Saturday 11 March 2017

Dub Freeze VW Show 2017 (part 1 of 4)

This weeks blog is part one of a four part review all about the 28th annual 'Dub Freeze' VW Show that was held at Bingley Hall, County Show ground, Weston Road in Stafford ST18 9DB over the weekend of 18th - 19th February 2016. The showground was open from 3pm on the Saturday for the hardy campers with plenty of space assured. The on site bar was also open on the Saturday night. Sunday was the main show day with the gates opening at 08.00am. The main show was held inside Bingley Hall with over 100 traders selling all sorts of VW related items. Also in the hall were numerous vehicles on display, there were plenty of food and drink vendors on the site to cater for most tastes and clean toilets. However for me the main attraction was the hundreds upon hundreds of both air-cooled and water cooled Volkswagen's parked within the grounds of Bingley Hall. I have been to this show several times now and have really enjoyed it, so I decided to go again this year. Bingley Hall is about a 220 mile return journey from my hometown so I decided to shoot up there in my more economical and quicker camouflaged T4, rather than take my slower 1969 microbus. The show opened quite early, but I didn't get there until about 10.30am by which time the car park at Bingley Hall was full so I had to park in the overflow car park with hundreds of other Volkswagen's.
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.


After paying my £12 ($15) entrance fee I headed 
through the camping area and outdoor car park 
to the main show hall. Lining the route to the hall 
were numerous Volkswagens and this RAT looking 
1966 type 3 Fastback caught my eye. This cool 
T3 must have been riding on some sort of air ride 
suspension to be sitting that low!

You can see just how low this fastback really
is from this photo. The narrowed front beam
with those gorgeous polished Fuchs style
wheels look the perfect choice and suit the
cars patina'd look perfectly.

The type 3 was produced from 1961-1973 and
available in 3 different body styles, the fastback
the square back (variant) and the notch back.
I have to say that these T3's are probably the
least common of all air-cooled vehicles that you
see at VW shows, which is a shame really as
they are really cool classic cars.

This gorgeous dove blue (I think) 1960 split
screen panel van looked great with it's real
patina'd paint and super low stance. This is
real patina and it looked as though the whole
roof had this cool look. Although the exterior
looked as though being exposed to the elements
 had taken it's toll, the interior was immaculate
 the door cards, side panels and rock and roll 
bed had all been covered in light tan colour 
leather that looked gorgeous. 

There is something that looks just right when
a splitty has the safari screens open. You can
see just how low this van was from this angle. 

I did like the rusty bumper with the single 
yellow spot light.

I spotted this lovely RAT looking 1954 3100
Chevrolet step side pick parked up and just had
to get a photo. I love these old American pick

ups especially when they are lowered with OG
paint and with just a hint of patina.

This stunning 1959 single cab pick up had been
trailered to the show. This bright yellow SC was
super straight and looked to be totally solid. The
painted BRM wheels matched the bumpers and
looked fantastic. This pick up was for sale for the
very reasonable price of £12k ($15,000 approx)

This really was a lovely looking pick up. The bright
yellow paint actually suits the bus and the new
wooden sides of the pick up bed look cool. 

The route to main show hall was lined with various
Volkswagens of all descriptions / years and
condition.

One of the vehicles that lined the route to the
main hall was this very RAT looking and very
low 1974 beetle. The super narrowed front 

beam makes it look like this RAT bug hasn't 
got any front wheels!...

...while the wide banded rear wheels have a
serious camber (you can see this is better in
the above photo)
So how do you cover the
width of the wide wheels without banding the

wings? easy, simply use wing extensions.

This is one seriously RAT beetle. That front
end is so narrow and so low! 

The interior is in keeping with the exterior and
very RAT looking. The lack of door cards, that 
retro chain steering along with torn seats all  
add to the cool RAT look on this bug.

From one extreme to another this stunning Indian 
red 1961 ragtop beetle was totally immaculate. This 
Swedish market car was imported around 1999 
and although it needed very little in terms of 
restoration the car was stripped down and slowly 
rebuilt using as many original refurbished parts 
as possible.

The Indian red colour was offered for one year
only during production, which makes this special.

The time and effort that was put into this restoration
has certainly paid off, as this is one stunning car.

This gorgeous unmolested car has won several
concourse events including: 'Best Original' at the
Volkswagen show and 'Best in Show' at the VW
Jamboree.

Another stunning beetle was this all white 1967
model that must have had hydraulic suspension
as the running boards were virtually sat on the
floor of the show hall. Look how clean that inner
wing is, it was finished to the same high standard
as the rest of the bodywork.

Those banded steel wheels that were painted
to match the body looked great with the chrome
domed hubcaps. The narrowed front beam helps
to make the car look lower... if that's possible!

This lovely 1962 Westfalia SO22 was found on
a farm back in the early 2000's in Oregon, U.S.A.
It had a Porsche 356 engine fitted and a set of 
South African sprint wheels (hence the high rear 
arches) The bus found its way to the U.K. and
the present owner purchased the bus as a project.

The current owner set about recommissioning
 her in terms of the brakes, suspension, running
 gear and engine but tried to keep as much of
 the original paint and interior as possible.

This is how the SO22 was found many years
ago. Since then this bus has had an amazing

transformation to get it back to as close as 
possible to the original look / specification. 

The interior is not only complete but its also 100%
original with porch awning, bunk bed, fridge, cup-
boards, headlining, humped front seat and even
has the original cushions. Sadly the bus is up
for sale, I didn't find out how much the owner 

wanted for it, but I guess if you have to ask price, 
you can't really afford it!

This stunning gloss black 1959 Karmann Ghia
was immaculate. The stock body sits so low
thanks to a 'Lime Bug' air ride suspension set up.
The interior and brakes are all original.

The engine is a 1915cc motor with twin 44
Webber carburettors fitted to a Rancho pro-
street gearbox. Those gorgeous Randar wheels
compliment the super straight body, just look at
those reflections in the rear wing and door.

This stunning polar silver 1957 cal look beetle 
stood out as it sparkled under the lights of the 
display hall. This gorgeous car had a narrowed
(3.5") front beam and polished Porsche
Fuchs wheels.

This isn't just a show car, it has a 2276cc engine
with twin carbs mated to a Rancho pro comp
gearbox with a custom stainless exhaust system.
This is one of the nicest looking engines I have
seen for a long time.

I spotted this 1954 dove blue beetle and just
had to get a photo as it just looked so nice. There
are so many nice touches on this bug, like the 4"
narrowed front beam, the ride height, the Porsche
356 head light grilles and the single blue dot
spot light to mention just a few, and of course
that super straight body.

This fire bus red and ivory single cab pick up
was so clean I was scared to get near it!. I saw
this gorgeous SC at Brighton Breeze show back
in October last year and it still looked as good
as it did then.

This SC is pretty much stock and is running a
1600 twin port motor. The pick up was imported
from California and underwent a restoration
back in 2004, it was so well done it looks as
though the restoration was only done last week.

I did like the look of this lovely 1964 Bahama blue 
beetle that stood out. Apart from the European
chrome bumpers, chrome headlight peaks and
the chrome hubcaps the body is stock and
original. Those powder coated wheels in the same
Bahama blue colour looked fantastic.

This bug has the original drum brakes all round
and the original suspension. The 1200cc engine
with a single carburettor is linked to the original
4 speed gearbox which is believed to have only
covered 22,000 miles.

This late 1950's / early 1960's all white ragtop
beetle was totally stunning. This is my definition
of a show car. This really was an immaculate 
example of this classic car and that obviously 
had some form of air ride suspension.

The all white perfectly straight body panels looked
fantastic against the super bright chrome of the
bumpers and those gorgeous Porsche Fuchs
wheels. 

The interior was just as gorgeous as the exterior
and it looked to nice too sit on. This early bug still
has the working semaphore indicators and that
sunroof just finishes off the cars appearance.

You can see just how close to perfection this car
really is in this photo. The early beetle front wings
really are a beautiful design with curves that flow
in all directions.

This bright red 1968 beach buggy looked great
with its old skool metal flake style paint. These
buggy's always get my attention at shows and
this one is no different.

The body is a Prowler buggy and is very similar
 to the Manx body but has a slightly shorter 
wheelbase. This buggy has a chromed and
detailed 1600cc engine. Those big and little 
 retro chrome Cragar SS wheels were a perfect 
choice and suit the car perfectly. 

The interior, as with all beach buggy's is sparse
but it looks very crisp and clean and a nice place

to sit.

A close up of the old style metal flake paint, the
photo didn't come out very well which is a shame

 as the paint looked stunning in real life.

The main hall where all the traders were, there
didn't seem as many traders as previous years
as there lots of empty pitches, but there was still

a vast selection of VW related goodies to choose
from.

So that was the first of four reviews on the Dub
Freeze show 2017. Next week is the second part
where you can see more classic Volkswagens, a
lovely Porsche 912, a very cool retro pedal scooter
and so much more so be sure to come back next
next Saturday.

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