Saturday 18 June 2016

VW Expo,2016 - Stonor Park (part 1 of 3)

This week's blog is all about the VW Expo show organised by the Association of British VW Clubs and held in the beautiful setting of Stonor Park, which is located in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. Stonor Park has been the home of the Stonor family for over 800 years, and the magnificent house was built around 1190. The house contains many rare items of furniture and paintings and is open to the public on the Sunday afternoon of the show. The entry ticket to the show allows you access to the spectacular house. The show, now in it's 32nd year is always very well attended and attracts thousands of visitors / entrants. The show has numerous things going on during the day including: Concours d'Elgance, club displays, miss VW, trade stands and an auto jumble. This is always a very well attended show, and very local to me as it's only 22 miles from my hometown. I know of at least 6 local Volkswagen clubs that attend this show every year. A few of the Outcast VW club members had arranged to meet up at 09.00 at the local superstore to have a small cruise down to the show on the Sunday morning.
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.


I was the first to arrive at the meeting point at
08.40am. The weather forecast was very good
with a high of 24c (75f) but the sky was grey,
and it was chilly and overcast as I pulled up.
 Hopefully the forecasters would be right and
 it'll brighten up later.

After a few minutes some other members of the
Outcast VW Club arrived. Claude and Jean
arrived in Claude's low light Karmann, Kevin
came in the baja, and Simon and Amanda in their
silver golf.

Whilst we waited for a few minutes to see if
any other members would be joining us, Claude
couldn't resist trying out Kevin's baja for size.

Kevin has this car up for sale and was going to
park it in the 'For sale' section of the VW Expo
show at Stonor Park.

After a short (45 minute) cruise to Stonor Park
we arrived and parked up in our appropriate
place. I parked my 1969 microbus alongside
the Wolfsburg Bus Crew line up.

Claude parked his 1958 RAT look low light
Karmann Ghia alongside all the other KG's.
Claude likes the RAT look on his Karmann, and
intends to keep it looking like this.

Claude's low light certainly stood out, not only
because it was the only RAT look Ghia in the
line up, but also because it was the lowest!
The narrowed front beam and being so low
makes it look as though the front end is actually
touching the ground.

Looking over Claude's Karmann at some of the 
other Ghia's, and although it's still early in the 
morning the show and shine field is starting
 to fill up with all varieties of Volkswagen.

Claude had parked next to another 1958 KG,
which was is in a 'show winner' condition and
the owner and Claude soon started chatting.
The difference between a show winner and
a RAT look is very apparent in this photo.

This is another early Karmann made sometime
between 1955 -1959 (due to it's small rear light
cluster) and it was very low and very clean.

The lovely original looking interior was as nice
as the outside. The red vinyl seats suited the
silver interior perfectly. 

In the immaculate engine compartment this 
Karmann was hiding a very sought after
accessory within the Volkswagen community, a 
 speedwell supercharger.

Yep, definitely a Speedwell supercharger.

This stunning blue beetle was parked next to
the auto jumble and looked amazing. It looked
to be 100% original. This really was a very
clean and straight beetle.

The blue colour, which looks like Iris blue or
something similar was flawless and so were
the perfectly straight body panels.

This old bug sat nice and high and looked so
much better for it. This really could have just
driven out of a Volkswagen dealership.

Wandering through the auto jumble I spotted
this child's pedal aeroplane. At first I thought
it may be a Murray Viktor Schrekengost original,
which would be worth a small fortune, but it
turned out to be a very nice reproduction. 

This really was cool, even if it wasn't original. If I 
had any children this is the sort of toys they would 
have even if it did have a price tag of £340.!

Here is a bus I instantly recognised it's a 1970
RAT look early bay belonging to Brett who 
went down to the show with his partner, Ellie 
May. This bus has a 2054cc motor and does
go as well as you think it should with that size
 engine. Brett often comes over to the Outcast 
VW Club meets in his lovely old bus.

I do like a sign written early split screen panel
van and this lovely bus fitted the bill. This bus
has to be riding on air suspension, as it's so
low. I did like the truck style mirrors and the
overall look on this cool panel van.

This really is a nice bus, and the sign writing
just makes it look so much better.

This immaculate Dormobile looked amazing.
No expense had been spared to get this bus
to this fantastic condition.

The bus had been so well restored, and looked
all the better for it. I did like the opening rear
window which is quite rare over here in the U.K.

The owner had been at the show for the week-
end and obviously travels light. Why take up 
space with all the non essentials when all you 
need is a toothbrush, especially as the bus 
already has a ready made toothbrush holder!

A lovely pair of RAT looks split screen buses
parked up at the VW Expo show.

This very RAT looking 1962 double door split 
screen panel van looked great. It was pushed
along by a big 2276cc motor with a T3 / T4 
hideaway hybrid turbo (which breaths outside
 the body) so I bet it goes quite well. I did like
 the full length roof rack and the tatty looking
 body panels.

This white over green 1966 split screen was
parked up under a tree, tying to get some 
shade. This high riding RAT look bus really
did look nice.

On the other end of the scale from the RAT
look is this gorgeous blue early split screen
panel van, nicknamed 'Woody'. I did like the
colour coded bumpers and the safari screens.

The interior was built to look like a western
saloon, and it was really well done. It was very
refreshing to see something completely different
on an interior of a bus.

Another split screen panel van that caught my
eye was this lovely 1967 sign written van. What
better way to promote your business than on a
lovely classic Volkswagen split screen van.

This gorgeous 1964 split screen was stunning.
It was riding at what looks standard height and
so clean and straight. I did like the Canterbury
Pit Pop Top (I think) and the overall look.

The 21 window split screen is the most iconic
Volkswagen of them all, with photo's of it on
almost anything and everything and looking at
this stunning example it's easy to see why.

Just a handful of split screens that attended
the VW Expo at Stonor Park. The variety of
not only air-cooled Volkswagen's but also
water cooled VW's that turned up at the show
was amazing.

I instantly recognised this lovely 1961 split 
screen single cab pick up, it belongs to a mate 
of mine called Josh, who is a member of the
 House of Dub VW Club. This bus is originally
from Peru, then it moved to the West Coast
of America before finally arriving in the U.K. 
It has an 1841cc engine and has been seriously
 lowered.

So many split screens at the show yet every-
one was different from the last.

This type 166 Schwimmwagon is very rare.
The name Shwimmwagon translated literally
 means floating / swimming car. They were only
produced from 1941 - 1944 and used exclusively
by the German ground forces during the second
world war.

These cool looking amphibious cars had such
a simple design. When driving on the road it
was a normal vehicle, when crossing water a
simple screw propeller could be lowered from
the rear deck engine cover,  thus engaging a
 simple coupling that provided drive straight
from the engines crankshaft.  

This one had every original accessory still on
the vehicle except the machine gun, which the
owner decided to take off, although the mounting

 bracket is still there. 

Fully enclosed engine, for obvious reasons.
The 1131cc, 25hp engine wasn't the fastest
but the Schwimmwagon was very versatile.

The quality and diversity of the cars on show
at Stonor Park was amazing. This is a great
show that is always very well attended by both
participants and the public.

This lovely 1956 pastel green oval window
 beetle looked amazing. It's a Swedish import
 that still has the original working semaphores.

The old '56 sits down in the weeds thanks to a 
4" narrowed bean with 2.5" drop spindles. I do
like the colour of this bug, and it's general look.

This lovely 1971 beetle has featured several
times on my blog over the years and it's easy
 to see why. The unusual colour and the cool
pinstripe detailing help to make this beetle 
stand out from the crowd.

Talking of standing out in the crowd, this 1967
stain black bug certainly did that. It's satin
black paint with the contrasting red painted
steel wheels and very low stance looked great.
I'm sure I saw this bug at Chiltern Hills Classic
Car rally a few weeks ago...?

This super bright mint green 1972 beetle was
another vehicle that stood out in the bright 
sunshine. This super straight bug was spotless
 and the chrome was like new. I did like the 3rd 
central over rider on the towel rail bumper and 
the twin rectangular yellow spot lights.

It's all about the detailing and this bug had 
plenty of it, including the inside of the sloping
headlights which were painted in the gorgeous
green body colour. 

It was a shame the deck wasn't painted the
same colour as the rest of the body, but there
must be a good reason why, and it didn't really
effect the overall look of this bug. I did like the
clear rear light lenses.

That was part one of three all about the VW
Expo at Stonor park. Be sure to come back next 
next Saturday where you'll be able to see many 
more quality classic air-cooled Volkswagen's.

No comments:

Post a Comment