Firstly I hope you all had a good Christmas with friends, family and loved ones. This weeks blog review is part two of a three part review all about the Wolfsburg Bus Crew's 2nd Birthday Bash that was held at the world famous Ace Cafe in London on Sunday 3rd September. So what is the WBC all about? Well it's best if I let Rich Coxhill (who runs the WBC) tell you in his own words. The following text is taken from the WBC Facebook page:
The Wolfsburg Bus Crew is a club based in London & the midlands (but with members worldwide) for owners of Volkswagen split screens, bay windows &T25's. Even though we are based in London and the midlands we have members who live all over the U.K. as well as all over the world. Your bus doesn't have to be a show winner or completely mint to be part of the Wolfsburg Bus Crew, it you love your bus, then we love your bus! We have monthly meets, club stands, various runs, camping trips and discounts from VW parts companies as well as many other things.Thanks for your support and let's keep these beautiful machines on the road!. Well said Rich!.
I have been a member of the WBC for about a year or so, and it's a fantastic club, and as I missed the first anniversary bash because I didn't know about it, I was determined that I wasn't going to miss the 2nd anniversary bash. As I mentioned earlier the hard work of running this successful club is done by Rich who never seems to stop promoting the club, getting discounts from VW suppliers for club members, organising club meets at various shows throughout the year, arranging the production and distribution of the club stickers and this year has even organised a calendar to be produced featuring 12 lucky members rides to appear in the calendar with all the proceeds of £226 have, as I write this review, just been donated to the charity Age U.K. If you want to join the WBC, and why wouldn't you?, you can do so by going to their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/684035321730942/
(you may need to copy and paste the address.) The blog continues as I wander around the Ace Cafe car park looking at all the awesome buses.
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
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| This immaculate clean 1971 late bay was I think a Dormobile and the white over bright green colour scheme really stood out in the Ace Cafe car park. I didn't find out much about this lovely bus, which is a shame as it deserves a good write up. |
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| The bus looked to be pretty much stock, although it did have a few modifications such as the clear front indicator lenses. The painted stock wheels suited the overall look of this lovely bus. |
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| This bus however, I do know something about... This wild T25 twin slider is owned by Davyd and his cool bus has featured numerous times on my blog and it's easy to see why. Unfortunately Davyd couldn't make the event so his mate Aaron drove Davyd's bus to the birthday bash. |
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| Davyd's bus has the awesome low stance thanks to having a 'Rayvern' full remote hydraulic system fitted, as displayed in this and the above photo, the first is normal ride height, and this photo of the bus as it gets lowered. |
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| This photo shows Davyd's bus fully lowered. The power for this beast of a bus comes from a 2.5 Subaru engine which means the old bus doesn't exactly hang around. |
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| This lovely clean 1972 crossover bay belongs to Andy, who has owned his bus for about 12 years. Andy purchased the bus as a running restoration project and over the next 6 years Andy has restored the bus into what you see here. |
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| Andy did most of the work himself including the welding and painting, and a very good job he has done. This bus looked to be pretty much original and of course it was super straight and clean. |
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| Paul is the very lucky owner of this stunning 1967 pastel white (L90D) SO42 Westfalia split screen. Paul has owned the bus for about 4 years and has done so much work to "Copra" (the buses name) to get it looking this nice. |
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Although this bus has spent a lot of it's life in
South Africa, Paul still had to replace the bottom
6" of the body all round when it was imported to the
U.K. in 1996. Paul and his family use the bus most
weekends, often for camping and Paul says the bus
is definitely a memory maker. This has to be one of
the nicest looking splits that I have seen.
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| This lovely 1969 single cab pick up is owned by Davey who imported the bus himself back in 2009 from Compton, in California. Apart from the hoops, bows and tarp the bus is pretty much how it came in from over the pond. |
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| This really is a lovey clean bus that was perfectly straight. These single cabs look so cool, especially when there are this good looking. |
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| Having the bows and tarp over the bed not only improves the overall look of the bus but it also keeps things your hauling around dry. |
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| This is 'Margo' and she belongs to Rich who runs the WBC. Margo is a 1972 Westfalia Continental although she was registered in 1974. The unique crocheted wheel cover was made by his mum came from an idea form a photo of some hot rods in Singapore where the trend is to have crocheted covers on their bumpers.! |
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| The engine is the original 1600cc motor, with just over 65,000 miles on it and Margo still has the original interior although Rich has added a few modern touches. Rich, from London uses his bus not only for attending VW shows but also for regularly visiting family down in Devon. |
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| A WBC sticker proudly displayed on Rich's '72. To get your club sticker, become a member and order one on-line, it's that easy. |
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| This lovely 1971 Deluxe microbus belongs to a mate of mine, Joe. This bus is so clean and looks great with it's yellow headlight lenses and the Porsche 356 grilles. Joe's bus has the luxury of having a 3/4 length sliding metal sunroof. |
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| Joe's bus, who he calls 'Denise' (Vanouting), has a 1776cc engine with twin 36DLRA's and a full stainless exhaust system. The Neptune blue is such a lovely colour especially on such a straight bus and those 15" Enkei polished slot mag wheels look great. |
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| It was nice to see that Joe had this cool looking circular saw on display in the rear of his bus that I, under my business name of 'Stinky Pete's Signwriting' had painted as a fun piece a while ago. Hey, I know it's a cheap plug for my business, but why not?. You can find us on Facebook. |
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| As well as organising the event at the Ace Cafe, Rich had also arranged for Gary to be on hand to provide some great sounds throughout the whole evening, which he did brilliantly. Gary had a cut out of a bus in front of his set up which looked surprisingly like.. |
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| ...Gary's 1978 Californian imported late bay. Gary has owned the bus since 2011 and when he first got the bus it underwent a huge transformation and came out as the lovely bus you see here, although Gary says it'll never really be finished. |
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| Gary transformed the old interior into this beautiful space you see now. This really was nice, I loved how the TV came up from behind the buddy seat. This is something on my list of jobs to do on my bus, when I finally get around to it, although mine will be no-where near this standard. |
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| I also loved the grain in that wood on the units, and the re trimmed seat covers. The attention to detail and the high standard of finish was amazing. |
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| The gorgeous two tone colour scheme of Dakota Beige and Panama Brown looked stunning. The clear front indicator lenses and the chrome bumpers with the twin spot lights added to the gorgeous overall look of this lovely bus. |
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| Gary was also displaying his trio of cool cycles, (from front to back) a Hotahawk, a Hippie and a Propper and all in matching colours of his bus. |
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| A close up of Gary's gorgeous Porsche rims, a perfect choice to suit the bus, and they were like the rest of the bus, very shiny. |
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| This stunning slammed crew cab split screen was gorgeous. This super clean and straight 1967 bus is owned by Greg and Stephanie. |
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| This gorgeous South African crew cab was imported in 2007 but it wasn't until 2009 that Greg and Stephanie obtained the bus. it was all stripped out and in Greg's words, 'a bit of a wreck'. |
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| The restoration of this bus was carried out in Greg's garage and took around 5 years, and Greg carried out most of the restoration with only the paint being done by someone else. The couple have travelled around 20,000 miles in the last 3 years in their lovely crew cab pick up. |
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| Simon came along to the birthday bash in his immaculate T25 Doka. This truck is so clean and straight and those yellow headlights look great against the dark metallic brown paint. |
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| You can see just how clean Simon's crew cab really is in this photo. This truck really is like new and perfectly straight. |
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| Power for Simon's crew cab comes via this, I'm not sure what 'cc'' it is but it looks like a Subaru motor, so this old truck will certainly go well. |
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| Vince, Chet and Robin came along in Robin's real patina 1965 RAT look split screen. People spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds trying to get their bus this old and rough looking. |
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| This really is a lovey bus under all that patchy paint and patina. This is a real RAT look bus, not like so many other buses that use paint effects etc to create the desired look. This bus is so RAT it even has.... |
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| ... real moss growing on the window rubbers, as I said this isn't some fake paint effect this is real! |
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| This stunning mango and white ( I think) early split screen bus was gorgeous. This bus was incredibly straight and solid looking and the slightly lowered stance suited the overall look. |
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| The polished Randar wheels and the painted towel rail bumpers really helped to make this old splitty stand out. |
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| The interior of this gorgeous bus was just as clean and tidy as the outside. The matching door cards and re-upholstered seats made this look like a nice place to be. So that was part two of three reviews about the WBC Birthday Bash. Next week will be the final instalment where you can see more WBC members gorgeous buses, the category winners and some very gorgeous girls !! (if that doesn't make you want come back next Saturday, nothing will!) so be sure to come back next Saturday. |
