Saturday 27 May 2017

Big Bang VW festival 2017 (part 4 of 4)

This weeks blog review is the fourth and final review about the annual Big Bang VW camper and bus show which was held at the world famous Santa Pod Raceway in Northamptonshire over the weekend of 21st - 23rd April 2016. This huge Volkswagen festival at the home of the FIA European drag racing championships seems to get bigger and better every year and is billed as the friendliest VW show on the U.K calendar, despite the high octane drag racing and two live music arenas. This festival is a laid back affair and very family friendly. The big bang weekend consists of 3 days of non stop action on the drag strip, including (RWYB) Run What You Brung, music and various types of entertainment every day / night, show and shine, fun fair, monster truck display, jet car, and plenty more to keep both adults and the younger children occupied all weekend. The Big Bang VW festival is a local show for me, being only 40 miles away from my hometown of Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire so it was nice leisurely drive over to Northamptonshire on the Saturday morning. The blog continues as I wander around Santa Pod admiring all the quality Volkswagens.
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.


To start this weeks blog we have this lovely old
single cab split screen pick up with the coolest
makeshift camping unit on the back.

I don't know the origins of the covered unit or how 
they managed to squeeze it onto the bed of the
 pick up, but it did look good. I loved the O.G. paint 
and the real patina on this old bus.

A close up of the back of the unit with the louvred
windows. It looks like the whole back of the unit
opens up for access as you can make out the
hinges on the left and the period ivory coloured 

door handle on the right.

I just love those old chunky tyres.The bodywork
has seen better days but it just adds character.

From one split screen pick up to another only this
time it's a slammed crew cab with a very narrow
front beam that keep the front wheels tucked under
the cab.

This low bus really did look cool with it's faded
matte Dove blue (I think) paint. I also liked the
canvas over the rear frame hoops.

As this bus had the safari screens open it would
have been rude of me not to take a photo of the
inside. This does look like a very nice place to sit
and cruise away the miles.

A similar coloured early 1960's split screen panel
van was the next vehicle that caught my eye. I do
like panel vans, and this one that had been lowered
and sporting a narrowed front beam was no exception.

The interior was unexpected... it was finished to
look like a wild west saloon.

A better look inside. The effect was really good
and made a nice change to see the owner had
used their imagination to create something from
the normal camping interiors.

You can see just how straight and clean this old
panel van was from this photo. You can also see
how deep those banded rear wheels are!

This down in the weeds 11 window split screen
in what looks like Sea blue and white caught my
eye due to it's low stance and that very narrow
front beam with the polished Fuchs style wheels.

This really was a nice clean and straight bus. I
do like that blue colour that seems to suit a split
screen bus.

This very low and very patina'd oval window bug
stood out from the crowd with it's rough and ready
look.

The whole top half of this old bug had lots of
real patina, not just the odd patch here and there
but patina that covered all the roof, bonnet, tops
of the wings and deck lid.

The interior looked to be pretty much stock, even
the door cards.. or whats left of them.

You can see just how much patina this old bug
had, but that wasn't the main body feature on this
old oval. This bug was riddled with....

... bullet holes! possibly from a shot gun judging
by the cluster of holes. These may look like the
fake bullet hole decals you can buy, but just to prove
these are real bullet holes...

...On the opposite side of the car was the very
prominent indentations of where the bullets almost
came through the other side.

This slammed sky blue early 1960's beetle was
a cool looking dub. This bug had been lowered
so much the floor pan was almost sat on the floor.
The opening rear windows, fox tail handing from
the antenna and swan neck mirrors were all neat
looking accessories that suited the car so well.

The early tail lights with all red lenses and the old
period deck rack, complete with old suitcase 

added to the cars cool look.

The only thing better that a panel van is a sign
written panel van, and this 1958 panel proves
my point. I've seen this van at many shows and it
still looks as good today as it did when I first saw it.

The 'Roo' bars of the front and that massive
wrapped exhaust sticking out the back helped to
make this cool van stand out.

This is 'crack bus charlie', she's a 1970 U.S import 
form Jackson, Mississippi. The original owner
 had the bus for many years before handing it to 
his son who had a serious crack problem. The
bus was then traded for some drugs to some 
dealers who were going to customise it and take
 it apart. 

Thankfully the bus was saved and imported to the 
U.K. around 6 years ago where the present owners 
saw it advertised on e-bay. I just love those old
retro stripes down the side.

This gorgeous split screen panel van caught my
eye mainly due to it's patina and of course the
low stance and the narrowed front beam amongst
everything else.

The real sun burnt patina covered almost all of
the roof and looked great. 

This awesome split screen caravan creation
stood out from the other buses as it was just so
different. I'm not sure how the owner mated a
caravan onto a split screen chassis, but I'm glad
they did as it looks fantastic.

From the back you'd never imagine that it's a split
screen bus. The ultra low stance adds to this
campers appeal as do those massive banded
steel wheels.

A close up of the banded rear wheels to show
just how deep they really are!

The cab of the split caravan could be described
as 'work in progress'... I just hope the owner
doesn't change it too much as it looks good
as it is.

As I was heading back to my bus to go home
this gorgeous gloss black oval window bug
cruised towards me. I had to get a photo of this
lovely clean bug, the low stance with the cream
coloured steel wheels looked great against the
jet black bodywork.

So that was my 4 part review of this years Big
Bang VW Festival. Overall it was yet another
fantastic event and well worth attending, either
for the day or the whole weekend. Next weeks
review is all about the Stanford Hall show so

be sure to come back next Saturday.

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