5 spoke wheels and those gorgeous electric blue windows really made this old bus stand out. |
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| This is one of those vehicles you see every so often where you wouldn't change a single thing. The 3 bow roof rack and colour coded bumpers also help to give this bus the wow factor. |
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| Another bus with coloured windows was this very RAT looking early bay. This bay had what looked like orange perspex windows, which sounds YUK, but actually looks really cool. It even had a matching amber light on the roof! |
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| The old skool roof rack with the rear ladder, suited the look of this ratty bus. I did like the deluxe trim on the bumpers and around the body. |
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| This lovely 1966 beetle looked sweet with it's lowered stance and single colour paint. I think those Fuchs style wheels suit a lowered bug. I also liked the chrome towel rail bumper. |
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| The early bugs do have a certain something about them, it doesn't matter that this didn't have a show winner paint job, because it looked just fine as it is. |
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| This lovely 1970 white over red early bay had something I liked, but I cannot put my finger on what it was. Maybe it was the stock ride height, I don't know, but I did like it. |
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| Nope, I still can't work out why this lovely old bus appeals to me... I suppose it just looks right. |
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| I've seen this early bay panel van on several occasions and it looks just as gorgeous every time I see it. I love the Porsche decals and the high ride height. The white wall tyres suit the white of the decal lettering perfectly. |
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| Some body's little joke.. a dummy's lower torso is placed under the front of this RAT looking split screen to make it look like someone was under the bus. It did look very realistic. |
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| It wasn't all Volkswagen's parked up in the car park, this gorgeous purple Harley Davidson soft tail looked great parked up. |
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| Its alright, I'm not about to get mugged by this scary hooded individual, It's only Joe who is a mate from The Wolfsburg Weed Huggers VW club who's just coming to say goodbye. He's wrapped up warm for the drive back home in his beach buggy pictured in the background. It's not too cold walking around the car park, but driving a buggy at 60mph+ on the motorway in the U.K. in November, it does get a bit chilly! |
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| Joe just leaving the swapmeet in his super cool buggy, Joe is driving back with some other members of the same club. Joe also owns a lovely early bay. |
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| Just looking at Joe in this close up photo as he leaves the swapmeet makes me feel cold. Tonya and I were glad we were in my bay, at least we had some heat coming through the vents. |
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| Leading our convoy of 2 back towards home and less than 1/2 mile from the swapmeet I saw Julian who is also member of the Wolfsburg Weed Huggers VW Club and he had obviously broken down. Without hesitation Claude and I both pulled pulled over to see if we could help a fellow Dubber and a member of another local VW club. Julian was just phoning Joe in the beach buggy to let him know he had broken down. After Julian had contacted Joe, Claude and I pushed Julian just around the corner where we found a small company car park where Julian and Joe could work on the bug safely. |
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| Joe arrived back after a few minutes and Julian got down to telling Joe the symptoms of what had happened. Julian pulled up at the lights, and as he went to put the bug into 1st gear and the gear stick went all loose like it wasn't attached to anything. |
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| Julian had just 2 spanners and a screwdriver but that was enough to unbolt the old gear lever, where they found that the ball on the bottom of the lever, that selects the gears had sheared off. Joe volunteered to pop back to the swap meet to see if he could find a new gear stick for a '65 beetle and if so, he would purchase it. This was a long shot but it had to be worth a try as the alternative was either being towed home or to call for the recovery truck. |
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| Just as Julian was showing his disapproval at breaking down, a lovely baby blue and white split screen slowly drove into the same car park. Apparently he also pulled up at the lights and with the clutch pedal depressed the bus was rolling forward. He decided to find somewhere to sort out his clutch problem when he saw Julian's bug and my bay in the car park. |
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| I didn't catch the owners name but he was a nice bloke and as he didn't have any tools, I got my tool kit from the bus so he could use my tools. It turned out that the clutch cable was stretched and a after quick adjustment with a pair of pliers the bus was running like new. The owner was saying that he and his family had just returned from a 2000km trip across Europe and the bus ran perfectly, and yet he pops down to the local swapmeet and this happens! That's the joy of owning an old Volkswagen, I guess! |
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| The impromptu Volkswagen repair car park in Slough. Once the owner of the split screen had adjusted the clutch cable and after driving the bus back and forth a few times, he said that the clutch pedal had never felt so good !. |
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| A better look at the small car park we found in a side street which we instantly transformed into a Volkswagen repair centre. As There was nothing else Claude or I could do to help Julian we headed on our way. I spoke to Joe later that evening and Joe said he did find a gear stick for Julian's bug at the swapmeet for the bargain price of just £10. ($15 approx) Once Joe got back it was a quick and simple fix to get the bug back on the road and once again heading for home. |
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| And finally, when you go into the car park you are given a card to hang from your rear view mirror which has a number on it, this is the number the public can vote for your vehicle with for the 'King of the Car park' trophies. On the reverse on this card was some general information, and the paragraph about trading in the car park made Tonya and I laugh. So that was a brief 2 part review of the Slough Swapmeet. My photos are just a small selection of the vehicles that attended the event, there were lots more vehicles that I didn't photograph simply because I don't have the room on my blog. Overall it was. as usual a great day out with some great people. If your looking for some aircooled parts or accessories, or you just fancy a day out in November when the VW season has finished to see plenty of quality VW's then you really should head down to the Slough swapmeet next year. |
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