Saturday 30 December 2017

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

Firstly I hope you all had a good Christmas with friends, family and loved ones. This weeks blog review is part two 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.) The blog continues as I wander around the Ace Cafe car park looking at all the awesome buses.
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 immaculate clean 1971 late bay was I think 
Dormobile and the white over bright green colour 
scheme really stood out in the Ace Cafe car park. 
I didn't find out much about this lovely bus, which is
 a shame as it deserves a good write up.

The bus looked to be pretty much stock, although
it did have a few modifications such as the clear
front indicator lenses. The painted stock wheels
suited the overall look of this lovely bus.

This bus however, I do know something about...
This wild T25 twin slider is owned by Davyd and 
his cool bus has featured numerous times on my 
blog and it's easy to see why. Unfortunately Davyd
couldn't make the event so his mate Aaron drove
Davyd's bus to the birthday bash.

Davyd's bus has the awesome low stance thanks
to having a 'Rayvern' full remote hydraulic system 

fitted, as displayed in this and the above photo, 
the first is normal ride height, and this photo of 
the bus as it gets lowered.

This photo shows Davyd's bus fully lowered. The
power for this beast of a bus comes from a 2.5
Subaru engine which means the old bus doesn't
exactly hang around.

This lovely clean 1972 crossover bay belongs to
Andy, who has owned his bus for about 12 years.
Andy purchased the bus as a running restoration

project and over the next 6 years Andy has restored
 the bus into what you see here.

Andy did most of the work himself including the
welding and painting, and a very good job he has
done. This bus looked to be pretty much original
and of course it was super straight and clean.

Paul is the very lucky owner of this stunning 1967
pastel white (L90D) SO42 Westfalia split screen.
Paul has owned the bus for about 4 years and
has done so much work to "Copra" (the buses
name) to get it looking this nice. 

Although this bus has spent a lot of it's life in 
      South Africa, Paul still had to replace the bottom 
6" of the body all round when it was imported to the
 U.K. in 1996. Paul and his family use the bus most 
weekends, often for camping and Paul says the bus 
is definitely a memory maker. This has to be one of
the nicest looking splits that I have seen.

This lovely 1969 single cab pick up is owned by
Davey who imported the bus himself 
back in 
2009 from Compton, in California. Apart from the 
hoops, bows and tarp the bus is pretty much how
 it came in from over the pond.

This really is a lovey clean bus that was perfectly 
straight. These single cabs look so cool, especially
when there are this good looking.

Having the bows and tarp over the bed not only
improves the overall look of the bus but it also
keeps things your hauling around dry.

This is 'Margo' and she belongs to Rich who runs
the WBC. Margo is a 1972 Westfalia Continental
although she was registered in 1974. The unique
crocheted wheel cover was made by his mum
came from an idea form a photo of some hot rods
in Singapore where the trend is to have crocheted
covers on their bumpers.!

The engine is the original 1600cc motor, with
just over 65,000 miles on it and 
Margo still has
the original interior although Rich has added a
few modern touches. Rich, from London uses his 

bus not only for attending VW shows but also
for regularly visiting family down in Devon.

A WBC sticker proudly displayed on Rich's '72.
To get your club sticker, become a member and
order one on-line, it's that easy.

This lovely 1971 Deluxe microbus belongs to a
mate of mine, Joe. This bus is so clean and looks
great with it's yellow headlight lenses and the
Porsche 356 grilles. Joe's bus has the luxury of
having a 3/4 length sliding metal sunroof.

Joe's bus, who he calls 'Denise' (Vanouting), has
a 1776cc engine with twin 36DLRA's and a full
stainless exhaust system. The Neptune blue is

such a lovely colour especially on such a straight
bus and those 15" Enkei polished slot mag wheels 
look great.

It was nice to see that Joe had this cool looking
circular saw on display in the rear of his bus that
I, under my business name of 'Stinky Pete's
Signwriting' had painted as a fun piece a while
ago. Hey, I know it's a cheap plug for my business,
but why not?. You can find us on Facebook.

As well as organising the event at the Ace Cafe,
Rich had also arranged for Gary to be on hand to
provide some great sounds throughout the whole
evening, which he did brilliantly. Gary had a cut
out of a bus in front of his set up which looked
surprisingly like..

...Gary's 1978 Californian imported late bay.
Gary has owned the bus since 2011 and when he
first got the bus it underwent a huge transformation
and came out as the lovely bus you see here,
although Gary says it'll never really be finished.

Gary transformed the old interior into this beautiful
space you see now. This really was nice, I loved
how the TV came up from behind the buddy seat.
This is something on my list of jobs to do on my 

bus, when I finally get around to it, although mine
will be no-where near this standard.

I also loved the grain in that wood on the units,
and the re trimmed seat covers. The attention
to detail and the high standard of finish was
amazing.

The gorgeous two tone colour scheme of Dakota
Beige and Panama Brown looked stunning. The
clear front indicator lenses and the chrome
bumpers with the twin spot lights added to the
gorgeous overall look of this lovely bus.

Gary was also displaying his trio of cool cycles,
 (from front to back) a Hotahawk, a Hippie and
a Propper and all in matching colours of his bus.

A close up of Gary's gorgeous Porsche rims,
a perfect choice to suit the bus, and they were

like the rest of the bus, very shiny.

This stunning slammed crew cab split screen
was gorgeous. This super clean and straight
1967 bus is owned by Greg and Stephanie.

This gorgeous South African crew cab was
imported in 2007 but it wasn't until 2009 that
 Greg and Stephanie obtained the bus. it was
all stripped out and in Greg's words, 'a bit of
a wreck'.

The restoration of this bus was carried out in
Greg's garage and took around 5 years, and

Greg carried out most of the restoration with only
the paint being done by someone else. The couple
have travelled around 20,000 miles in the last 3
years in their lovely crew cab pick up.

Simon came along to the birthday bash in his
immaculate T25 Doka. This truck is so clean
and straight and those yellow headlights look
great against the dark metallic brown paint.

You can see just how clean Simon's crew cab
really is in this photo. This truck really is like new

and perfectly straight.

Power for Simon's crew cab comes via this, I'm
not sure what 'cc'' it is but it looks like a Subaru
motor, so this old truck will certainly go well.

Vince, Chet and Robin came along in Robin's
real patina 1965 RAT look split screen. People
spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds trying
to get their bus this old and rough looking.

This really is a lovey bus under all that patchy
paint and patina. This is a real RAT look bus, not

like so many other buses that use paint effects
etc to create the desired look. This bus is so RAT
it even has....

... real moss growing on the window rubbers, as
I said this isn't some fake paint effect this is real!

This stunning mango and white ( I think) early
split screen bus was gorgeous. This bus was
incredibly straight and solid looking and the
slightly lowered stance suited the overall look.

The polished Randar wheels and the painted
towel rail bumpers really helped to make this
old splitty stand out. 

The interior of this gorgeous bus was just as
clean and tidy as the outside. The matching door
cards and re-upholstered seats made this look like
a nice place to be. 

So that was part two of three reviews about the
WBC Birthday Bash. Next week will be the final
instalment where you can see more WBC members
gorgeous buses, the category winners and some 
very gorgeous girls !! (if that doesn't make you 
want come back next Saturday, nothing will!) so 
be sure to come back next Saturday.



Saturday 23 December 2017

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 oldThe 
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.