Stanford Hall 2017 (part 4 of 4)

Welcome to the 4th and final installment all about the Stanford Hall VW show which this year was held on Sunday 30th April and is an annual one day event organised by the Leicestershire and Warkickshire VW owners club and held in the grounds of Stanford Hall, which was built in the 1690's in the beautiful village of Stanford-on-Avon, near Lutterworth in Leicestershire, LE17 6DH. The grounds also has the River Avon gently flowing through the grounds, and provides a spectacular backdrop for a VW show. As Stanford Hall is only about 60 miles from my hometown, and as the weather forecast was promising I decided to drive up. I have been to this show over the past few years and there is always a good collection of top quality VW's of all varieties with plenty of trade stands and an auto jumble and all set in the beautiful grounds of Stanford Hall. 
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 coral red, L351 ( I think) looked
absolutely gorgeous, hence it is the first vehicle
in this weeks blogs review. The overall standard
was amazing, you can see how clean and straight
the car is from this photo.

The beautiful flowing body lines looked great in
that lovely coat of paint. The highly polished /
chromed Empi 5 spoke wheels stood out as did
the chrome towel rail bumpers.

The variety and styles of just the humble beetle
was amazing, there were hundreds of bugs at
the show and each one was different in some way.

This super low 1972 bug looked cool with it's
narrowed front beam, sitting so low and that 
extensive wheel camber on the rear wheels. 

This baby blue '72 was another bug that had been
lowered so much that it almost sat on the floor. 
The narrowed front beam with those painted steel
wheels looked good, but add the white wall tyres
to compliment the baby blue paint and this old
bug looked fantastic.

If you thought the red bug (above) had some
serious camber on the rear wheels, well how's 
this for some really outrageous wheel camber?
I did like the rear pop out windows which always
look cool on a bug.  

It wasn't just the beetles that had been lowered,
this lovely 1970 imported Westy had been
seriously hit with the lowering stick and looked
so much better for it.

Buses as far as the eye can see, from early
split screens to T4/5's and everything in between.
As along as it's a VW you'll be sure to see it 
at Stanford Hall.

This 1958 beetle looked amazing in its Diamond 
Grey paint. This seriously low bug was so clean 
and straight and looked to be pretty much original.. 
apart from those lovely polished Porsche wheels 
of course!

This gorgeous car had those lovely rear fender
skirts and still had semaphore indicators. You
can see just how low this old bug sits from this
photo and how narrow that front beam is. This
gorgeous car was up for sale at the show for
£13,000 ($16,500 approx)

This was in the windscreen of the lovely bug, I'm
not sure what it is.. maybe some form of service
date reminder? I do know its in Danish so maybe
this old bug was imported from Denmark?

The grounds of Stanford Hall are massive, which
enables the show to have plenty of room to display
the hundreds upon hundreds of vehicles that turn
up to attend this great one day event.. 

Just a trio of bugs from different years, and all
different styles. This show really does have
something for everyone.

My Face book friend Paul was at the show with
his cousin in Paul's satin black hot rod themed
T4. Paul painted the bus himself including the
cool looking flames. Paul has named his rodded
bus 'Betty the Bitch' after his liking for Betty Boop.

This stunning 1966 Karmann Ghia looked so
nice in it's restored to original condition. The red
paint was gorgeous and the perfectly straight body
gave off some almost perfect reflections.

The Karmann Ghia has a timeless shape that
will never go out of fashion as you can see from
this photo. This car really was 'just like new'.

Another vehicle that provided almost perfect
reflections was this 1966 dark green 1300cc
beetle. Just look at the reflection in the passenger
door and rear quarter panels.. amazing.

This lowered bug looked great with it's painted
steel wheels and bright chrome work.

The iconic image of an early split screen bus.
It's easy to see why the majority of merchandise
you can buy that is VW related has the front of
a split screen on it.

I spotted this 1986 Karmann Gipsy in the distance
and made a bee line straight for it. I love these
Gipsy's and could easily have one myself. This
T25 model had the 1.6 turbo diesel engine and its
only had 2 owners from new, including the present
owner.

This lovely bus has been in the current owners
possession for 11 years after he purchased it
from its original owner in Berlin, Germany. This
Gipsy has only covered 77,000 miles and still
has the original paintwork (!). This Karmann
was up for sale for £16,900 ($21,300 approx)

This 'Martini' racing Karmann Ghia looked really
cool in with its race themed paintwork. However
this old KG is not what it seems, the 1973 body
sits on top of a 2001 Porsche Boxster chassis.

The Porsche chassis complete with the 250BHP
engine, and all the running gear has been
modified to take the Karmann body shell.

This lovely old imported 1962 was an original
SO22 Westfalia that was mostly original including
the faded paint. This really was a nice straight bus. 

The OG paint is starting to show its age, but that
gives this bus some character. This bus has a
new 1300cc engine and all new brakes. It has
been U.K. registered as was up for sale for
£35,000 ($44,500 approx)

The price may seem high but this is a lot of
bus with the original Westfalia interior.

Everything is there, as it left the factory including
the curtains!. If you want an original bus then this
 is the bus for you.

Okay I know it's not a VW, but I couldn't resist
taking a few photos of this lovely 1967 Dodge
A100 panel van. The A100 was made in various
guises from 1964 - 1970.

I do like the old Dodge panel van. Yes it looks
very 1960's, but that is exactly why I do them.

Talking of panel vans, which I do have a healthy
liking for, how about this side shot of a lovely
split screen panel van. I'm not sure what it is about
a side shot of a panel van, but it works for me
every time.

The last vehicle in this blog review is a super
low bug that I spotted in the public car park. This
old '69 bug had been lowered, and with that old
skool roof rack and the O.G. paint it looked great.

So that was my 4 part review of the Stanford Hall
VW show for 2017. If you missed any of the
other reviews on this show simply go to 'My Blog
Archive' at the top left of this page. Next weeks
blog will be a 4 part review of the 'Chiltern Hills
Vintage Vehicle Rally' that I and a few friends
attended. In this review you will be able to see
many classic Volkswagens along with many
British and American classic cars and some
really cool hot rods, so be sure to back next
Saturday.

Stanford Hall 2017 (part 3 of 4)

The Stanford Hall VW show this year was held on Sunday 30th April and is an annual one day event organised by the Leicestershire and Warkickshire VW owners club and held in the grounds of Stanford Hall, which was built in the 1690's in the beautiful village of Stanford-on-Avon, near Lutterworth in Leicestershire, LE17 6DH. The grounds also has the River Avon gently flowing through the grounds, and provides a spectacular backdrop for a VW show. As Stanford Hall is only about 60 miles from my hometown, and as the weather forecast was promising I decided to drive up. I have been to this show over the past few years and there is always a good collection of top quality VW's of all varieties with plenty of trade stands and an auto jumble and all set in the beautiful grounds of Stanford Hall. 
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 lovely 1970 early bay was imported from the
U.S.A. and was up for sale, and for me had to
be the bargain of the day. The bus was virtually
rust free and has had new window and door seals.
It has also had the brakes, suspension and wheel
bearings overhauled or replaced.

It has also had the seats recovered and a new
headlining fitted and Z-Bed hinges fitted to the
original bench seat. The price includes the roof
rack, with a ladder and a drive away awning.
All this for the very reasonable price of £11,000
($14,000 approx)

This gorgeous gold bay was powered by a 2.4
litre aircooled flat 6 Corvair motor with a 4 speed
gearbox from a 1960's car. For an additional cost
you could also purchase a 2.7 litre, 140 HP engine
with 4 carb's and a gearbox.

The early bay club had a fantastic display, as
usual at Stanford Hall. I often visit their website
for information, help and advice on everything to
do with the early bay. You can check out their site
here: http://www.earlybay.com/

Although they were all early bays there was so
much variety regarding models from Devon's to
Westfalia's from campers to pick up's.

Some of the early bays were pristine and shiny
and some had the RAT look, but they were all
early bays. The gold 1970 EB we saw at the start
of the blog is pictured in the middle.

I think I must have spent more time at this display
than any other. I got chatting to a guy with a
similar bus to mine and he was so chatty and
helpful.

The Stanford Hall show had a great diversity of
Volkswagens, with the odd Porsche or two thrown
in for god measure.

A buggy, a kubelwagon and a Porsche 356
speedster all lined up together.

I think this gorgeous 356 speedster may have
been a kit as the car displays a 1967 registration
plate, but that doesn't matter one little bit. This
really is a lovely car that received many admiring
looks throughout the day.

The Type 82 kubelwagen was produced from 
1940 -1945 as a light military vehicle designed 
by Ferdinand Porsche and built by Volkswagen
for use by the German Army during WW2.

This particular one looked very authentic with it's
machine guns, bullets and German uniform with
helmet. There were so many accessories on this
car that all looked great.

I do like beach buggies and this '69/70 based
buggy was no exception. The black gel body
looked great with it's white pinstriping down the
sides. The bright lime green of the seats were a
perfect contrast that worked so well.

I'm not sure what body style this buggy has but
I did like it. The big and little wheels with the old
skool Kelly super charger tyres were a blast from
the past and very retro.

This early split screen looked to be pretty much
original, including the faded white over red paint.
The bodywork was showing signs of it's age, but
sometimes it's better to have original rather than
repaired or restored.

Although the paint was faded this old bus, looked
to be pretty solid. I'm not sure what the blue light
on the roof indicates, maybe it used to be some
sort of emergency vehicle?

This white over light blue 1971 early bay looked
like a nice bus. I did like the canoe on the roof
rack that, that was longer than the bus. It looked
like the owners were ready for an adventure.

This old '71 was really clean and solid. Small
touches like the clear indicator lenses help to
make the front end look so clean and fresh.

The grounds at Stanford Hall, where the show is
held is massive and everywhere you looked you
saw wall to wall Volkswagens. Here is just a
handful of some lovely classic beetles.

Near the entrance to the show was where the
various club displays were assembled. One club
display I wanted to see was the Wolfsburg Bus
Crew's display as I'm a member.

This lovely 1958 LHD split screen started life as
a Swiss Army radio communication bus but is
now a lovely well equipped camper. This old '58
is so solid it has never been welded and it had
a bare metal respray about 5 years ago.

The bus has Porsche 944 disc brakes on all four
corners that recently been overhauled with new
discs, seals and brake lines. The red colour is
actually Ducati anniversary red with hand painted
decals on the doors.

The engine bay is just as clean as the rest of this
lovely bus. The 1776cc was built by 'Terry's Beetles'
and has electronic ignition, an external oil filter
and a deep sump and genuine Webber 44 IDF
carburettors

This lovely 1969 Montana red deluxe microbus
from Sacramento has several similarities to
my own bus, as mine is also a '69 deluxe micro-
bus from Sacramento. Unlike mine however this
beauty has 95% OG paint. This bus sits nice and
low thanks to a Type2 Detectives narrowed front
beam with gas shocks and adjustable spring plates
on the rear. The motor is a 1776cc unit which runs
very well only to be let down by a not so good
gearbox! The polished Empi 5 spoke wheels
are a temporary solution until the owner can decide
what wheels would suit the bus best. Thanks to
Rich for all the info on his lovely bus.

This gorgeous 1970 Adventurewagon is running
a 1641cc motor with twin Kadron carbs that has
been raised 2.5", the chassis has also been
notched and the front beam has been raised by
1.5". The bus did have a Rayvern hydraulic
suspension set up but this has been taken off as
the owner prefers a static set up. Future plans
include raising the steering box to allow the bus
to sit even lower! Thanks to Graham for the info
on his cool Adventurewagon.

This lovely 1971 Westfalia looked fantastic with
it's low stance, thanks to it's 2.5" dropped spindles
with adjustable KYB gas shocks. The Vintage
Autohause French Slammer 4.5" narrowed beam
helped to keep those retro Empi slot mags tucked
under the cab. This Californian import really is a
lovely clean bus. Thanks to Jim for the info on his
lovely clean bus.

This super low 1973 late bay looked great with
it's RAT look. This bus sits so low thanks to
having a full Rayvern hydraulic suspension and from
having the chassis reworked at the rear and notched
at the front to allow the 1914cc engine and gearbox,
and the front beam to actually sit on the ground when
the bus is fully lowered. Thanks to Darren for the
info on his lovely low bus.

This immaculate 1973 Westfalia is a Californian
import, so you know it's going to be pretty much
solid. The 2 litre engine has had recent rebuild
with a Porsche top end and the fuel injection has
replaced with twin carbs. The bus sits nice and
low thanks to an air ride suspension. This really
is a super clean bus. Thanks to Oliver for the
information on his super clean Westy.

This is 'Margo', she's a 1972 (although registered
in 1974) Westfalia Continental that belongs to
Rich, who runs the Wolfsburg Bus Crew club. The
original 1600cc engine is still going strong and the
original Westy interior is complete with just a few
modern twists.

This lovely 1991 T25 twin slider is such a cool
looking bus. The super low stance is thanks to a
Rayvern hydraulic suspension set up but plans
are in place to tub the bus and get the ride height
even lower!.

You can see just how low this bus sits already.
This bus is not only for show, it has a 2.5 litre
Subaru engine fitted mated to a custom exhaust.

I tried to be artistic by taking a photo of the Ducati
buses reflection, but all I seem to have done is
create a 6 wheel version of it. !! Sorry James.!

So that was part 3 of 4 of my reviews about the
Stanford Hall show. next week will be the fourth
and final instalment where you will be able to 
see plenty more quality bugs, buses, buggies.
There is also a couple of Karmann Ghia's and
a lovely Gipsy so be sure to come back next
Saturday.