Saturday 23 April 2016

Volksworld Show 2016 (part 3 of 3)

Welcome to part 3 of 3 of my review of the Volksworld show. In case you missed the first two instalments you can find them to the top left of this page in 'My blog Archive'. 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 !), and of course the show has the very attractive Volksworld girls.! There is also 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! The blog continues as I wander around the show halls, and outside admiring all the top quality vehicles.
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.


This gorgeous cherry red 1973 volksrod was the
first vehicle I saw as I entered the lower show
hall. It has had an 8" roof chop, and the body has
 been shortened by 4". It also has had a 3" tub
chop and features suicide doors.

The standard front beam has been retained with
Porsche centerline wheels with Porsche adaptors
fitted to each corner.

The interior is in keeping with the exterior and
features a smoothed dash, alloy bucket seats
with army tarp cushions and that cool chrome
chain link steering wheel and that massive

gear lever.

This cool looking volksrod gets pushed along
by a 1641cc type 1 engine with twin 40 Empi
carbs. The stopping power is via the Porsche 

944 discs at each corner.

This stunning 1966 green over white split screen
was riding on a Creative Engineering air ride
suspension with Accuair e-level management
system. This show bus had safari screens and
polished alloy door tops.

The interior was also to a very high standard and
featured custom built seating, 32" TV on an
electric lift and overhead storage.

The standard throughout this '66 was amazing,
and the attention to detail was incredible.

The power for this '66 comes via a 2.0 litre
Subaru conversion that is as clean and detailed

 the rest of the bus.

This lovely early beetle looked great slammed
on the deck. This bug had the RAT look going
on and with that front opening screen, and those
BRM wheels this was one cool looking car.

You can see just how low this beetle sits, it
must be on some sort of air ride suspension.
The pop out rear windows and the all red rear
lights complimented the look of this old bug.

This 1967 split screen looked like a nice solid
 bus. It wasn't flash or fancy, it was just a stock
looking bus that for 49 years old looked amazing.

Just a very small selection of the beach buggies
that were on display outside at Volksworld.
There were numerous body styles and various
years of manufacture but they all looked great.

A pair of gorgeous cal-look beetles parked up
in the spring sunshine. You will be hard pushed
to fine more variety of vehicles at any other show.

A pair of RAT look early bay window buses.
A blue 1970 bay and a, white 1971, both buses 
sat so low and both had narrowed front beams.

This pair of original looking pre 58 oval window
 beetles were parked up outside the venue and 
looked great. I do like to see an original looking
Volkswagen and these two fitted the bill perfectly.

The light grey beetle had plenty of 'real' patina
over the whole body. This look is very sought
after here in the U.K., although it's not to every-
ones taste. 

Whether you like the patina look or not, I think
you'll agree these two beetles did look nice.

This lovely sun burnt 1966 13 window deluxe split
screen was one of the vehicles up for sale at the
Volksworld show, This could be yours for the
grand sum of £28,000 ($39.970 approx)

This super low mango and white split screen
bus was just oozing patina from every panel.

This RAT looking split screen looked great
from every angle. The opening rear screen was
a neat addition that suited the bus.  

Just one of the lines of cars on show, there is
always so much variety at the Volksworld show
it doesn't matter what VW you prefer, you'll be
sure to find it here.

Spilt screen and bay window buses parked up
side by side at hte Volksworld show.

This 1973 blue late bay has one of the smoothest
front clips I have ever seen, check out that super
straight reflection!

This 1971 pop top early bay looked great with
it's high ride height and those huge off road
tyres. I do like the syncro look on buses and
this one was no different. 

Beetle's galore, various years and styles but
all as good as the next in it's own right. I did
like the opening front screen on the baby blue
beetle on the left.

If you like your beetle's slammed on the deck
with the RAT look, you'll love this late 1940's
split oval bug. The super narrow front beam
enhanced the low stance of this car. 

You can see just how low this lovely old bug
sits by how far those rear tyres are tucked up
inside the wheel arch. I hope this beetle never
gets painted as I think it looks just right as it is.

Another slammed RAT look vehicle parked up
was this pastel yellow Karmann Ghia circa
1955 - 1959. I did like the narrowed front beam
and the yellow headlights. 

This Karmann has been featured a few times
on my blog and it always looks so nice.  The
whole car sits so low as this photo shows.

An unusual colour combination on this 1971
type 3 'notchback' but it works really well.
These type 3's were made from 1961 - 1973
and came in 3 body styles, the Notchback,
a squareback and a fastback.

This lovely notch looked tough with it's twin
exhausts and the boot spoiler. I'm not sure
what wheels they are but they did suit this
old notchback's overall look.

This type 2 single cab flat bed pick up was
really nice. It virtually sat on the ground so I'm
guessing it had some sort of air ride suspension.
The super narrow front beam, and original
canvas over the bed helped make this bus
stand out. 

The single cab had what looked like the original
paint, which is always nice to see and it also
had some really neat old skool pinstriping
 around the headlights. 

Another old RATTY split screen that just looked
great with it's OG paint and patina. I did like the
narrowed front beam and the overall stance of
this old bus.

There is something about an old split screen
with what looks like original paint that just
right. The contrasting yellow headlights were
a nice addition that were keeping with the look.

Another 1960's split screen single cab pick up
in amazing condition. This SC looked really
solid and straight. I did like the grey over beige
paint and the sign written cab doors. The stock
wheels with painted hubcaps with the VW logo
on them looked just about perfect.

This gorgeous 1968 early bay caught my eye,
It sat perfectly with a slight rack towards the
front and those red painted 5 spoke wheels
looked a perfect choice for this bay window.
I did like the side window configuration of the
quarter light windows on both side windows.

This super low 1972 squareback looked great
in it's two tone paint, and unusually the darker
colour is on top but it works really well. The
narrowed front beam looked great and added
to the overall low look.

Not only was this type 3 super low it was also
super straight. That really is a nice straight
reflection that olive green paint is giving off.

Looking to the right from the main grandstand
at Sandown Park at the outside vehicle display.
The weekend camping area is in the distance
on the other side of the race track.

And looking to the left, the amount of people
that camped out for the whole weekend was
quite impressive considering the overnight
low temperatures at night in early spring.

Whilst wandering around the vehicles parked
up outside I spotted a trio of cars that had the
pure race look. The first was this blue beetle,
and judging by the lack of lights, I'd say this is
probably a track car. 

The Empi air scoops and centerline wheels
can only mean one thing, performance.

I didn't find out about the size of the motor, but
it looked impressive and if it goes as fast as
the car looks, then it'll be pretty quick.  

The second was this light turquoise 1973
Karmann Ghia, named Shiftin Ghia. 

This '73 had a lovely stance that made it look
ready to race anyone, the alloy rear spoiler 
and 
that stinger looking exhaust helped the look.

Another race themed car was the pumped up
Beetle with a 'Herbie' style paint scheme. The

nose down stance made this old bug look tough.

I didn't find out what cc the motor was but I'm
guessing it's not stock! The rear fenders are
attached with quick release Dzus fasteners
and the big stinger exhaust was so big it didn't
fit into the photo!

This stunning 1971 beetle had been deseamed
and had those crazy suicide doors created. This
bug also had very unique 1939 Ford deluxe head
lights, that looked really good. It also had a 5"
narrowed front beam with 15 x 5" chrome
smoothie wheels. 

More modifications include the 1959 Cadillac
frenched rear lights and the smoothed deck lid
with frenched number plate. The body is painted in
Porsche polar silver and the whole car sits on
air suspension. The motor is a 1600tp with
Kadron carbs Pertonix dizzy.


So that was the third instalment on my review
of the Volksworld show. I hope my blog reviews
have given you an insight into this fantastic
weekend show. There were so many quality
vehicles at the show, I couldn't photograph
them all, having said that I do have plenty
of photos left that I took both inside the show  
and in the public car park to write another
blog so maybe I'll post a bonus review 
sometime in the future. If you haven't been 
to this show, I strongly suggest you go in 
the future as you will not disappointed.

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