Saturday 30 May 2015

Chiltern Hills Vintage Vehicle Rally 2015 (part 1 of 2)

This weeks blog entry is about the annual Chiltern Hills Vintage Vehicle Rally which is a one day show for classic and vintage vehicles (including old Volkswagen camper vans) and is organised by the Game Club to help raise money for local charitable causes. The rally is a well established event which allows owners of classic and vintage vehicles to gather together in the glorious Buckinghamshire countryside. This event was actually their 21st anniversary, and takes place on the 3rd Sunday of May each year. The new venue is at Weedon Park, Weedon Hill near Aylesbury HP22 4NN. This great one day show attracts around 1000 vehicles of all descriptions and the organisers had also organised: Children's rides / slides, a fun dog show, trade stands, an auto jumble, a beer tent, speciality teas, a pig roast, burgers and ice cream stands. I have attended this event for the last 4 / 5 years and it's one show that I really enjoy due to the huge diversity of the vehicles. Find out more about the Chlitern Hills Rally from their website here: http://www.chilternhillsrally.org.uk/
To see all my other blog entries, go to ‘My Blog Archive’ to the left of the 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.

Just for a change I thought I'd start with a 
photo of my 1969 microbus parked up at the 
Chiltern Hills Classic Car Rally.

A gorgeous 1957 Thunderbird finished in a
stunning coat of brilliant white. The matching
white wall tyres compliment the body colour.

This 1958 Ford Ranch Wagon, or Del Rio as
it was known is quite rare as Ford only made
these for 2 years 1957 and1958. These were
produced to compete with the Chevrolet
Nomad's and over the 2 years of production,
outsold the Chevrolet. The selling points were
a 2 piece tail gate, a two tone paint scheme
(optional) and a higher class vinyl interior.

A 1967 Cadilllac De-Ville convertible painted
 in the brightest red available. This massive car
 had the 429 cubic inch V8 (7 litre) engine, with
 the 3 speed hydra-matic transmission. 

This mint green 1960 Plymouth Belvedere,  
had a 225 cubic inch straight six engine with a 
speed automatic transmission. The 1960's
American styling looked fantastic with those
 huge tail fins and all the chrome work.

A lovely 1955 Pontiac Star Chief custom 
Catalina. This car was big in so many way's, 
firstly it had the big 287 cubic inch V8 (4.7 litre)
engine with a 4 speed dual range hydra-matic 
transmission.

Secondly it's overall size is big, it is 17ft 6in long 
x 6ft 4in wide and  weighing 4400lbs (2000kg) 
Now that is a BIG car. The cost for all this car
back in the fifties was a mere $3500.

A lovely metallic grey 1987 T25. This bus was
simply gorgeous, it was so clean and straight
and looked fantastic in the sunshine.

The first of two 1960's split screen kombi's at
the Chiltern Hills Rally. The first is this lovey
1965 model. The owner actually lived less 
than 
1/2 mile away from the venue and he was 
saying that although he's not really into the VW
scene as such, he said it would have been rude 
not to attend as it was so close to his home.

Regular readers of my blog will recognise the 
2nd split screen kombi. It is Claude's 1960
 model. Claude is a member of the Outcast VW  
Club based in Aylesbury, Bucks.

Now this 1957 Chevrolet step side pick up was
really nice. It had been lowered and had some
5 spoke American Racing wheels. It had some 
lovely old sign writing on the doors, which 
thought I had taken a photo of...Doh!

This step side truck had some lovely patina on
the paintwork of the wheel arches and around the
cab which always looks good, especially on such
a lovely truck as this one.

Colin and his family also attended the rally in
his 1970 early bay. This bus really does get 

used as it's Colin's daily driver as well as his 
leisure vehicle at weekends. Colin is also a 
member of the Outcast VW Club.

A stunning bright red Ford Consul Capri 2 door
coupe. Ford only produced this model from 1961
- 1964. The body shape was designed on the
Ford Galaxie Starliner. The Consul Capri had
exciting new features such as variable speed 

wipers and dimming dash board lights.

This is a true British classic car, a MK1 Ford
Cortina Lotus. These were produced in close
collaboration with Lotus cars, and were only
produced from 1963 - 1966 and they had a
1557cc twin ohc straight four engine. 99.9%
of all Lotus Cortina's were painted in white
with the (Lotus) green stripe.

A 1963 series one Jaguar E - type 2 seater
coupe in British racing green. Enzo Ferrari once
 called this car "The most beautiful car he had ever
seen" which was quite a bold statement from the
 man who designed the early Ferrari cars.

A pair of Volkswagen buses in the show field.
A white 1990 T25 with a pop top and a light
blue 1970 tin top early bay, both buses looked 

great parked alongside all the classic cars.

A lovely Reliant Scimitar finished in a cherry red
colour. These were produced from 1964 - 1986
and the most famous owner was Princess Anne
who has owned over 8 of these cars.

How nice is the plum colour on this 1955 GMC 
pick up. The colour, along with all the chrome on 
the front made this truck stand out. The chrome
American racing wheels also provided some
extra sparkle. 

I do like the early American pick ups and this
one was no exception. That huge chrome rear
bumper looked as though it would stop almost
anything and provides some rear end bling.

Another 1963 series one Jaguar E - Type but
 this one is a gorgeous bright red convertible.
A really good example of this car can fetch 
price of in excess of £300,000 ($500000)

A 1970 Mk2  Ford Cortina 1600E, finished in
metallic gold with a black vinyl roof. I had a
1970 model in the same colour scheme, but
mine never  looked this nice. You can tell at
a glance that it's a 1600E by the twin spot lights
in the front grille, the normal 1600cc Mk2
Cortina's never had the spot lights.

The Daimler SP250 (Dart). Around 3000 Darts 
were produced between 1959 - 1964 and this
particular car was one of many supplied to the
Metropolitan Police Force. These Darts had
the 2.5ltr V8 engine and the body was fibreglass
 which made them much faster than the Jaguar, 
which was the preferred choice of get-a-way car
that the criminals were using at the time.

A 1961 Ford Galaxie Sunliner currently in grey 
primer which made this 1960's classic look 
tough. These Sunliner's had a massive 390 
cubic inch engine. 

A race inspired 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442.
This muscle cars name derived from the original
car's specification of a (4) four barrel carburetor,
a (4) four speed manual transmission and (2)
dual exhaust system. 

A 1970 Volkswagen 181. The more common
 version here in the U.K. is the 182 also known 

as the 'Trekker' which is the right hand drive 
version. This camouflage vehicle was up for 
sale for offers around £6500 and the price 
included the original wheels.

Mark is a regular entrant at the classic car rally
with his lovely purple 1972 beetle. Mark is a
 member of the Wolfsburg Weed Huggers VW
 Club based in Penn, Bucks. I always seem to 
'bump' into Mark at this show and it's always 
good to catch up with him and have a chat.

A lovely 1966 Chevrolet van with a faded flame
paint job. These lovely looking vans were based
on the Corvair, and used the air cooled flat 6
opposed rear engine.

These vans looked as though they have been
shortened, but this is how they were, a very quirky
design which still looks good today.

A stunning example of a Ford Econline. The first
E series came off the production line in 1961
and was sized roughly to compete with the
Chevrolet Corvair 95. This was immaculate and
finished in a stunning coat of black paint.

A lovely looking 1972 Volkswagen camper in
black over red. This early bay looked as though
it had been in the family for many years and was
still going strong.

Back in the late 1960's / early 1970's when I was
a kid this was my favourite car. It's a Citroen DS.
These cars were produced from 1955 - 1975 and
in 1999 the DS came third in a poll recognising
the worlds most influential auto designs and was
named as the most beautiful car of all time by
Classic and Sports Car magazine.

The futuristic and aerodynamic styling was years
ahead of it's time. In 1967 the front end had
some design changes which included directional
head lights which meant the headlights followed

the direction of the wheels which allowed the 
driver to see 'around' corners, how cool was that!

A lovely 1956 Chevrolet 2 door sedan. Everyone
knows the 1957 Chevy with the big tail fins, and
a lot people know the 1955, which was used in
many films including: 'American Graffitt'i, and
'Two Lane Blacktop' but not many people will
recognise the 1956 model which is a bit of
a hybrid, but still a beautiful car 

Another of the classic vehicles I had was this
Ford 103E Popular. This was the cheapest car
produced by Ford in its day. The 103E is basically
a E494A Anglia stripped to the bare essentials
and fitted with the 10hp engine out of the
E394A Prefect.

A pure hot rod themed Ford Thames 400E van
with it's flame paint scheme with orange and
yellow scallops and running on old skool slot
mag wheels, pure nostalgia.

This 1957 (I think) Chevrolet pick up truck looked
great in it's rust covered body. There wasn't any
paint on this truck what-so-ever and it didn't need
any. It had been lowered and looks as though it
may also have a narrowed front end.

This 1962 AEC Routemaster 368 CLT bus
looked odd only being a single deck bus. It did
start off as a double decker but in 1973 it was
a victim of arson and sent for repair, the only
economic repair was to convert to a single seater.

Classic lorries parked up at the Chiltern Hills
Rally. These have both been totally restored
and looked fantastic. The cream and brown
one was made by  Austin, and the green one
was made by 'Comma'

Every now and again you come across a vehicle
that is so rare and so sought after. This 1953
Ford Vedette was designed in Detroit but built
in France with a French 2.2 litre flat head V8.

Wandering around the huge site that hosts the
Vintage Vehicle Rally I came across the Porsche
Owners Club. In amongst all the modern bland
Porsche's I spotted this all white 356. I think this
car is a 1960's 356C model, but it doesn't really
matter what model it is, it's simply a gorgeous car. 

A gorgeous 1951 Pontiac Chieftain finished in
a lovely light blue. Some of the more interesting
optional extras available for the first generation
Chieftain included a radio with seven vacuum
tubes (?) a tissue dispenser, under seat heaters,
and a Remmington auto-home shaver. (!)

So that was part one of my review of the Chiltern
Hills Classic Car Rally. The second and final

instalment of my blog review will be next
Saturday where you can see: Plenty more
classic car's including a Model T Ford, Military
vehicles, classic motorcycles, American Classics
and plenty more Volkswagen beetle's and buses
so be sure to come back next week.

Saturday 23 May 2015

Outcast VW Club monthly meet.

This week's blog entry is all about the Outcast VW Club which is a Volkswagen club based in Aylesbury, Bucks for owners of both air-cooled and water cooled Volkswagen's. The club hold a monthly meet on the first Thursday of each month come rain or shine, throughout the year at The Charter Public House, Rimmington Way, off the A41 Bicester Road in Aylesbury, Bucks, HP19 8AW. The idea behind this free to join club was to have somewhere to meet with fellow Volkswagen enthusiasts on a monthly basis, and also somewhere to seek or give advise on technical issues, ideas on how to do things and of course to have a look at all the various Volkswagen's that you have seen driving around the Vale of Aylesbury. Owners of any type of Volkswagen's are welcome, just come down in your pride and joy and join in, where a warm welcome is guaranteed. We do organise drive outs and cruises to various shows and event's but don't worry there is no obligation to join in if you don't want to.
To see all my other blog entries, go to ‘My Blog Archive’ to the left of the 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.


The Outcast VW club meet from 7pm on the first
Thursday of each month. I only live about 1.5
miles from the Charter Pub, so I was the first
to arrive in my 1969 microbus. The pub car park

has ample space for our club meet.

By the time I had got a soft drink from the bar
and returned outside, three other club members
had arrived in their buses.

Stuart came along to the club meet in his very
distinctive 1971 early bay. Stuart owns and runs 
'Oil Droppers' an air cooled Volkswagen repair 
and restoration shop just outside Aylesbury.

Stuart's red oxide painted bay is running a hot
1671cc engine with a home built turbo system.

To keep an eye on what's going on with the
engine and the turbo, Stuart has a rev counter
with shift light and boost gauge for the turbo
mounted on top of his dashboard.

Claude arrived at the Outcast meet in his 1960 
split screen kombi that has been lowered and
has a narrowed beam with disc brakes.

Claude's 'Tesoro' bus is running a 1641cc motor
with a Scat C35 cam with twin Dellorto carbs.

My 1969 VW Microbus parked up at the Charter
Pub with it's new 'Route67' sticker on the front
screen. This is a charity event I am taking part
in, a trip from John O'Groats to Lands End in
a convoy of Volkswagen's (mostly air cooled)
to raise money for the charity 'Crisis'. 

The event is taking place in July, so I think a full
service is due before the adventure. From John

O Groats to Lands End it's 1008 miles, and so
far there are about 60 / 70 old air cooled VW's
signed up for the cruise. Check out the Route67
website for more info: http://vwroute67.co.uk/

Dave and Angela came along in their lovely
1967 Split Screen. Dave and Angela have
travelled all over Europe in this bus which is
a testament to it's reliability.

Dave is running a strong 1955cc motor, with all
the internal goodies. This bus really does go as 
well as it looks.

A new visitor to the Outcast VW Club was this
lovely looking green T4. This bus was so clean
it put most of us to shame. My apologies but I
cannot remember the owners name.. Doh!


The contrasting cream coloured wheels are
actually from a Land Rover but they look so

good on this T4. This really is a nice looking
bus that we hope to see again at our club
meet in the near future.

The club line up quite early in the evening, it
doesn't matter whether you own an air-cooled
or water cooled Volkswagen, you'll be more
than welcome at the Outcast clubs monthly
meet at the Charter Pub.

It doesn't matter how you get to our club meet...
The owner of this Sierra Yellow panel van had
just purchased it and had taken it to the car wash
which is down the road from our club meet. Driving
past he noticed all our Volkswagen's so turned
around and came to visit us. He had bought it
for a very good price and was thinking about
breaking it for spares as the body / chassis were
very rotten. It turned out that the owner has a lovely
bay window and lives locally so hopefully, we'll
see another new club member soon.

Gary came over from the neighbouring county
of Bedfordshire in his gorgeous 1971 early
bay. I believe this is Gary's daily driver as well
as his weekend camping vehicle with his
partner Maria and their dog Frankie.

Gary was in discussions with the owner of the
late bay on the trailer regarding the Empi 5
spoke wheels, which Gary thought would look
good on his cross over bay.

Kerry and Becky made an appearance at the
club meet in Kerry's 1979 late bay which is also
 painted in Sierra Yellow. Kerry has a new colour
matched chequered bra fitted to protect the
front from stone chips and general road kill.

A slightly blurred photo of Kerry's bus, but even
in a blurred photo you can see how immaculate
this bus is.

Kerry's late bay next to Gary's cross over bay,
the variety of vehicles at the Outcast meet is
always varied.

Kevin came along in his lovely 2002 T4, Kevin
did pre warn me that his normally immaculate 
bus was somewhat dirty with general road grime,
but at least it shows this bus does get used.

Kevin's bus is a long wheelbase, twin sliding
door model finished is an off white over green.
The custom side step and tinted windows help
to make this bus stand out.

Even covered in dirt this bus still looks good.
The 4 tip exhaust and the custom badge on the
tailgate help to make this bus unique as does...

... The buses name, 'The Grinch' hand painted
onto the tailgate which Kevin had done recently.

The club line up is starting to fill out, the white
Beemer belongs to the owner of the trailered

bay window, who's name I have also forgotten,
Sorry, .... It must be an age thing.!

The warm evenings mean it doesn't get dark
until about 9.00pm which always increases the
number of vehicles attending the club meet.

There is nothing better than a car park full of
the Outcast VW Club's owners Volkswagen's. 

Late comer Sam and his partner Amy, arrived 
in Sam's 1970 off road beetle, with the newly
painted green wheels. Sam and his dad have
at least 4 red Volkswagen's between them
and they all have had their wheels painted in
this fluorescent green paint, it must have been
a job lot they purchased in the sale.!

Sam's very distinctive beetle. I recently wrote a
blog review on Sam and Kevin's off road trialling
exploits, if you missed that blog entry check out
'My Blog Archive' to the left of this page.

Sam's beetle sandwiched between two buses.
A nice variety of vehicles, and all of varying
styles always make for a good club meet.

Sam's work colleague came down for the first
time in his immaculate MK1 Golf Convertible.
This 1990 model finished in a stunning white
looked amazing and it looked all original.

This soft top Golf was super straight and super
clean. The hood looked as though it was new.

The side profile of this classic 1990's car. These
cars in this condition are getting hard to find.

The immaculate white paint looked amazing,
and the reflection from the super straight body
panels was almost perfect .

The club line up from the right...

The club line up in the middle...

And the club line up to the left. A great effort by
all the club members who attended this month
to make the variety of vehicles so varied.

That was the The Outcast VW Club's monthly

meet for May. Overall a very enjoyable evening
with some cool Volkswagen's and some even
cooler people. If you own a Volkswagen, and if
you can get down to the Charter Pub on the first
Thursday of the month, we'd love to have you
come and join us, what have you got to loose?