Wolfsburg Bus Crew - 2nd Anniversary Party (part 1 of 3)

This weeks blog review is the first of a three part review all about the Wolfsburg Bus Crew's 2nd Birthday Bash that was held at the world famous Ace Cafe in London on Sunday 3rd September. So what is the WBC all about? Well it's best if I let Rich Coxhill (who runs the WBC) tell you in his own words. The following text is taken from the WBC Facebook page: 

The Wolfsburg Bus Crew is a club based in London & the midlands (but with members worldwide) for owners of Volkswagen split screens, bay windows &T25's. Even though we are based in London and the midlands we have members who live all over the U.K. as well as all over the world. Your bus doesn't have to be a show winner or completely mint to be part of the Wolfsburg Bus Crew, it you love your bus, then we love your bus! We have monthly meets, club stands, various runs, camping trips and discounts from VW parts companies as well as many other things.Thanks for your support and let's keep these beautiful machines on the road!. Well said Rich!. 

I have been a member of the WBC for about a year or so, and it's a fantastic club, and as I missed the first anniversary bash because I didn't know about it, I was determined that I wasn't going to miss the 2nd anniversary bash. As I mentioned earlier the hard work of running this successful club is done by Rich, who never seems to stop promoting the club, getting discounts from VW suppliers for club members, organising club meets at various shows throughout the year, arranging the production and distribution of the club stickers and this year has even organised a calendar to be produced featuring 12 lucky members rides to appear in the calendar with all the proceeds of £226 have, as I write this review, just been donated to the charity Age U.K. If you want to join the WBC, and why wouldn't you?, you can do so by going to their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/684035321730942/  

(you may need to copy and paste the address.)

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

My 1969 VW Microbus parked up in front of the
iconic Ace Cafe London at the WBC 2nd birthday
bash. I was so looking forward to this event, it had
been all over my facebook news feed and promised 
to be a great evening with some awesome buses.

I arrived quite early in the evening but there was
already a cool selection of buses parked up, this 
promised to be a good evening with plenty of nice 
buses and lots of friendly WBC club members.

This lovely 1970 RAT look beige early bay belongs
to a mate of mine, Ryan. This cool bus has (or
rather did have, as Ryan is always tinkering and
changing things on his bus) a 2054cc motor
with CB044 heads and an FK8 cam. 

This is an out of date photo as Ryan now has the
 'Flat Four Aircooled' logo sign written on his doors
and tail gate. I also know that over the winter
his bus will have new front suspension parts
with the chassis being notched.

Ryan does like a sticker or two, luckily this is the
rear window behind the cupboard so you couldn't
see out of it anyway. Ryan plans to get out and
about more next year with more camping trips.

This gorgeous 1972 Brazilian split screen was
imported by the present owner, Maney in 2008.
The bus was purchased from new by his grandad
in Brazil who used the bus regularly until 1980.
The lovely polished Porsche Fuchs style wheels
look great and match the chrome bumpers.

This lovely bus had a partial restoration back in
2005 and when Maney brought this the bus to
the U.K it had a 1641cc engine and IRS fitted.
The bus also has a 'Creative Engineering'
adjustable front beam and steering rack, with
CSP disc brakes. Maney has been all over
Europe in his bus and always seems to be out
and about in it.

This 1957 split screen panel van belonging to
Dave has appeared on my blog on numerous 
occasions and it probably will feature again in 
the future. This van is a Californian import that
 used to be a shop van for a Porsche / Audi garage.

This insane van rides on full hydraulic suspension
which virtually allows the chassis to sit on the ground
once the system is lowered. Those air scoop over
the air vent help to get fresh air in to cool the
1956cc motor.

You can't really get much lower than this, without
digging a hole!.

This lovely 1966 split screen belongs to friends
of mine, David and Angela who live just on the
opposite side of my hometown. David has owned
his bus for over 10 years now and keeps updating
and improving it.

David's split has 'Red9' front and rear suspension
with disc brakes all round. It also has a larger
capacity fuel tank for long range driving across
Europe, which David and Angela regularly do.
The bus also has a 1995 cc engine and a long
ratio gearbox for motorway cruising.

This lovely clean 1967 Canterbury Pitt split screen 
belongs to Stuart. The bus was left to Stuart by his 
late father who restored the '67 and left it for Stuart
to carry on with it. This gorgeous bus has has a
narrowed bay front beam and an IRS at the back. 

You can see just how clean this bus is from this
photo. The wheels are early bay steel wheels.
The engine at present is a 1600cc unit but Stuart
will soon replace it with 1641cc engine with twin
Dellorto 36 carbs.

The interior of Stuarts split looked lovely with it's
matching blue and white door cards and seats.

A row of gorgeous VW buses parked up outside
the world famous Ace Cafe, London for the
Wolfsburg Bus Crew's 2nd Birthday bash.

The rows of buses continued on the other side
of the car park. It was great to see that so many
WBC members had attended this great event.

This blue T25 high top, I believe wasn't a WBC
member, but he was still made to feel welcome.
In the WBC it doesn't matter what your bus looks
like, as Rich says on the Facebook page, "If you 
love your bus, then so do we".

I think the owners name was Mark, and I also
think that this very unassuming bus had a Subaru
motor so even though it wasn't the prettiest bus
at the bash, it's probably one of the fastest!

This lovely stock looking bay belongs to Jane.
The unusual colour combination worked really
well and helped to make this 1970 bus really 
 stand out.

Jane's pop top bus is riding at what looks stock
height, which is always nice to see. This bus did
look nice and really solid.

This lovely 1977 (although it wasn't registered
until 1978) late bay started life as a panel van
for a refrigeration company in Romford and is
owned by Mark who has owned 'Esmerelda'
for over 10 years. The bus was, Mark thinks
converted by the second owner who put the
side windows in along with the early Devon
pop top and interior. The interior wasn't up to
much so Mark has replaced it with a 'Vanwurks'
reproduction Westfalia interior.

This lovely clean bus has a replacement 1641cc
Vege engine after the original engine decided
to die whilst Mark and his partner were at Lake
Garda, in Italy whilst touring Europe. I do like that
Sage green ( L63H) colour especially when it's
on such a straight bus such as Mark's.

This stunning 1961 single cab pick up belongs
to Simon. This lovely SC has had a lot of work
done to it to get it looking this nice. That work
includes: Front disc brake conversion with type
3 rear drums and shoes. Complete new wiring
loom with Smiths gauges. Halogen front lights
and LED rear light units.

This SC really does have a nice stance. I think
the colour of this bus helps it looks as the green
is such a nice colour. The 7UP decals are a new
addition that have been applied this year.

On the rear of Simon's bus he has adjustable
spring plates to help get the right stance. He
also has a 'Vintage Speed' exhaust but it's been
tucked up and pretty much out of sight.

This lovely clean 1978 late bay is the second
Sage green bay in this blog review. This bus is
owned by Richard who has owned 'Kermit' for
about 5 years.

Richard likes to go camping in his bus as much
as possible. I don't know much else about this
lovely bay, apart from it's a really clean and
straight looking bus.

Greg and Staph just arriving at the Ace Cafe,
more about this lovely slammed crew cab in
next week's blog..

This gorgeous Marsala red pop top T25 California
is owned by Richard who has owned it for 5
years. I do like this bus, I had a good look at
 it at the Stonor Park show, and was very jealous.
The bus is pretty much stock apart from the Carat
alloy wheels, and it is so clean.

The stock 4 berth Westfalia interior includes a
fridge, hob, sink, wardrobe, 3/4 bed and a heater
for those winter camp outs. Early in the new year
Richard plans to ditch the original engine for a
Subaru unit which will provide much more power,
especially on the hills. I like these California's so
much I could easily sell my microbus and get one!

This stunning bright orange 1974 Westfalia late
bay was immaculate. This lovely bus belongs to
Julien who has owned the bus for about 4 years
but has had some memorable trips across to
Europe with his family, including France and
Spain.

Julien and his family can often be found camping
in the bus most weekends on the outskirts of
London. They like the camping lifestyle so much
they even took their daughter on her first camping 
trip in the bus when she was just 5 weeks old. The 
Westy is pretty much original, and Julien hasn't had 
to do any major works, other than just tinkering, 
as we all do with our buses!

This lovely dark blue bus crossover bay is owned
by Stephen, this bus really was nice and straight,
just look at the reflection on the side panels. 

Stephen's bus has been hit with the lowering
stick and has a narrowed front beam. The dark
blue paint has also been applied to the bumpers
and hub caps, which looked good. The perfectly
straight panels and the finish of the paint provide
yet another great reflection down the side of the
lovely bus.

This 1976 baby blue late bay belongs to not only
a WBC member but also a mate of mine, Luke.
Luke's bus is a non walk through model, (the same
as my 1969 microbus) and in this photo he still
has his Vauxhall Carlton alloy wheels on. Since
this photo was taken Luke have got himself some
new chrome Fuchs wheels bolted onto his bus.

Luke's bus has a 1641cc engine with a 'Vintage
Speed' exhaust. Apart from this the bus is pretty
much standard, except for being so clean!

I think this stunning all white T25 belongs to Tel.
Tel has owned this ex Wolfsburg van for about 16
years and bought it as a retirement project, which 
looks as it's coming along very nicely.

This super clean bus has had the interior re trimmed
in the original VW trim and swapped the old tired
JK engine for an RA engine as it offered more
BHP. The bus has interior lights and an Internet
connection to keep the kids happy on long journeys.

This lovely looking 1971 campmobile is owned
by Karen, who has owned 'Betty Boop' for around
6 years. This Californian import is in fantastic
condition and riding at what looks like standard
height.

Betty Boop has a 1600cc twin port engine and
is as I type, is having the steering box reconditioned
(something I desperately need doing on my bus)
and having the dash renovated. Look how straight
the sides of Betty are, an almost perfect reflection.

A very good example of hand painted sign writing
on the back of Karen's bus. As a budding sign
writer I can appreciate this simple lettering work.

So that was the first of three instalments about the
Wolfsburg Bus Crew's Birthday bash at the Ace
Cafe, London. Next week will be part two where
you can see plenty more WBC members rides
so be sure to come back next Saturday. As this
is the last blog review before Christmas, I would
like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers 
both old and new, a very Merry Christmas and thank 
you for visiting my blog.