Volksworld Show 2018 (part 4 of 4)

Welcome to the fourth of four reviews all about the 2018 U.K. Volkswagen show season that kicked off in style over the weekend of 24th  - 25th March with the Volksworld Show at Sandown Park Racecourse, in Esher, Surrey KT10 9AJ. This annual show is organised by the Volksworld magazine (www.volksworld.com/) and it attracts entrants and visitors not only from the U.K. but also across the whole of Europe, and the U.S.A. Due to the excellent venue this show boasts two floors of top quality show cars, plus hundreds more quality vehicles on display outside in the show and shine arena and at the club stands, and you will even find plenty of quality Volkswagen's of all descriptions in the public car park. There are numerous traders selling everything Volkswagen, from curtains and cushions to wipers and wheels, and yet a another floor dedicated to an auto jumble, which is a good place to source those hard to find original items. There are numerous catering vendors where you can get some hot food and hot / cold drinks, but beware they are expensive (£5 for a bacon bap !). There is also an provision available for overnight camping for the hard core campers who want to spend all weekend at the show. Visitor numbers at the show each day run into the thousands and the day visitor car park gets full up very quickly so I decided to get an early start to ensure a good parking spot. The traffic on the Sunday based on past experience is far less busy than on the Saturday therefore easier to get into the show ground. It was the first run out this year for my 1969 microbus and a nice 100 mile round trip, and I have to say the bus ran perfectly. I heard on the grapevine that the show this year was organised by a new team.. I have no idea if this is correct or not, but one thing I did notice was that all the show cars inside the venue didn't have the normal A4 sheet of paper on display with the vehicles details / specifications / modifications etc on. This was particularly annoying for me as I use this info to add to the vehicles photos on the blog to create an interesting read (hopefully!), hence the write up on this years show cars will be a little vague. 

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 apologies for the shorter than normal blog this week, I thought I had enough photo's left for a normal size blog, but unfortunately not, but hopefully you'll still enjoy reading it.

Early beetle's parked up everywhere at the show,
this trio caught my eye.

The same applies to Karmann Ghia's.. there were
KG's from almost every year, every colour and
every style. Whether you liked the RAT look or the
show look, they were all at the Volksworld show.

This RAT Porsche 356B drew plenty of attention
as the whole body was patina'd including the
bumpers and the wheels. The 356B was produced
from 1960 - 1963.

This really was a lovely car, even though the whole
body was covered in rust. I had to wait ages to get
some photo's of this car without any members of
the public being in shot, but the wait was worth it.

Although the body was covered in patina, the
engine was spotless and looked brand new. I'm
not sure what size this motor was but judging by
the twin carbs, I'm guessing not stock?

Another cool photo of all the gorgeous slammed
early bugs lined up outside the main show halls. 

In the club display section, each club had some
seriously cool rides as this club display shows,
unfortunately I can't remember what club this was!

Remember the trio of cool patina'd bugs at the
start of this review, well here are the front ends
from that gorgeous trio.

This lovely blue double door split screen van had
just enough real patina to make it stand out and
look cool. I did like the overall stock look to this
old panel van.

This gorgeous split screen double cab pick up
looked great with it's lowered stance and faded
paint. I do like the look of those 'harp' mirrors
which were for T2 buses from '55 - '67.

How low can you go..? well according to the old
beetle, it's very low! I did like the contrast between
the old original (I think) dull and faded paint and the 
shiny new chrome wheels.

I do like the off road thing, and the whole 'overland
go anywhere' idea, so when I spotted this beast
in the public car park it stopped me in my tracks.
Not only was it huge, but it looked as though it
could go absolutely anywhere. I'm not sure what
model of VW it is, but it's on my shopping list for
when I win the lottery!

Looking out across part of the club display area,
it does look quite sparse of vehicles, but it really
wasn't.

Inside the Sandown Park complex looking out
into the 'winners enclosure' where there were a
few more club displays, including the 'Wolfsburg
Bus Crew'. If you own a split screen, bay window
or T25 bus then why not join this great club. You
can find them on Facebook and Instagram.

The vehicles were parked all around the winners
enclosure, and although there didn't appear to be
as many vehicles this year, the quality was as
high as ever.

This very colourful 'Comic Relief' beetle belongs
to friends of mine David and Angela. They park
the bug in the same place, just outside the main
entrance, every year as they have for as long as
I can remember.

Walking around the car park, I just had to take
another photo of this overland beast. This seems
to look even bigger against the everyday cars.

This VW Tischer XL65 is based on a T25 and
believed to be only one of only 27 ever built and
the only one in the U.K. Powered by a 1600cc
turbo diesel motor, it isn't lightning fast but with
a 5 speed gearbox it is quite economical. I did
like this as it was so different but the asking price
of £25,000 ($28,600 approx) was just a little out
of my price range.

I spotted this lovely solid looking split screen in
the car park. I loved the two tone paint on this
bus and the colour coded steel wheels. This bus
has a reconditioned 1776cc engine and was up
for sale for £17,000 ($19,350 approx)

This amazing early oval window beetle was for
sale outside the show. This car was built on 11th
May 1953, just a few weeks after the production
of the oval window began. The oval was found
in Copenhagen and was driven back to the U.K.
I didn't find out the price, but I'm guessing quite
a lot..

This stunning 1964 white over bright orange
split screen bus was immaculate. The super bright
paint looked amazing over the arrow straight body
panels. The chrome bumpers and the polished
Fuchs wheels complimented the overall look. 

You've got to love a ratty, patina'd single cab.

Early split screen buses all lined up outside the
show area, all with copious amounts of patina.

This imported 1970 early bay looked fantastic 
with it's sun bleached original paint. It's nose 
down stance gave this bus a tough look.

After leaving the show I headed home on the A3
and shortly came to plenty of traffic queueing up,
this gorgeous bug cruised past me in the fast
lane. This really was a lovely looking bug with
it's huge rear wheel & tyre combination and the
single colour dark green bodywork.

So that was the 4th review all about the Volksworld
show 2018. Overall another great show with plenty
of awesome vehicles. If you have missed the first
three instalments about this show you can find
them at the top left of this page under 'My Blog
Archive'. Next weeks blog review will be all about
the 'Wolfsburg Bus Crew's' meet at Irchester
Country Park, where a very impressive 20 buses
of all descriptions turned up for a day of fun. To
see all the buses be sure to come back next
Saturday.