Brighton Breeze 2017 (part 1 of 4)

This weeks blog review is a four part review all about the annual Brighton Breeze VW show, which this year was held on Saturday 7th October 2017 on Maderia Drive in coastal town of Brighton. The Brighton Breeze show is organised by the S.S.V.C. (The Split Screen Van Club) which founded in 1983 by a group of guy's who loved the split screen bus. The main purpose of the club was to preserve the pre '67 Volkswagen split screen and all the expertise needed to maintain and restore them and keep them on the road. The S.S.V.C. attend many shows throughout the year, and each year they put on their own show, called The Brighton Breeze. The show is held in the same location every year, along Maderia Drive in Brighton, West Sussex on the south coast of England. Maderia Drive runs East / West from Brighton Pier to Black Rock and is only a stones throw from Brighton's infamous South facing pebble beach. Brighton Breeze is normally held on the first Saturday of October, and this is a show I have attended for many years. Being a south facing beach, if the weather is good, it is really good, however if the weather is bad, then you really are in trouble. Over the years I have experienced 70 degree heat with blazing sunshine (including getting sun burnt) to storm conditions with high winds and almost horizontal rain with freezing temperatures and as it's held in October this shows success really is in the hands of the weather. This year's forecast wasn't good with heavy rain forecast all day but that didn't put me off, as I had arranged to meet up with some other members of the Wolfsburg Bus Crew (WBC) at Pease Pottage services, (which is about halfway to Brighton for me) for a club convoy down to the show. The forecast wasn't good but how bad could the weather be!? So early on the Saturday morning I jumped in my 1969 microbus and set off for the southbound services on the A23, but the closer I got to the services the heavier the rain was coming down.
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By the time I arrived at Pease Pottage services
to meet the rest of the WBC guy's the rain was
coming down like it was the end of the world. Even
though I needed a comfort break and some break-
fast I decided to sit in the bus for a while.

It wasn't all bad though, at least I had Ricki's RAT
look panel van to admire that was parked up in
front of me.

I also had 'Margo', Rich Coxhill's '72 blue and
white late bay to look at. The rain was starting to 
ease, so maybe it's time to go and get some 
breakfast and go to the toilet, but not necessarily
in that order!

When I came back from the services the rain
had decreased to constant drizzle, time to meet
some other WBC members and get some photos.
Simon's '61 green single cab, Mark's '79 orange
Devon and CJ's '76 red late bay were the first
vehicles I recognised in the services car park.

My 1969 microbus parked up in the rain next to
Rich's blue and white '72 late bay, Paul's 1967
SO42 Westfalia and Davyd's slammed grey
Subaru powered 1991 T25 and it looks like
Kat's 1985 red T25.

WBC members Chris's orange bay and Simon's
blue and white panel van getting wet in the
services car park.

Chris's bright orange 2.0 litre auto high top bay
certainly brightens up the dull overcast car park.

As the WBC left the services to head to Brighton
in a huge convoy, I had the pleasure of following 
Ricki in his awesome ratty panel van. This is one 
cool looking van.

As there were so many WBC buses that met up
at the services, getting out was busy to say the
least, I let Ross squeeze in, in his lovely '69 bay.

The A23 is the main route into Brighton from
the midlands, and by the time the WBC convoy
hit the road there were classic Volkswagens of
all descriptions heading down towards Brighton.
I'm not sure if this lovely orange and white splitty
was a WBC member or not, but he sure looked
cool cruising along in the fast lane.

En-route to Brighton, the WBC convoy made
good time and the amount of classic Volkswagens
heading down the A23 was amazing. It's at times
like these that I need someone to ride shotgun to 
take decent photos!

The WBC have arrived in Brighton. Robin in his 
cool 1965 walk through split screen panel van 
followed me onto Maderia Drive, which is where all 
the buses line up for the show. I took this photo 
whilst queueing up to get into the show.

I love this old ratty split screen. I've seen it many
times at this show and every year it still looks
as good. There are more photos of this bus
later on in this blog review.

Ricki's grey RAT look panel van and Craig's
 '57 blue  school bus parked up on the seafront 
at Brighton. Both these guy's are WBC members.

A better look at Craig's '57 school bus parked
up alongside Paul's white SO42 Westfalia.

WBC member Kat came along to the Breeze in
her stunning 1985 T25. This really is a lovely
looking bus. I do like these T25's and could easily
have one.

Susie's lovely white over blue '67 split screen
(parked nearest the camera) bus parked up at 
the Brighton Breeze show.

More WBC buses, Rich's blue and white Westy
Continental, Darren's white Westy and Davyd's
grey T25.

A better look at the buses, (above) which marked
 the start of the Wolfsburg Bus Crew's line up.

More WBC vehicles at Brighton Breeze, Jason's
Yellow '74 bay parked just along from my bus.

A better look at WBC member Jason 'Ginger 
Jay's '74 late bay, which he affectionately refers
to it as 'my crappy yellow and white bay' !

My 1969 microbus parked up at Brighton with
Robin's '65 'Brumos Racing' split panel van.

A blog review of an any VW event that I attend
wouldn't be complete with a photo of my 1969
microbus... so here it is!! I'm surprised on how
clean she looks considering the awful weather
I had to drive through to get to Brighton.

Two more WBC members vehicles. I don;t know
who owned the white over blue bay, but I do know
that Simon owns the gorgeous green and white
single cab.

Here's a better look at Simon's 1961 single cab
split screen pick up. This really is a cool looking
bus. I love the overall look of Simon's ride.

A trio of cool T25's that are part of the WBC. Kat's
red 1985 T25 named 'Bertie', Gary's '86 yellow 
T25 and Karen's blue high top T25, with Heather 
just parking her yellow '71 rag top early bay.

It may be dull and overcast on the seafront but
Chris's stunning 1979 bright orange 2.0 late bay
brightens up the seafront display. 

CJ's red '76 slammed bay and Mark's orange 
Devon and Richard's green and white bay, all
these guys are WBC members. CJ is an optimist, 
it's early October in the U.K and we are on the 
seafront, it's cold and wet and CJ is wearing shorts!!

Cara, another WBC member went to the
Brighton Breeze in her gorgeous '67 split
screen bus.

I'm not sure if these buses were part of the WBC
line up or not, as there were so many buses and
bugs on the seafront and so many WBC buses
they all sort of mingled into one!

This radical slammed brown bug caught my eye,
just look at that reflection on the door and rear
quarter panel, hows that for a shine! I did like
the overall look of this cool bug.

The custom wheels were neat, the banded rear
wheels with the stretched tyres only just fit under
the rear arches. Those spiked wheel nuts added
the final touch.

The early tail lights and the custom engine lid
with air scoop suited the overall look of this
old rag top beetle.

From one extreme to another, I spotted this old
bug on the back of a trailer, it was for sale but it
needed just a small (!) amount of work!

The dreaded rust has got a good hold of this old
bug. I can't remember how much it was up for sale
for, but it drew plenty of attention.

There were plenty of vehicles for sale at the show
to suit all budgets and I'm guessing this was priced
to sell.

The Brighton Breeze show is organised by the
split screen van club and as you we expect the
number of split screen vans was immense. This
is the S.S.V.C.'s biggest show of the year.

Split screen buses of all years, models and
styles lined both sides of Maderia Drive on
Brighton's sea front.

This lovely clean yellow and white '79 Moonraker
belongs to Sian, who lives local to me. I knew she
was coming down but due to the sheer numbers
of vehicles at the Breeze, I thought the chances
of seeing her were remote. However out of the
hundreds upon hundreds of vehicles on the sea-
front we ended up parking opposite each other!

This '64 split screen slowly cruised past me as
I wandered along Maderia Drive. I do like to see
a stock looking bus and this bus ticked all the
right boxes for me.

It was overcast and grey, and not to mention wet
so I didn't think to carry my sunglasses, but when
this super bright lime green and white split drove
past I wish I had of been wearing them! This '64
bus was super clean oh, so bright!

This gorgeous '69 turquoise and white Dormobile
belongs to WBC member Chris. This really is a
 lovely bus that is so straight and clean. Chris is 
also a member of the WBC.

This stunning '77 white over blue late bay belongs
to Dave and Theresa who are both WBC members.
This bus really was so clean despite the lousy
weather we had earlier in the day.

The 'patina' look is still big here in the U.K. and
this '69/70 early bay had plenty of patina. It also
had a few knocks and scrapes which gave it a
cool RAT look.

The sheer diversity of vehicles at the Breeze is
immense. Whatever type of Volkswagen your
into, you'll be able to find it here. It's not just air
cooled VW's, the Breeze now attracts plenty
of water cooled T25's, and T4 / T5's.

This is that radical split screen bus that I took a
photo of whilst queueing up to get into the show.
This old '65 bus has so many accessories and
bolt on goodies.

You could spend ages looking around this bus,
the old skool flames give this bus an old hot rod
look. 

The guy's from 'The Early Bay.com' were at the
Breeze in force. When these guy's go to a show,
they certainly put on a good display.

There were early bay's from all years, models
and ride heights!

This beige 1968 deluxe microbus early bay was 
up for sale and it looked to be a good honest bus. 
It has a standard split screen front beam with 
adjusters and flipped spindles. This Californian bus,
 although originally from Oregon was imported
around 11 years ago.

It looked to be really solid and possibly a good
purchase for someone, it was priced at a very
reasonable £10,000 ($14,000 approx)

So that was the first of three instalments all
about the Brighton Breeze VW show 2017.
Next weeks review will be part two where you
can see plenty more buses, bugs, buggies ,
type 3's and Karmann Ghia's so be sure to
come back next Saturday.