Saturday 26 March 2016

Dub Aid 5, Charity VW Show 2016 (part 1 of 2)

This weeks blog review is a 2 part review about the annual 'Dub Aid VW Show'. This show was held over the weekend of 18th - 20th March at Towester Racecourse in Northamptonshire, which if the weather is good is an ideal location for a VW show. However the forecast for the weekend was 'changable' and as the racecourse is in such an exposed location that wasn't good news. This charity show is now in it's 5th year and the previous 4 shows have raised over £22,500 ($32,000 approx) and that's even with all the costs of putting on the show each year, with the money going to the well known and very beneficial 'Great Ormond Street' Hospital for children. Unfortunately I couldn't attend for the whole weekend unlike numerous friends of mine, so I decided to drive over for just the day on the Saturday morning. Dub Aid is a local show for me as it's only 32 miles from my hometown of Aylesbury, Bucks. I decided to leave early and get there as soon as the gates were opened at 09.00am just to make the most of the day. I would have liked to have taken my freshly painted 1969 microbus to the show but I have a couple of minor problems at the moment (perished fuel lines and no brake lights) and I didn't feel it was safe to drive so I took my 1999 camouflaged T4 instead.
To see all my other blog entries, go to ‘My Blog Archive’ to the left of this 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. 


The first vehicle to catch my eye was this early
bay, which had huge amounts of real patina.
This 1969 panel van looked fantastic and I think
it had recently been imported from Long Beach,
California.

This old van looked just right, from the standard
ride height, to the original steel wheels with
whitewall tyres and even the new 3 bow roof
rack looked just right. 

This stock looking early bay really did look nice.
I'm not sure what it is that makes me like this
bus so much, but whatever it is, it's working. 

Kevin and John who are fellow Outcast VW
club members arrived shortly after me in Kevin's
cool looking T25 crew cab. (had I know they
were coming, we could have driven up together!)
Kevin bought this crew cab from a guy who 
imported it from Lithuania, but Kevin soon found 
out it had a few problems which he quickly
sorted out. This bus now has a 1900TDI engine 
which pulls like a steam train.

This has been a trusty workhorse for Kevin,
that has taken him to France and back 4 times
with each journey being over 1000 miles and
the old bus has never missed a beat. But
the time has come for Kevin to reluctantly sell it 

to fund another project. Kevin is asking a mere
£3,500 o.n.o. ($5,000 approx) which I think is
very reasonable and I wouldn't be surprised if 
it sells quickly at that price. If you fancy owning
this awesome, reliable crew cab give Kevin
a call on 07402 444420 or you can view it 
at the Volksworld show next weekend.

This bright green 1985 T25 Syncro looked great
parked up at the show. I do like these T25 
Syncro's as they just look tough and as they 
could go anywhere.

This really is a tough looking T25, and the
unusual green colour suits the look of this bus.
I did like where and how the spare wheel was
mounted.

A friend of mine Mark (AKA Bod) camped for
 the weekend in his luxurious 4 berth Navigator 
VW motorhome. This is how to camp out at 
a VW show on a cold and sometimes wet 
weekend in March. When I caught up with Mark 
he was just doing the washing up after cooking 
his speciality, a curry. Now that beats burgers 
and sausages which is the normal staple diet 
for us dubbers at a weekend show!

Another mate Darren also camped at the show 
in his 1972 bay window. Darren is a member of 
the Volkswagen Owners of Welwyn Garden City 
Club (VWOWGC) Darren and Robert (below)
can be found camping most weekends at some
VW show or other throughout the VW season.

Robert (AKA Bert) is also a member of the
VWOWGC club and camped out in his 1983

T25. Both Robert and Darren must cover
hundreds of miles each year just travelling to
and from VW shows.

This gorgeous 1965 split screen looked lovely
parked up. The two tone colour's on this bus
with matching bumpers worked really well.  

This really was a nice straight bus and the
paint accentuates the straight body panels. I
did like the 3 bow roof rack which is a nice
looking accessory that no doubt comes in
handy for weekends away.

This light blue late bay had a floral paint scheme
with what looked like hand painted flowers on
the body. 

The floral theme continued down to the
custom wheels.

This stunning 1972 Sierra yellow late bay looked
amazing, The body was so straight and solid
and the matching pop top canvas helped make
this bus stand out.

This looks like it could be a Devon Moonraker
conversion judging the style of that pop top,
although I could be wrong! Whatever conversion
it is, I did like it.

Yet another friend who camped out all weekend
was Kevin, who is a member of Oxdubz, amongst
other VW clubs. Kevin took his lovely long wheel
base twin slider T4. Kevin's 2002 bus looks so 
pretty in it's green and cream two tone colour
scheme which he has named 'The Grinch'

Kevin's gorgeous T4 parked up with Matthew
and Chris who are fellow members of Oxdubz
VW Club.

This solid looking 1968 early bay looked like a
nice honest bus. This looks as though it still had
the original paint, which is always nice to see.

Even though this lovely old stock looking bay 
was starting to show it's age, it still looked 
amazing and was still very desirable.

At first glance this unassuming blue T4 looked
like just another T4 parked up, but as I got closer
I noticed a few details that made this particular
T4 stand out.

The lovely metallic paint was finished to a very
high standard, and the old skool pin striping on
the tail gate looked awesome.

And those huge deep dish banded steel wheels
looked great in brilliant white.

The guy's from 'Voodoo VW' were trading at
Dub Aid and they brought along their yellow 
1986 T25 panel van.

OK it's not a VW, it's a gorgeous Airsteam
trailer. I do like the Airstream which was first
built in 1920 by Wally Byam. His first attempt
was a tent contraption that he built on a model
T chassis. The name Airstream was Wally's
idea as he wanted to build a trailer that would
be easy to move and tow like a stream of air.

This 1977 late bay in what looks like Dove blue
or a very similar colour looked really nice and
straight as you can from the reflection along the
bodywork.

This immaculate 1972 late bay looked great in
it's white over blue paint. The chrome bumpers
and the tinted blue rear window make this bay
stand out. 

This really was a nice clean and straight bus,
and with more tinted glass on the side this really
did look something special.Those polished
 Fuchs style wheels complimented the chrome
bumpers, headlight rings and fresh air grille.

This T25 4 x 4 syncro Westaflia sunroof multivan
caught my eye with it's immaculate white body-
work and those super bright orange wheels with
the orange 'syncro' decal on the side. I do like
the syncro, regardless of which VW model it is. 

I do like the thought of going over any terrain
 in a old Volkswagen.

This stunning Syncro had German licence plates
so I'm not sure if it's a German visitor to the show
or whether it has just been imported. The twin
roof racks no doubt come in handy to carry all
the extras and spares when going off road. 

Another vehicle to have German plates was 
this lovely looking white over orange late bay.
This, as was the syncro above very clean and
tidy.

There was plenty of variety at the Dub Aid 5
show. This photo was taken in the weekend
camping area.

'Just Kampers' attended the show in their lovely
1970 Preservation parts early bay panel van.
I have seen this van on numerous occasions
and it looks better every time I see it.

In the day visitor car park I spotted this really
immaculate 1970 white beetle. This little bug
was so clean and so straight I just had to take
a photo. The twin spot lights mounted on the
bumper was a nice touch that suited the car.

Perfectly straight body panels along with domed
hubcaps on the original black painted steel
wheels helped make this '70 bug stand out.


So that was part 1 of 2 about the Dub Aid 5 VW
Show. Part 2 will follow next Saturday where you
can see more buses including early and late bay's, 
split screens, T25's, T4's, and there's also a cool 
beach buggy so be sure to come back next week.

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