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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| To start this weeks blog we have this gorgeous 1957 Californian import split screen panel van. It belongs to a guy called Dave and used to be owned by a Porsche / Audi repair shop who used it as a shop van. |
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| The van is currently running on a full hydraulic suspension system that allows the chassis to sit on the floor once lowered. The engine and gearbox have been raised to allow the van to sit so low. Power comes from a very respectable fully built 1956cc motor. |
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| This van still has the original signwritten company logo on the sides which looks really cool. |
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| Regular readers will know I have a passion for off road vehicles, especially Volkswagens so I couldn't pass this lovely looking syncro without having a good look and getting a few photos. |
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| This old bus really did appeal to me, I loved the fact that it had a pop top. I also liked the overall look with it's single colour body and roof with the matching colour coded bumpers. |
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| Parked up next to the early bay syncro was this equally nice high riding LT40. These are such nice looking vehicles, especially when they have had the full off road treatment. |
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| I do like these vans, they are just so big compared to an early bay. I liked the roof rack with the chunky wheel on and the fact that this van still had the rear roller door. |
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| The van had the 'Feuerwehr' logos still on, which roughly translated from German means 'Fire Defense', the spotlight mounted on the bonnet looked like a very useful accessory. |
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| Inside the van the owner had a very nice camping interior and being a twin slider model this really was an appealing van. This lovely van was up for sale at £11,500 ($15,000 approx) |
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| This 1974 single cab pick up caught my eye with it's super cool full length roof rack. This SC had the RAT look complete with patina paint. |
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| I did like the ingenious idea of using a very old wooden ladder to form sides to the pick up bed. |
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| I also liked those hot rod style spun alloy moon discs. I don't know how they managed to get the rear wheel to balance on a tin of Stella Artois, but as you can see, this beer is strong stuff! |
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| As I walked past the fun fair towards the pit's and trade area, a lovely looking 1965 blue and white lowered split screen drove past, closely followed by an immaculate 1965 notch back. |
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| This stunning pair of early beetle's slowly drove past me as they headed towards to rear of the pit area where the show and shine area was. |
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| They looked that good as the cruised past I just had to get another photo.! |
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| In front of the Hayburner trade stand they had this lovely old Chevrolet Monza 2 door coupe. The Corvair Monza was only produced from 1960 - 1969 by General Motors. |
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| This one, as you would expect being in the hands of the Hayburner team, had been seriously hit with the lowering stick and looked great. |
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| The Monza was the only compact car at the time to have an air cooled flat six 2.3 or 2.4 litre motor and a 3 speed manual gearbox, although for a little extra money you could have the optional 2 speed powerglide automatic transmission. |
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| Behind the show and shine area there was a great selection of really old split screen buses of all descriptions.. more photos of this line up in a future blog review of this show. |
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| There were some seriously cool buses in this line up, so I'll have to remember to take a wander over there before I go home. |
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| This slammed convertible KG in matt grey looked tough. |
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| I did like the look of this 1963 RAT looking single cab pick up. The faded white paint with various rust patches looked great against the shiny gloss black of those 5 spoke wheels. I do like those truck style mirrors on a split screen as I think they suit them well. |
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| I also liked the corrugated iron sheeting used as a roof over the bed and the unusual air scoops. |
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| This lovely Sealing Wax red ( I think) and white RAT look 15 window split screen caught my eye due to it's slammed look that is enhanced by the low profile tyres. I did like the patina on this bus as it looked just about right. |
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| The narrowed front beam add to the cool look of this old bus as do those shiny Porsche rims. |
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| The iconic photo, a split screen bus with the front safari windows open. There is something that looks just right when a splitty has the front screen open. |
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| This lovely sand coloured Kurierwagen or type 181 Trekker (as they as commonly known) looked really nice with it's subtle lowered stance. The polished Empi 5 spoke wheels complimented the colour of the body. |
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| These were originally built for the West German Army to be used as a utility vehicle and you can clearly see the military influence in the design. |
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| The interiors of the 181's are very sparse, but you have to remember what the vehicle was originally designed for. This one had been lovingly restored and looked great. |
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| This 1967 rust covered beetle looked great with it's slammed ride height and those red painted steel wheels with white wall tyres. I did like the single yellow spot light mounted onto the bumper. |
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| You can see just how low this RAT bug actually is from this angle. |
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| I do like panel vans and this 1964 split screen panel van was no different. This old van had a slight RAT look to it and riding at almost stock height looked fantastic. |
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| The roof rack with accessories suited this old van.The rusty towel rail bumpers and the U.S style all red lenses also helped the overall look. |
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| On the side of the van was this faded sign writing, I'm not what it used to say but I do like to see original art work on classic old buses. |
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| Walking alongside the staging lane for the drag strip I spotted this Fordson van named 'Banshee' slowly rumble past. I'm not sure what motor this old Ford had under the hood, but it sounded BIG. Banshee runs in the 'Outlaw Anglias' drag racing class. |
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| This late 1950's / early 1960's all black slammed oval window bug looked awesome sitting so low. This old bug must have had some form of air suspension to sit this low. |
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| This lovely old bug was perfectly straight as the reflection in the door and side panel shows. |
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| A great diversity of quality air cooled classics is always guaranteed in the show and shine area. Here a gorgeous 1965 split screen bus is parked up next to a stock looking 1966 notchback |
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| The slammed splitty really was a clean looking bus. you can see just how low that narrowed front end really is from this photo. |
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| The nothcback looked to be pretty much stock with what looks like the original paint. The colour coded wheels suited the car perfectly. |
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| This stunning early 1960's Karmann convertible beetle really was immaculate. The super straight body was covered in a beautiful coat of brown paint that provided some amazing reflections. |
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| This stunning cabriolet looked amazing and it's light tan hood cover complimented the darker brown of the body colour. The polished Empi 5 spoke wheels added just enough sparkle. |
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| The stunning interior of the Karmann convertible. The attention to detail and the overall quality of the finish was amazing. |
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| To finish the weeks blog we have a lovely pair of Dove blue ( I think) early 1960's RAT looking slammed split screen panel vans. |
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| The first one had been lowered with a lovely set of Porsche rims and the low profile tyres on the front add to this vans low ride height. |
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| You can see just how low this van is from this photo. I did like the matching blue bumper trim which was a nice touch. |
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| Both vans had their own share of rust patches and this just added to both of their overall looks. |
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| The second was this blue and white sign written van that had also been lowered and looks like it has a narrowed front beam. |
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| This really was a RAT looking van, and it looked great, The lack of the rear bumper added to it's overall look. |
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| This lovely old van had some cool sign writing on the sides. I'm not sure if it's old or just painted to look old, but it didn't matter as it looked so cool. So that was the first of four instalments about the Big Bang show. Next week will be part 2, where you can see plenty more quality Buses and bugs, a very rare Phoenix, and so much more so don't forget to come back next Saturday. |
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