Saturday 8 April 2017

Volksworld Show 2017 (part 1 of 4)

The 2017 U.K. Volkswagen show season in the kicked off in style over the weekend of 25th  - 26th March 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 !). There is also an 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 to ensure a good parking spot. I normally visit this show on the Sunday but this year due to other commitments I went down on the Saturday and the traffic was terrible once I got into Esher But I eventually made it to the show and only just got into the car park! The traffic on the Sunday, based on past experience is far less and therefore easier to get to the show. It was the first run out this year for my 1969 microbus and a nice 100 mile round trip, and I have to say the bus ran perfectly.
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.


This stunning dark cherry red 1950 split oval
window beetle was gorgeous. The body and paint
were as close to perfection as is humanly possible,
just check out the reflection. Those lovely shiny 4.5" 
detailed Fuchs wheels looked amazing against
the dark red paint. To get the car sitting just right
this bug has a dog back air beam, leninened control 
arms and Gaz custom shocks. The stock interior
had been refurbished to an equally high standard.

It's all about the detail.. and this bug had plenty
of detail. Under the bonnet was immaculate, and
finished to the same high standard as the rest of
the car. This lovely car had the stock 25 HP motor
but painted and detailed as you would expect. It
was no surprise that this gorgeous beetle won
the coveted title of Best in show 2017 winner.

With the wheel removed you can see more high
quality detailing, even though you wouldn't normally
see it. This bug has Wilwood Dynalite callipers on 
custom made adaptors with drilled discs on the front 
and late beetle rear drums with adjustable
spring plates.

This stunning black over deep red 23 window
deluxe split screen bus was parked up just inside
the venue. I couldn't find out much about this lovely
bus, but suffice to say it was gorgeous.

I did like the overall look of this deluxe bus, the
black paint on top of the red worked well as did
the lowered stance and the Fuchs style wheels.

This bright pink 1966 U.S. spec type 3 Square-
back caught my eye. The super straight stock 
body has been de-chromed and painted in the 
bright pink (L40M) The car has also been lowered 
and was running on 6 x 15 original Porsche Fuchs 
wheels with detailed 135 & 165 Michelin tyres

This lovely T3 has stock brakes on all four corners, 
 which have just been re-drilled for the Porsche 
wheel stud pattern. The engine is a 2332 cc unit
 with a Bosch 009 dizzy and a Engle 130 cam.

This display looked fantastic with a Yellow 1973 
Karmann Ghia sport, which had been lowered and
with 5" x 15" SSP replica sprint stars wheels. The
other car on this display was an orange 1976 SP2 
which was as clean as it was when it left the factory.

The lovely '73 Ghia's interior is pretty much stock 
but the seat centre panels and door cards have 
been re-trimmed with herringbone wool. The car
has stock brakes and stock 1600 cc engine.

Back to the SP2, This is one car that is one my
list when I win the lottery.. This gorgeous left hand 
drive 2 seater coupe had the original 1700cc flat 
air-cooled boxer engine with stock brakes and 
suspension. The interior was also stock which is
how it should be on the classic car.

This 1974 late bay was trick, the first thing that
you notice is that gorgeous House of Kolor
Brandywine kandy paint which looked amazing
under the lights of the show hall. The second thing
you notice is the suicide doors that are opened
via a solenoid and the whole body had been
smoothed off, including the door handles. 

The lovely one off hand built interior looked great.
Features include; custom dashboard with digital
clocks, carbon fibre front seats covered in white
nappa leather, and a one piece limo style rear seat.

Just look at the reflection in that gorgeous paint.
I did like the custom speaker pods which I bet
create a great sound.

The highly detailed engine is a 1776 cc unit with
Mahle forged pistons and twin Dellorto carbs.
This bus also has the bonus of a 50BHP shot
of Nitrous Oxide!

The floor of the show halls provide an excellent
reflection in the paint of the exhibition vehicles.

Another car just inside the venue was 1971
strip / street beetle named 'Miss White'. This car
belongs to a mate of mine called Jonny Marriage.

If you want to find out more about Jonny's street /
strip beetle check out the facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Misswhiteracing/?fref=ts

This stunning 1955 Karmann Cabriolet has been
restored to as close to original spec as possible. 

Almost everything is stock on this gorgeous rag top.

The stock 15" wheels have been restored to an
amazingly high standard and painted in the same
black colour as the body, and have Firestone
white wall tyres fitted.

The original 30 BHP engine has been rebuilt
and the brakes and suspension are also stock.

The lovely interior has also had the restoration
treatment and re-upholstered in the original
style in red leatherette.

This lowered type 34 Karmann Ghia or Razor
Edge as it's commonly known looked amazing in 
it's olive green / gold colour body with the black 
roof. Apart from being lowered this Type 34 
is totally stock.

The car sits so low thanks to 3" narrowed dog-
back adjustable type 1 link / pin style beam. The
4.5" & 5.5" chromed Fuchs replica wheels were
the perfect choice to compliment the paint. This
car had the original 1600 cc twin port motor and
stock brakes.

This gorgeous 1954 type 117 export rag top
 beetle was amazing. As with all the show
vehicles it was totally immaculate. The 5.15"
BRM replica wheels compliment the sage green
paint perfectly. The body in an old skool Cal Look
was restored by Hammered Inc. The lovely stance
is achieved by having a narrowed and lowered front
beam. 

The attention to detail was amazing, under the
bonnet was finished to a show standard as was
the rest of the car. The engine is a 1641 cc unit
with twin Riechert carbs with a modified CSP
Porsche 356 exhaust. 

It wasn't all pristine show vehicles on display at
the Volksworld show, this 1951 RAT looking split
oval beetle, belongs to a guy who works for VW
Heritage and they had it on their trade stand. It
may have the RAT look but this patina'd body,
which by the way is the original paint, sits on a
fully restored floor pan.

This bug sits nice and low and looks great with
that original paint and the nice shiny wheels.

This lovely 1967 Type 3 Notchback belonged to
one of the many European exhibitors at the show.
This stunning car came over from Belgium.

Finished in Pearl White, this old Notchback has
the original brakes, suspension and interior, and
it even has the original 54 BHP engine with twin
Solex downdraught carbs.

Another white type 3 Notchback but this time in
brilliant white with a black roof. I didn't find out a
lot about this gorgeous car but I do know it was
totally immaculate. 

The chrome bumpers looked amazing under the
show hall lights and the attention to detail was
incredible. I did like the all red tail light lenses.

Each of the 3 exhibition show halls had fantastic
displays and no matter what type of Volkswagen
you're into, you'll find it at this great show.

Some of the exhibitors were very creative with
their display stands and this pair made theirs
to look like a camping scene.

This lovely 1978 late bay finished in an orange
and ivory colour scheme looked stunning. This
bus sits lower thanks to dropped spindles and
adjustable spring plates. The power for this bus
comes via the original 2.0 litre fuel injected GE
code engine. I did like that opening rear screen.

The interior has had a make over with new units
built in lightweight Zebrano ply and fitted by the
owner. The seats have been re-trimmed and other
features include; a pop up T.V. on a remote lifter,
and a mains hook up with inverter. The chrome
Fuchs replica wheels match the chrome trim and
bumpers.

The owner of this 1966 white split screen had
so many accessories and props on his display
and it looked fantastic. This U.S imported bus
is a rare Bowman and Sons conversion. The
Californian based automaker converted these
buses from 1962 -1969.

This bus still has the original Bowman and Sons
interior compromising of; camping fridge, table
and king size bed. Bowman made around 1500
conversions and this bus is number 1265.

The bus was stored from 1974 - 2008 but it's
so nice to see it on display. The bus also has 6
pop out windows and all the original U.S spec
details.

This years rare find at the show was this 1970's
kit car called the Phoenix camper. Back in the
70's kit cars were all the rage and the idea for
this camper was you paid $15 and in return you
got 15 drawings and a photocopied set of build
plans, no kit or parts just some pieces of paper.!
You then had to find a bus and cut the body off
and throw it away. Then you had to buy all the
materials to make the foam encased fibreglass
panels for the new body. The sheer amount of
work involved was ridiculous and very few actually
got finished. This one is believed to bed one of
only 3 left in existence in the world!

This one started life as a 1959 split screen bus
and at some point in the late 1970's someone
decided they wanted a Phoenix. They could have
used a bay window, but back then bay's were more
expensive than the old split screen buses.

The gull wing doors reveal the 1970's interior of
shag pile carpet brushed draylon. I did like the
cool steering wheel ( which you can't really see
in this photo) and the custom dash board.

The rear end looks like some sort of lunar vehicle
from the space race back in the day.

The interior was surprisingly spacious with those
fold down side panels. The interior looked as
though it was still the original 1970's materials.

This particular Phoenix was found in a trailer park
in Arizona in 2015 which I'm sure can get quite
hot, and those very small slide back windows
are not going to let much cool air into the bus
on those hot sunny days.

This stunning 1967 Karmann Ghia had been
restored by Pete Morley of Californian Classics
and finished off in the gorgeous Alfa Romeo rosso
red  pearlescent paint. This lovely KG sits nice
and low thanks to short shocks and also has a 2"
narrowed front beam.

The stunning interior has been finished in a
bespoke tan leather with a Les Leston wood rim
steering wheel and has a Gene Berg locking
gear shifter.

The motor (which was incredibly clean) was a
2276 CC unit with amongst other things has an
Engle 120 cam and lightened flywheel with twin
Webber 44 DCNF carbs.

The brakes on this beauty are stock and the hubs
have been drilled to fit the Porsche stud pattern
for the Fuchs replica wheels.

'Just Kampers' had their gorgeous type 147
Kleinlieferwagen, or Fridolin as it's normally
called. For a company that supplies parts and
accessories for Volkswagens, this was as you
would expect simply stunning.

The Fridolin was produced from 1964 - 1974
mainly for the German Post Office. These are
quite rare as only about 7000 were produced.



So that was part 1 of 4 all about the Volksworld
Show 2017. The second instalment will be next
Saturday where you can see more top quality
bug's, buses and buggies and not forgetting a
really cool bay window hearse! so don't forget
to come back next week. 

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