Saturday 22 April 2017

Volksworld Show 2017 (part 3 of 4)

Welcome to part three of four instalments all about The Volksworld Show 2017 that was held 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. The review continues as I wander around admiring all the top quality Volkswagens on display.
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.

Outside the main show halls there were numerous VW clubs that had their club displays of members vehicles. One of the club displays I was keen to see was the Wolfsburg Bus Crew (WBC) as I'm a member. The next 5 buses were all part of the WBC line up, although there were numerous other vehicles at the show, both outside and inside that were WBC members that I wasn't aware of.


The first of the WBC vehicles was this lovely 1957
split screen panel van that belongs to a guy called
Dave, and thanks to Rich Coxhill of the WBC who
put me in touch with Dave, he was only to happy
to tell me all about his lovely van.

This RAT panel van was originally used as a shop
bus for a repair shop called 'Marina Porsche and
Audi' in California. This lovely bus does have the
faded sign writing on the side but it's not too visible
in these photos. This lovely bus sits so low thanks
to a fully remote hydraulic set up which allows the
chassis to rest on the floor when parked up. The
engine and gearbox have been raised up to suit.

The power for this gorgeous bus comes from a
freshly built 1956cc motor and Dave says it also
has 'all the goodies'. The wheels (although you
can't really see them as the bus sits so low!) are
very rare 1970's Brazilian Titianio items. This
van has featured many times on my blog and
looking this good no doubt continue to do so.

Another WBC vehicle was this stunning Swiss
Army radio communications split screen bus.
This bus has featured before on my blog, It belongs 

to James and Andrea who have named this lovely 
bus 'The Duke'. James helps to run the WBC
midland division, you can check out the WBC
club page here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/684035321730942/

The gorgeous 4 year old paint job covering the 
super straight body provides a stunning reflection. 
This bus has a 1776cc motor with twin Webber 
45 IDF carbs. To handle the extra power this bus
 has Porsche 944 disc brakes on each corner.

This lovely '70/71 early bay looked great with it's
retro stripes down the side. This bus sits so low
thanks to dropped spindles and adjustable air
shocks on the front and Bilstein shocks with
adjustable spring plates on the rear. The look is
enhanced by the 'Type2Detectives' 4" narrowed
front beam. The replica Gas Burner wheels suit
this bus perfectly. I just wish I had taken more
pictures of this gorgeous bus.

This lovely clean 1974 late bay belongs to Rich,
who runs the WBC London division and is easily
recognisable with the crocheted spare wheel cover.
'Margo' as Rich calls his bus has the original 1600cc 

engine with stock brakes / suspension.

'Margo' hasn't followed the usual trend of being
lowered as Rich and his family often use the bus
to travel to Devon and stock height buses are so
much more comfortable, not to mention much
more practical than a lowered bus. This really is

a lovely clean and straight bus.

Blue skies and quality Volkswagens both air
cooled and water cooled of all descriptions, this 
is how I like to spend a lovely sunny Saturday.

WBC member Davyd had his ultra low 1991
twin slider T25 bus on display. This lovely bus
sits so low thanks to a Rayvern hydraulic set up,
although Davyd isn't happy and wants to lower it
even more!

Looking into Davyd's bus, this really is a lovely
bus which is very understated. It doesn't have a
flashy paint job or custom chrome wheels but once
you start to look at this bus you realise just how
nice this bus really is.

It may look very understated but don't let the
appearance fool you, power for this bus comes
in the form of a 2.5 litre Subaru motor which is
not going to hang around.

Looking through Davyd's twin slider, how did he
get that retro cycle with it's ape hanger bars into
the bus?

If you like your buses to have the RAT look and
to be slammed onto the ground then this lovely
old bus should give you the fix you need. I don't
know much about this bus but I do know it looks
so cool.

Outside the main show halls the venue was
packed with hundreds upon hundreds of top quality
Volkswagens of all descriptions.

One of the top quality Volkswagens on display
was this stunning 1961 turquoise Karmann Ghia
convertible. This car had been seriously lowered,
possibly using some form of air suspension.

This super straight KG looked amazing in it's
unusual colour paint. It looks as though this old
KG has a narrowed front beam which just tucks
the front wheels under the arches nicely. This
really was a lovely looking car.

This 1960 sliver beetle caught my eye as it had
the sought after 'just right' look.The single colour
paint, the stance and those tyres that filled the
arches perfectly all helped to give this car that
special look. The factory fitted rag top and those
rear pop out windows and not to mention the
small rear lights all helped the appearance.

This car was restored in 1999 and has a new
1600cc engine with twin carbs. Small touches
like the chrome headlight peaks and the painted
VW emblem on the chrome hubcaps helped to
make this old bug stand out. This gorgeous bug
was for sale for £9400 ($12000 approx)

As I walked around there were so many really
nice looking Volkswagens that I struggled to
keep to my plan of visiting each row in turn, I just
wanted to criss cross the rows of vehicles, but that's
how you end up missing something interesting.

Talking of interesting, how about this lovely old
1969 LHD early bay. I did like the stance of this
bus, which is a similar height to my bus. I also
liked the full length roof rack and the single yellow
spot light.

I also liked the roof tent that provides so much
more room and is ideal for a family camping trip.

Just trying to be 'arty' with this photo.. I'm not sure
it worked but it does show the great variety of
Volkswagens on display at Volksworld 2017.

This gorgeous slammed single cab caught my
eye due to it's low stance and that lovely satin blue
paint. The overall look of this bus is enhanced by
the narrowed front beam which tucks the front
wheels under the cab.

This really a lovely looking bus. The all red tail
light lenses and the satin silver painted bumpers
all added to this lovely clean crisp look.

This ultra low RAT looking early Karmann Ghia
looked fantastic with its black patina paint. The
car must have had air suspension to be able to
sit that low. The wheels tucked under the arches
on that narrowed front beam just adds to this
cars overall cool look.

The exterior bodywork may have had the RAT
look, but internally this old Karmann was super
shiny and immaculate. Finished in bright red
and black the internal bodywork was amazing.

You can see just how low this KG really is from
this photo. Again inside the engine bay it was
just like a show car. This really was a nice
looking car.

Fantastic old Volkswagens of all descriptions
at the Volksworld show. Whether you like shiny
paint and chrome or patina and rust, you'll be
sure to find it at this great weekend show.

Another vehicle that was slammed on the deck
was this 1967 1300cc all white beetle. Just
check out how high those rear wheels sit under
the rear arches!

This white bug was also slammed onto the deck
and looks as though it has a narrowed front end.
I did like the small details on this bug like the
Porsche 356 chrome headlight grilles and the
single chrome spotlight mounted to the bumper.

I've seen this 'Rothfink' logo'd slammed bug at
numerous shows in the past, but I know very little
about it, apart from the fact that it just looks so
cool. That super narrow front beam tucks those
banded steel wheels right under the arches.

I did like those war time style headlight covers
and the rusty tip of the bonnet.

If your running some deep dish banded steel rear
wheels you need to come up with a way of getting
the arches to cover them. You could either fit banded
rear wings or fit these nifty wing extensions.

This lovely old 11 window split screen bus with
a U.S. style school bus paint job looked great.
I don't think school buses would have been this
low but how cool would it be if they were and this
took bus you to school everyday!

How narrow is that front beam! you can't even 
see the front wheels from this angle.I did like the
matching colour coded bumpers.

The authentic sign writing on the back of the bus
looked good. This really was a nice bus.

All you patina junkies can get your fix here, this 
1973 late bay looked awesome with it's entire 
body covered in rusty patina paint. The lowered
stance and the narrowed front end add to the
overall look of this cool bus.

I do like a nice sign written panel van and when
they are as nice as this early split screen panel
van it's easy to see why. This bus was slammed
on the floor with a narrowed front beam and
painted in that lovely brown colour.

This 1967 split screen caught my eye, it must 
have been the quadruple yellow lights on the front
as I do have a liking for yellow lenses.. the RAT
look and the low stance may have helped though.

Whilst looking around this bus I noticed these
big air scoops where a window should be. This
bus must be hiding a secret in the engine bay to
warrant extra air scoops.

Well I didn't expect to see this. To be honest I don't
know what it is or how big it is but it looked very
impressive and powerful.

That massive turbo must create some boost.!

Slammed or standard height..? There were so
many buses at the show yet each one was different
from the last one.

This gorgeous 11 window split screen really was
nice. I liked the colour, Turkis ( I think) and white.
I loved how stock looking this bus was, a nice
change from the norm these days. There is some-
thing that looks just right about a splitty that has
the safari screens open.

This bus looked nice from every angle, the rear
quarter panels had some slight patina which gave
the bus a cool look. The all red rear light lenses
and the white towel rail bumpers add to the this
buses overall cool look.

Another Turkis ( I think) 11 window bus was this
very RAT looking bus. This bus was just the
opposite of the bus above, it had been lowered,
had a narrowed front end and a fantastic patina
paint look. 

The faded sigh writing on this bus looked great,
I'm not sure if it's old or whether it has been made
to look old, but it didn't really matter.

This really was a nice bus. The interior looked
pretty much stock which is always nice to see.

A fantastic display of vintage Volkswagen
beetles from all years. The brown split oval window
bug in the foreground caught my eye because..

... it had massive Hoosier racing slick tyres that
filled the arches perfectly.

From the back there isn't any indication that this
old split oval bug had those racing tyres and I'm
assuming an engine to match.

I don't know what it is about yellow headlight
lenses, but whenever I see them I just have to
photograph them! 

This really was a lovely bug that looked so good
from every angle



So that was the third of four blog reviews about
the Volksworld Show 2017. Next Saturday is the 
last instalment where you will be able to see,
several volksrods, some beach buggies, a lovely
23 window samba hippy bus, plenty of bugs and
lots more buses. So be sure to come back next
Saturday. Finally, a big thanks to Dave, Tom and 
Rich for their assistance and contributions in 
helping me write this weeks blog entry.

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