Saturday 9 April 2016

Volksworld Show 2016 ( part 1 of 3 )

The 2016 U.K. Volkswagen show season in the kicked off in style over the weekend of 1st  - 3rd April with the Volksworld Show at Sandown Park Racecourse, in Esher, Surrey KT10 9AJ. This annual show is organised by the Volksworld magazine (www.volksworld.com/and it attracts entrants and visitors not only from the U.K. but also across the whole of Europe, and the U.S.A. Due to the excellent venue this show boasts two floors of top quality show cars, plus hundreds more quality vehicles on display outside in the show and shine arena and at the club stands, and you will even find plenty of quality Volkswagen's of all descriptions in the public car park. There are numerous traders selling everything Volkswagen, from curtains and cushions to wipers and wheels, and yet a another floor dedicated to an auto jumble, which is a good place to source those hard to find original items. There are numerous catering vendors where you can get some hot food and hot / cold drinks, but beware they are expensive (£5 for a bacon bap !), There is also an provision available for overnight camping for the hard core campers who want to spend all weekend at the show. Visitor numbers at the show each day run into the thousands and the day visitor car park gets full up very quickly so I decided to get an early start, I had arranged to take some friends of mine, Dave and Angela down to the show so they collect their 'Comic Relief' Beetle that they had on show outside the main entrance, as they have done every year for the past 21 years!
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My 1969 microbus parked up at the Volksworld
show. It's only about 60 miles from my hometown
of Aylesbury to the show and it's the first decent
run out for my bus this year, and I'm pleased

to say she never missed a beat on the 120 
mile round trip.

Parked in front of me at Sandown Park was
this crazy looking sandrail. It looked like some-
thing straight of a Mad Max movie, and I loved it.

That awesome rear bodywork and those huge
tyres on those gold modular wheels looked 

fantastic. I think the guy that drove it to the
Volksworld show came from somewhere in
 Kent, which on a cold Sunday morning must
 have been very chilly but I bet it was fun.

The interior of this cool sandrail was as you
would expect being open to the elements,
very sparse with only the essential equipment
fitted.

This gorgeous imported 1970 early bay was
 parked a few vehicles away from me and it
looked so nice in the summer sunshine. This

was a lovely straight and clean bus.

I did like the truck style mirrors on this early
bay, I also liked the fact that they actually had
two mirrors at different angles for better
visibility, as using a LHD bay in the U.K can
be hard work at junctions and when overtaking.

This gorgeous late model red Karmann Ghia was
parked next to the early bay (above) and looked
great. The low stance, the black wheels with the
red wall tyres and the door decal gave this old
KG an awesome old skool race look.

This beauty looked tough with it's single colour
paint scheme, and those rear tyres filled the
arches perfectly. I did like the all red U.S. style
rear light lenses and the contrasting black
painted bumpers.

Team Colorado had a fantastic spot, on the
entry road into the show ground, to display their
1958 Beetle (Kafer) deluxe which they use
for historic rallying.

This old bug still has the original body and floor
pans, which is quite remarkable considering
the damage they could encounter by taking part
in historic rallying.

The engine (at present) is an Oettinger TSV
34R with a Pelican transaxle gearbox with lower
ratios for 3rd & 4th. You can follow Team Colorado
here: facebook.com/UWP401 or at  #teamcolorado

This early 1950's split oval beetle was another
vehicle parked up outside the show. This was
really nice, I loved the colour and those rugged
off road tyres on the stock rims.

Looking at this gorgeous bug, I think it may be
a Zwitter.
The Zwitter is a sort of hybrid 
between the split oval and the oval Beetle.
The Zwitters had the split oval rear window but 
many features incorporated in the later 'oval'
such as chrome trim instead of aluminium
and different bumpers and lights... although
I could be totally wrong on that statement !

The show begins outside the venue with this
lovely line up of RAT looking split screen buses.

There were hundreds upon hundreds of vehicles
outside the venue, and in the day visitor car park.

This cool 1970 lowered early bay was parked
outside the main venue and it had some great
looking two tone blue retro stripes.

This lovely early split screen was parked up
in the sunshine and looked great. This bus
had real sun bleached paint that looked cool.

This lovely old 1969 patina'd early bay was at
Dub Aid 5 a few weeks back. I did like it then
and I still like it now.

This gorgeous silver oval window beetle was
also parked up outside the venue. This stock
looking 1950's bug really did look good.

A nice touch on the oval was the Porsche
wheel trims, and the white wall tyres finished
off the cool nostalgic look.

A nice photo showing off the classic body lines
of this lovely old oval window. 

This lowered double cab split screen pick up
looked fantastic with it's patina paint and sign
written body. The narrowed front beam looked
just right and suited this bus.

The rear body work has seen better days but
that just adds to this double cabs charm and
desirability.

This early split screen had an unusual body
and to be honest I don't know what it would
have been for, but it looks like it was converted
into a camper. The Army green paint suited
this very RAT looking bus.

This little yellow Fiat 600 caught my eye and
I did wonder why a Fiat was at a VW show,
and judging by the big crowd that was gathering
at the back of this car it must be something
interesting...

It certainly was, this little Fiat had an air-cooled
flat 4 with a massive turbo bolted on! The engine
and turbo was so big the engine lid couldn't shut.

Not a very good picture due to the amount of
people gathered at the back of this little car.
You can get an idea of just how big the turbo
was and how far it stuck out from the engine bay. 

This pair of RAT looking early bays were also
parked up outside the show. There were so many
Volkswagen's outside the show, it's almost like
a show in itself. No matter what model VW
you're into, you'll find it at the Volksworld.show.

This 1965 split screen, or what's left of it was
awesome. The cab is the only original part left
on this drag bus, named 'Mental Breakdown'

The power comes from a Keith Black 8.4 litre
super charged Hemi V8 that runs on pure
methanol and produces 1,700 bhp. This power
means that 0 - 150mph is achieved in just
4 seconds and the top speed for this drag

bus, of 179mph arrives in just 7 seconds.

At the start of a run down the strip, this drag
bus pulls about 2.5G off the start line, and
about the same negative G when the parachutes
are opened.

This gorgeous Koni red 1967 beetle was the
first show car I saw upon entering the show it's
self. The de-chromed body looked great and
the one piece windows added the finishing touch.

It had a 2027cc engine with a Raptor cam and
a Thunderbird exhaust. The wheels are genuine
Porsche 5 x 15 items with Michelin tyres. 

This stunning 1971 white over blue early bay
drew plenty of attention. Not only does it ride on
air suspension but the chassis has also been
notched. The 4" narrowed front beam adds
to it's low look. 

This sunroof conversion runs along on those
lovely Outlaw 001 wheels with Yokohama rubber
with Porsche brakes.

The 2276cc engine and the gearbox have both
been raised by 2.5 inches to allow the bus to
sit this low. I did like the way that exhaust exit's
through the bumper.

Another quality show car that was riding on air
suspension was this 1956 chocolate brown oval
window beetle. The narrowed front beam looked
great and suited the overall look as did those
highly polished Fuchs 5 spoke rims.

The quality of these show vehicles was amazing
and the amount of time, not to mention money
it must take to create a vehicle to this standard
must be incredible.

The highly detailed 2276cc motor was a work
of art. The attention to detail was amazing. The
finishing touch for me was that old skool pin-
striping on the fan housing.

This fully restored 1957 Type 2 single cab really
was immaculate. You can see just how straight
the body is from the reflection of the chequered
floor. The Creative Engineering narrowed front
beam finished off with those cosmic wheels
looked just about perfect.

This single cab had a 1941cc engine with a
Dellorto DRLA 40 carb with a 42mm CSP
Python exhaust.

This 1966 type 3 square back caught my eye,
not only for that bright India red paint which is a
Porsche colour but mainly for that awesome roof
chop by Dean and kid chop. This lowered type 3
had colour coded Empi 8 spoke wheels.

This amazing 1958 LHD Karmann Cabriolet
is the persona of a show car. Just look at the
reflection on the door, now that is straight. The
almond green paint with the contrasting West
Coast classic fabric roof looked a perfect choice.

This perfect '58 has a stock 1600cc single port
engine and  highly polished Fuchs wheels.

Another show vehicle with a perfect super straight
reflection was this 1967 beetle finished in an
immaculate coat of reed green paint.

This gorgeous bug was riding on air suspension
with Venus Titanios wheels on each corner. It had
a big 2027cc engine and a classic red leather
interior, so this old bug really is a show and
go classic beetle. 

The '67 beetle in the foreground with the amazing
chopped '66 square back in the background.

Volksworld had the legendary Bruce Meyers at
the show last year, I don't think he was there this
year but one of the nicest Meyers Manx buggies
you'll ever see was there. This 1970 model had
the cream genuine 50th gold tagged paint and
looked stunning. Those Rocket racing booster
wheels (17x7, 18x9) looked a perfect choice for
this buggy. It was powered by a 1914cc engine. 

This lovely diamond green Karmann Ghia was
simply stunning. It had European blade bumpers,
shortened drip gutters and custom side mouldings.

This KG also has a 2" shortened front beam with
dropped spindles. The grey Racemaster wheels
(5.5 x 15) looked just about right and complimented
the body colour. It had a 1914cc  single port
engine with a racing cam and a CSP exhaust.

This lovely green over white 1966 split screen
was immaculate. It rides on Creative Engineering
air suspension front and rear and has 15 x 5.5
polished Radar wheels.

This gorgeous '66 isn't all show though, it has
had a 2.0 litre Subaru conversion which provides
plenty of go. It has CSP disc brakes up the front
and late bay drums on the rear. Oh, and a cool
safari rear screen to match the safari screens
up the front.

This stunning 1958 low light Karmann Ghia was
totally original. It was just like it came out of the
showroom. It had stock brakes, stock interior
and stock suspension.

The stock 36hp motor was all there and even
had the original Judson supercharger. The body
was painted in Aero silver and looked perfect.
The stock wheels have the correct trims and
even have wide white wall bias ply tyres which
also would have been standard from new. 

I couldn't find out much about this stunning beetle
but I think it's a 1943 KDF beetle or at least looked 
like one, and it looked as though it had just been 
produced it was that clean and original looking. 
KDF actually stands for "Kraft durch freude"
which means "strength through joy" which was
Adolf Hitlers idea for the car's name.

This early 40's beetle had the headlight covers
on that were used during the war to avoid being
seen by enemy aircraft at night. This authentic 

beetle drew plenty of attention.

I believe this gorgeous KDF may have come
over from Germany to exhibit at the show.

This replica 1937 prototype 30 was one of the
best vehicles at the show, in my humble opinion.
 It came over from Belgium and has a 958cc 4 

cylinder engine.

20 examples were originally assembled by
Mercedes on request of Ferdinand Porsche.
After testing, all 30 cars were dismantled and
the parts were used on other projects. Two of
these vehicles have since been rebuilt, one
for Volkswagen in Germany and this one.

Volkswagen Heritage had their gorgeous 1956
split screen single cab on show. This dove blue
pick up was so nice. It has a 1192cc stock
engine. From a company that supplies parts
and accessories for Volkswagen's, you would
expect something this nice.

This sports car came over from the D'ieteren
gallery in Belgium. It has a fibreglass body
designed by Roland D'ieteren and based on a
VW type 3 chassis. These were sold not only in
Belgium but also Mexico. 

They were produced from 1964 -1970 and this
one has the 1584cc engine with a type 3 beam
axle and IRS rear suspension. It has front disc
brakes and drum rear brakes, with 15"
steel wheels.

So that was part one of the Volksworld show
2016. I hope this review has given you a flavour
of this show and that you'll come back for the
next instalment next Saturday where you will
be able to see many more quality Volkswagen's

both inside the show and in the car park outside.

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