Brighton Breeze 2016 (part 1 of 3)

This weeks blog review is all about the annual Brighton Breeze VW show, which this year was held on Saturday 1st October 2016 on Maderia Drive in town of Brighton. The Brighton Breeze show is organised by the S.S.V.C. (The Split Screen Van Club) which founded in 1983 by a group of guy's who loved the split screen buses. The main purpose of the club was to preserve the pre '67 Volkswagen split screen and all the expertise needed to maintain and restore them and keep them on the road. The S.S.V.C. attend many shows throughout the year, and each year they put on their own show, called The Brighton Breeze. The show is held in the same location every year, along Maderia Drive in Brighton, West Sussex on the south coast of England. Maderia Drive runs East / West from Brighton Pier to Black Rock and is only a stones throw from Brighton's infamous South facing pebble beach. Brighton Breeze is always held on the first Saturday of October, and this is a show I have attended for many years. Being a south facing beach, if the weather is good, it is really good, however if the weather is bad, then you really are in trouble. Over the years I have experienced 70 degree heat with blazing sunshine (including getting sun burnt) to storm conditions with high winds and almost horizontal rain with freezing temperatures and as it's held in October this shows success really is in the hands of the weather. This year's forecast wasn't good with rain forecast all day but that didn't put me off, I mean how bad could it be!? So early on the Saturday morning I set off for the South coast. 
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My 1969 microbus parked up on Maderia Drive
amongst some split screen buses. I think there
was supposed to be different entrances to use
for split screens and bay window buses but I
got distracted heading into Brighton and ended
up just following a convoy of splits onto the
drive, hence why I'm parked in the split screen
line up.! The weather doesn't look too bad at
the moment in this photo, but as I left my home
town earlier in the morning...

...It was very overcast and quite foggy. This
is the view en-route at around 07.45am. I was
hoping by the time I got to Brighton the cloud
and fog would have cleared.

It's almost compulsory that if you're heading
to the 'Breeze' via the M23 that you stop at
Pease Pottage services. This service area
is about half way to Brighton for me so it's
nice to have a comfort stop and have a cup
of tea. The service area car park always has
plenty of VW's parked up so it's a good place
 to mingle and have a chat. I followed this red
split screen panel van and a blue and white
late bay into the services. It looked as though
it had been raining as I drove into the services,
I just hoped it wouldn't rain again.

After 20 minutes or so I started my old bus and
headed back onto the M23, it was about 08.30
by now and the motorway had numerous VW's
of all descriptions all heading South. 

This Kemperink looked amazing as it cruised
down the road. A friend of mine has '71 bay
window version of  these for sale at the moment
and I did seriously think about making him an
offer as this would make a great camper van,
but it's a project vehicle and it just needs more 
work than I'm capable of completing. These are 
very rare with only an estimated 50 still on the 
road in the whole world.

After leaving the services I decided to wind
Fiona's speed up as I wanted to get there
earlier than later to try to avoid queueing in
up in the town centre of Brighton whilst waiting
to get onto Maderia drive, as it does get extremely
busy. This looks like gorgeous the red panel van
that  I followed into the services.

This 1981 ( I think) T25 looked fantastic with it's
grey painted body and tinted windows. The rear
light lenses were also tinted giving this bus a
really cool sleek look.

This lovely clean looking white over black 1980
(I think) late bay looked like a nice solid bus. I
did like the chrome bumpers and the third brake
light mounted into the roof.

Another very clean looking bus was this 1966
split screen. I'm not sure what colour blue this is
but I think it really suits the bus well.

I tucked in behind this convoy of split screen
buses for a few miles as we got nearer to the
outskirts of Brighton.

I did like the paint scheme on the solid and clean
looking '67 split screen bus. I liked the fact that
 the roof was painted in the same colour red as
the lower half of the body, which is quite unusual
 but looks so good.

This early panel van was gorgeous. I do like the
old split screen panel vans and this one in a sort
of dove blue colour looked great. I did like those
very small side windows, I'm not sure if they are
stock items or not but they did look cool.

This stunning pre 1963 split screen bus was
gorgeous. I did like that colour combination,
it makes the bus look so fresh and clean.

As I mentioned earlier, I got so distracted on
the way to Brighton I ended up following the
split screen convoy onto Maderia Drive rather
than using the entrance designated for bays!

A better look at my early bay in the split screen
line up (I don't think anyone noticed!!) under
the cast iron Maderia terrace which is East Cliff.

Turning round and looking at how close the
pebble beach of Brighton is from the show.
This is looking West and those clouds sure
look angry, lets hope the rain holds off.

Looking West the weather looks much better,
now which way is the wind blowing..??

I decided to have a look around sooner than
later due to those dark clouds, and I saw this
really nice 1967 split in a lovely silver and pastel
yellow colour combination. A very unusual
colour combination that's works so well. 

This really was a nice clean and straight bus.
That silver colour shows just how straight this
old bus really is. I did like the colour matched
front and rear bumpers.

This stunning 1965 SO42 split screen bus was
so clean it was just like new. The perfectly straight
body had been coated in an almost perfect coat
of white paint. I did like those door mirrors... 

You can see just how clean and straight this
old bus really is in this photo. This old bus
looked to be pretty much stock, which is always
nice to see.

There is always a great variety of buses at the
'Breeze'. This line up of bay windows shows
the diversity of styles and years.

This satin black bay window pick up caught my
eye, it looked as though it was a (very good)
home made creation that looked so cool. The
cab looked slighter longer than a normal crew
cab pick up and even came with a wood burning
stove.

A better look at the rear of the extended cab,
this really was well made. I don't know what
size engine this had, but judging by the grill
over the number plate to aid cooling I'm guessing
it wasn't a standard air cooled unit. I did like
the rear air vents that came from a spilt screen
in the side of this bus.

In the back of the bed on this pick up, I think
the owner of this bus is in for a good weekend!

This 1965 split screen is a regular at Brighton
Breeze and I always seem to take a photo of
it. This bus has so much going on, with it's
wild paint scheme and all the stickers that I just
love looking around this bus.

The sheer number of decals and accessories
on this bus is amazing and you could easily
spend an hour just looking around it.

A side view of that gorgeous SO42 under a
stormy sky on the seafront at Brighton.

A great display of stock height buses is always
guaranteed at the Brighton Breeze. 

Even though the sky was dark and overcast
the hundreds of colourful buses lined up along
Maderia Drive brightened up the day.

Talking of colourful buses, how about this super
bright purple and white 23 window samba bus.
I did like the overall look of this bus from the
lovely colour to the lowered stance.

This really was a nice clean and straight bus,
I did like the twin roof racks that looked cool.

This lovely looking 1966 split screen Dormobile
(I think) slowly drove past as I was wandering
along Maderia Drive taking photos. This was a
really nice looking bus, hopefully I'll see it later
on to get some more photos.

This gorgeous 1966 split screen panel van
caught my eye, as I do like panel vans especially
when they are this nice. The colours of the two
 tone paint give the bus and old look which 
suited it perfectly.

I'm not sure why I like panel vans so much, but
maybe its just because they look so cool. I did
like the dark green painted bumpers on this
van that just added to the overall cool look.

A 1972 late bay, a 1975 late bay and a 1969
early bay all parked up together providing a 
colourful display of classic Volkswagen buses
on Maderia Drive at the Brighton Breeze show.

This 1975 late bay was painted in an unusual
turquoise colour with a white top. The turquoise
colour actually suits the bus really well providing
a clean crisp look. 

The white painted bumpers also helped to give
this a fresh look. The aftermarket front and rear
clear light lenses also helped.

This 1972 beetle had the RAT look going on,
and looked kinda cool. The RAT look is big
over here in the U.K. and its easy to see why.

Owners of RAT looking vehicles probably
spend just as much time working on their VW's
as owners of nicely painted vehicles. As Dolly
Parton once said about herself  "It costs a
lot of money to look this cheap". I did like the
hot rod style blue dots on the rear light lenses.

On the other end of the looks scale was this
stunning 1964 lilac and white split screen. This
really was a lovely looking bus. I did like the 
white painted 5 spoke wheels that complimented
the upper body.

After about an hour of wandering around looking
at all the VW's the rain came so I headed back
to my bus and put the kettle on. This was the
view from my rear side window as I enjoyed
a hot cup of tea.

This off road LT28 (I think) was probably in my
top 10 best vehicles at the 'Breeze'. The older 
I get the more I just want to jump in something 
like this and set off around the world on an 
adventure and what better VW to do that in than 
something like this. You really could go anywhere
is this beast.

This stunning all white early beetle looked
amazingly clean and so straight. The lack of
front and rear bumpers gave this old bug a
sleek smooth look.

You can see just how clean and straight this
bug is in this photo. Those all red rear light
lenses provide just enough colour to break up
that lovely applied white paint.

This early split screen panel van was simply
gorgeous. The colour, the low stance, the black
painted steel wheels, everything was just right.

Judging by the full length logo on this splitty I think
that 'Red 9' must own this panel van. This really is
a nice looking van with a nice colour scheme, and
matching logo. 

The power in the 'Red 9' panel comes from what
looks like a Subaru motor (although I could be
wrong) So this old panel van not only looks good
but I bet it also good well too.

Although the 'Breeze' is organised by the Spilt
Screen Van Club, you also see hundreds of
other Volkswagen's, including a great variety of
bay window buses.

This pre 1963 split screen crew cab pick up was
so cool. In what looks similar to a dove blue 
colour this seriously lowered bus stood out. The
narrowed front beam added to the cool look as
did the canvas covering the pick up bed.

There is something about a crew cab pick up
that looks just right specially when they are this
 nice. Looking at the paint, it may well be the
original paint on the bus.

The pick up bed looked really solid, and that old
trunk looked like a nice accessory that suited the
overall look of this pick up.

So that was the first of 3 reviews on the Brighton
Breeze VW show. The second instalment will be
next Saturday where you can see plenty more
quality Volkswagen's so be sure to back back
next week.