House of Dub Open Day with show and shine, (part 2 of 2)

The House of Dub / H.O.D. Imports are a Volkswagen repair shop specialising in both air cooled and water cooled VW's. Every year they hold the annual open day at their workshop near the village of Wing in the glorious countryside of Buckinghamshire. This is where local VW owners can visit the workshop to look around, chat to Zoe and Spike about what they can offer and of course enjoy the open day with a show and shine. (If you missed part 1 of my blog review of the show you can check out 'my archive' to the left of this page). Part 2 of my blog review continues in the show field at the water cooled line up.

 

Paul came along to the open day in his very
distinctive Mk2 Golf. I do like that chequered
front end, it really makes this car stand out.
Paul is a House of Dub VW club member.

This superb hot rod themed Beetle arrived
late in the afternoon. It features a wicked roof
chop, and sitting super low, (without air
suspension) and it's running fender less with
spoked wheels that remind me of 1940's Ford
spoked wheels.

The front end was amazing. Not only running
without wings, it also has the inner wings
removed exposing the floor pan and steering.

Interior was pure old skool hot rod. A central
billet alloy instrument panel housing all the
clocks, and a classic look steering wheel
made from steel. A nice touch was the alloy
door cards with the punched holes, and the
alloy bucket seats.

The rear end carried on the hot rod theme with
the rear wings, rear valance and deck lid all
being removed. The rear lights on the side of
the body were side, tail and indicators all in
one.



That low stance, the roof chop and those
lovely 17" spoked wheels make this Beetle
look amazing. I did like the drilled holes in
the body behind the rear wheels.
 

Another neat touch was the fuel filler. To put
petrol in this bug you simply put the nozzle of
the petrol pump through the back window.

Sitting so low with those big hot rod style
head lights and the roof chop really make this
car something special.

Another House of Dub VW club member was
Tony who attended the open day in his cool
looking 1985 T25 crew cab pick up.

This really is a nice looking pick up, OK it's not
painted and shiny but sometimes there is more
to a nice VW than just a fresh coat of paint.
The voters at the show must have agreed with
me because Tony won the best T25 category.
Well done mate.

Andy, Annaliese and the kids came over from
Aylesbury in their 1970 baby blue early bay.
Andy and Annaliese bought their Californian
 imported bay from the House of Dub about 18
months ago. This really is a nice looking bay.

This late bay single cab pick up was looking
so cool sitting very low with a narrowed front
beam and painted decals.

Moving around the show field I arrived at the
T4/5 show line up. This is just a very small
selection of the T4/5's that attended the open
day. As with every vehicle category at the
H.O.D show there was plenty of different
styles on show to suit everyone's taste.

Mark came along in his immaculate T5. The
colour of this T5 is gorgeous as is the black
gloss wheels and the newly re-trimmed leather
interior. Mark won the award for 'Best T5'
Well done mate.

A pair of red Beetle's. Only 1 year separates
these two bugs but the styles are so different.
The '71 on the left is sitting low with a nice coat
of paint and plenty of chrome work and in show
condition. The '70 bug on the right is used for
off road trails so things like a nice coat of paint
and chrome are surplus to requirements. The
'70 Beetle belongs to Kevin from Aylesbury who
cruised over in our small convoy.

Kevin's son Sam popped over to the show
in his own trail style Bug and parked up in the
Beetle line up. Every show needs variety to
make it interesting and Kevin and Sam made
sure there was plenty of styles at the H.O.D.
open day.

A gorgeous 1965 split screen panel van
finished in an unusual yellow / green and
white with Fuchs wheels. The full length roof
rack and safari screens, and not to mention
that narrowed front beam just add to the overall
look of this bus.

This really is one nice and straight panel van.
The lovely colour of that body is complimented
by the white bumpers and upper body / roof.

This gorgeous metal flake blue beach buggy
arrived later in the afternoon. The body is an
original Meyers Manx. Bruce Meyers was an
engineer from Fountain Valley in California
who first created the kit car based on a
shortened Beetle chassis way back in 1964.

There are various manufactures that produce
beach buggy bodies now-a-days, but you can't
beat an original Manx and this one was stunning.
The white fabric hood was in stark contrast to
the blue metal flake paint, and it looked great.

As most buggies are open to the elements the
interior is at best sparse with only the essential
equipment required.

The original Meyers Manx badge on the front
of this buggy.

This lovely early Beetle arrived quite late in the
afternoon. This early '60's bug was finished in
beige with colour coded wheels and whitewall
tyres, and it looked gorgeous.

This beauty looked all original and was so
straight and clean. If you look closely you can
see the front inner wheel arch is painted to
match the body and the paint finish was as
good as the body.

This really is a gorgeous looking Beetle, and
in showroom condition.

A late comer to the show was this late bay
with military heritage. I didn't catch the owner
to ask him the origins of this bay bit I'm pretty
sure it started life somewhere in the military.

Very unusual rear body shape, maybe a troop
carrier? The interior had been converted to a
camper but you could see the possibilities for
Army use.

I'm not sure if that side window would have
been part of the original specification, but I'm
sure the ladder to gain access to the roof is.
Riding at standard height with a spare wheel
on the front, you can imagine this bay carrying
troops across fields.

This is such a rare photo, that you will probably
never see another like it again. Before we left
Aylesbury to cruise over to the H.O.D open day
Claude was having a spot of battery trouble.
And as we were planning to leave the show
the battery was flat again, but fellow Outcast VW 
club member John was on hand to help Claude
get started. This is the first time that I have known
of, that Claude's bus has let him down. Just goes
to show you need to use your bus more Claude.

So that was the House of Dub / H.O.D Imports
open day 2014. Overall a very enjoyable day
with old friends and some new friends. The
weather was good and with a chilled and layback
atmosphere everyone enjoyed themselves. My
blog review only contains a small selection of
the vehicles that attended the open day. My
apologies to anyone who attended the show and
who's vehicle I haven't included in my review, but
I only a limited amount of space on here.
For more photo's check out the House of Dub's
photo album on the event, which is more
comprehensive than my review.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=oa.10152629359565673&type=1
 

House of Dub Open Day with show and shine. (part 1 of 2)

The House of Dub / H.O.D. Imports are primarily a Volkswagen repair workshop specialising in the repair and servicing of air-cooled VW's run by Zoe and Spike. The H.O.D. workshop is based near the village of Wing, off the beaten track and nestled deep in the glorious Buckinghamshire countryside. You can check out the House of Dub face book page here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/houseofdubvwclub/

From the success of this repair workshop they have also formed a club for local VW owners to meet up once a month and chat about their VW's, they can seek or give advice and generally have a chilled evening with other like-minded people. The House of Dub held an open day 2 years ago where local VW owners could visit the workshop and have a look around the premises, chat to Zoe and Spike and browse all the U.S. imported bay window buses they had for sale. Zoe also organised a catering van to be on site, a kids zone, where the little ones could paint and colour in pictures in a safe environment. And she also organised a show and shine show for the attending VW owners to show off their vehicles and there were even trophies up for grabs for the 'best of class' and 'runners up' for numerous categories of both air-cooled and water cooled VW's. The first open day was an instant success, and this years 3rd open day is billed as the '3rd big end of summer BBQ' This is a well attended event with members from many local VW clubs from various counties attending. I have been to all three events and I wasn't going to miss this one as this is where I purchased 'Fiona' my 1969 imported bay window, and it's like taking her home. I had arranged to meet a few of the fellow Outcast VW club members at our club venue in Aylesbury for a short 8 mile cruise over to the show.

The Outcast VW Club convoy arrives at the
House of Dub open day. A single track lane
leads to the workshop and show field. My
'69 bay window, Claude and Jean in his '60
Kombi split screen, John in his blue and
white '60 split screen and Kevin in his '71 trial
Beetle.

Once in the show and shine field, we were
directed to the appropriate area for parking
based on what type of vehicle we had. They
did not have a 'RAT' line up this year (which
was a shame) so I had to park in the 'Bay
window' line up alongside lots of nice and
shiny painted bays.

John and Claude headed for the 'Split Screen'
line up. John's gorgeous satin white over satin
blue1960 splitty looked so good in the morning
sunshine.

John and Claude's split screens parked up.
We arrived quite early in the day which is why
the the show field looks a bit empty.

Claude parked up and promptly opened the
safari screens on his '60 Kombi, not only to let
some cool air into the bus but also because
the bus looks so good with them open.

Jean insisted I took a photo of the interior of
Claude's bus. I believe Jean papered the
roof lining and obtained matching cushions.
Another Outcast member, Steve made the
bespoke table for Claude.

The first thing we did once we were parked up
was to visit the workshop. I quickly noticed this
lovely 1972 twin slider panel van that the H.O.D.
had recently imported alongside the workshop.

I do like panel vans and this one, having twin
sliding doors was gorgeous. Spike was telling
me that this bus has lived most of it's life in
Hawaii, which means unlike Californian buses
 it did have a very small amount of rust, but
certainly nothing major.

A nice photo showing both sliding doors open.
This bus is very solid and is a blank canvas
for someone to stamp their own mark on it.

An imported panel van, sitting at stock height.
Spike told me that this panel van is due into
the work-shop soon to get it running and on
the road and then hopefully sell it.
 

A imported 1972 panel van from the U.S. with
twin sliding doors for just £6500.00 ($10,571)
seems like a bargain.

 

Another imported bay the H.O.D. had for sale
was this lovely red '69 Westy with full patina
paint. I think this one which had a full U.K
conversion and a current M.O.T. was for
sale for £13,500.

 

Around the back of the workshop is where
Spike keeps his collection of various VW's.
This right hand drive type 34 Karmann Ghia
had seen better days, but as its believed
there are less than 50 right hand drive type
34's in the country, Spike was not even
thinking about selling it.

Almost every panel had rot, both front and rear
screens were missing ( not sure if Spike has
these or not) and what was left of the interior
was also looking rough.

The floor was totally rotten, you can see the
big hole in the drivers foot well. All the clocks
and dials were missing and seats were long
past their best. Having said all the negative
things about this 'Razoredge' it is still a lovely
looking car... now if only I could weld.

A small selection of VW's that Spike has 'out
the back' I'm not sure if these are to be
repaired or whether they are donor vehicles.
Either way, it was a varied collection.

Moving back to the show and shine field, I made
my way to the Beetle line up. Zoe had her blue
and white '67 Beetle on show. unfortunately
the clutch decided to break yesterday, but when
your other half runs the workshop I can't
imagine it'll be long before it's repaired.

Zoe has owned this car almost all her life, and
apart from the clutch going, it's normally so
reliable.

Another '67 Beetle sitting on steel wheels and
lowered to within a inch of it's life. The
contrasting white paint on the wheels looks
great against the deep red body colour.

A lovely oval Beetle, lowered and plenty of
bright chrome work. I believe this oval won
the 'Best Beetle' at the show.

The rear end of any oval bug, with it's flowing
body lines just looks so beautiful and when
the oval is as clean as this one, it just makes
it simply stunning.

The oval was lowered about as far as you can
physically lower a bug. The chrome detailing
on this bug really makes this car stand out.
The alloy roof rack is another detailed
accessory.

A very clean and tidy 1971 Beetle finished in
bright red. Nothing flash or fancy on this bug
but it still looks so good.

Onto the Beach Buggy line up I headed for
this lovely bright yellow buggy. I'm not sure
what make of body this one has but I did like
it.

Lovely colour matching high back seats and
plenty of accessories in this buggy.

Andrew came along in his cool looking buggy.
Andrew was telling me that since the rebuild
he has covered almost 6000 trouble free
miles. Very impressive. Andrew is a H.O.D
club member.

Another buggy that caught my eye was this
long wheelbase beauty in gloss black. I did
like those wheels which very unusual but
looked so good.

Another great looking interior on this buggy.

This buggy looks lovely from this angle, I did
like this body style. There are numerous body
manufacturers, and each body style is different.

A stunning dark blue over white 1960's split
screen. It's unusual to have the darker colour
on a two tone paint scheme on the top, but
I like it this way.

Another blue and white split screen, but so
different from the last one. This one has the
white on top and the baby blue on the bottom
half of the body. This one is a 1966 split screen
with Porsche wheels.

Simply gorgeous 1960's split screen panel
van finished off in a beige / white colour.
The owner was saying that he wants the
van sign written and was looking for a sign
writer to help him out.

The sunshine always makes buses look better
and the line up of split screens proves the point.

A lovely 1971 Beetle arrived later in the day.
This bug was not a show winner, but it did
look so good with those 'Centerline' look-
a-like wheels.

Nothing flash and fancy but some cars don't
need to be, and this is one of them. I did like
the old skool hot rod style pin striping on the
bonnet.

If your going to paint a car black, it needs to
be straight, and this lovely 'notch' is certainly
that. Almost perfect reflection along the length
of the body.

This is such a lovely looking car. Simple black
gloss paint, a nice set of BRM wheels and all
red tail light lenses. Just about perfect.

Mark is a House of Dub club member and he
came along in his very distinctive cross over
bay. Mark has so many accessories and
stickers on his bay that once you start to
read them, you'll be there for ages.

The interior of Marks bay has just as many
accessories. Mark won 'Best Bay' at the show
today. Well done mate.

Neil is also a House of Dub club member and
came along in his newly acquired T4. Since
purchasing this van, Neil had replaced many
mechanical parts, lowered the van, painted
the wheels and made a comfortable area
in the back complete with a bed.

Neil has done a lot of work on his van, but it
does look much better now than when he first
got it a month or two ago.

Just a few of the 'water cooled' line up. A
nice variety of cars.


So that was the first of two installments on
the House of Dub open day. The second
installment to follow in a few days.