Stanford Hall Show 2018 (part 2 of 3)

This weeks blog review is the second of three reviews all the Stanford Hall VW show which this year was held on Sunday 6th May and is an annual one day event organised by the Leicestershire and Warwickshire VW owners club. The show is held in the grounds of Stanford Hall, which was built in the 1690s in the beautiful village of Stanford-on-Avon, near Lutterworth in Leicestershire, LE17 6DH. The manicured lawns of the hall also has the River Avon gently flowing through the grounds, and provides a spectacular backdrop for a VW show. As Stanford Hall is only about 60 miles from my hometown, and as the weather forecast was good I decided to drive up. I have been to this show over the past 5 years and there is always a good collection of top quality VW's of all varieties with plenty of trade stands and an auto jumble and all set in the beautiful grounds of Stanford Hall. This show is seen by many as one of those 'not to miss' shows and it always gets busy there. The blog continues as I wander around this fantastic show.
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 lovely 1970 gold coloured early bay is so
nice, I love the colour which is pure 1960's. This
bay has been around for a few years (that I know
of!) and is one of my favourite bays out there. It
is powered by a 2.4 air cooled flat 6 Corvair motor
with a 4 speed gearbox. I love the ride height and
the overall look of this bus. It was up for sale at the
show for a mere £11,000 ($14,600 approx), If only
I had a spare £11,000!

This ultra cool looking Karmann Ghia looked
fantastic with its super low stance and the really
narrow front beam.

This 1960's KG looked great with its unique mix
of patina and faded paint.

This 1959 split screen single cab was another
vehicle up for sale. It comes from Los Angeles
in the sunny state of California. It looked to be
really solid and the owner was asking £15.000
($20,000 approx)

This cool looking faded  double cab early bay
pick up was another vehicle from Los Angeles
and was also up for sale. This DC has a recon
1600 twin port motor 5000 miles ago.

It is very reliable and being from California it is
almost rust free. It was equipped with the North
American export equipment including vent wings
 in drivers compartment. This lovely bus was for
sale for £12,000 ($16,000 approx)

This slammed ratty early bay caught my eye. I
did like the overall RAT look of this bus. The rusty
twin roof racks and the ladder looked cool as did
the low ride height and the narrowed front beam.

If you like to see a slammed bay window bus,
then you'll love the next few photos. I don't know
much about this bus but just looking at it, tells me
everything I need to know.

This trio of slammed bays looked awesome.

A pair of blue bay window buses, One has been
slammed on the ground with sign written sides
and a slightly RAT look, while the other is riding
at stock height and looking pretty much original.

I did like the look of this stock looking bay. I do
like stock height bays, maybe one day I'll get my
1969  microbus raised back to stock height.

Whilst wandering around the huge grounds of
Stanford Hall, I found myself in the club display
area, and I instantly recognised some buses.

I had stumbled on the Wolfsburg Bus Crew's club
display. It seems that every week my blog review
features some buses from the WBC, but its not
surprising as the WBC is such a big club with
members not only country wide, but also worldwide
so it's no surprise to see some WBC buses at
every show I attend..

The first of the Wolfsburg Bus Crew's buses in 
their line up was Dave's 1957 split screen panel 
van looked great parked up at the show. This van 
sits as low as you can go thanks to all the running
 gear having been raised that allows the remote
 hydraulic suspension to actually sit the chassis 
on the floor when fully lowered.

This ratty looking 1957 Australian school bus
belongs to Graig. The school bus runs a 1600cc
engine with twin 40's and a SA box. This bus
completed a tour of Europe without missing a
beat.

This stunning 1961 single cab belongs to Simon,
and has a narrowed front beam with a disc brake
conversion on the front and type 3 rear drums.
Since taking these photos, Simon's bus has had
a makeover and you can see all the changes in
a few weeks time.

7UP, was a favourite of mine as a kid.. and Simon
has a secret stash under the bed of his pick up.

Meet the 'Duke', a 1958 left hand drive ex-Swiss
Army radio communication bus that belongs to
James. The Duke has a 1776cc engine with
electronic ignition, and Porsche 944 disc brakes
on all four corners.

This is a 1965 walk through model split screen
van that belongs to Robin. This 'Brumus Racing'
branded bus has an adjustable beam, drop
spindles, a beetle IRS and box and a 1600cc
twin port engine. 

This lovely 1973 Westfalia lived most of it's life
in the hot climate of California. Oliver is the lucky
owner of this 2/0 litre powered motor, which has
a Porsche top end. The bus sits low thanks to an
air-ride suspension system.

This amazing 1976 'Devon' belongs to Daniel
who has owned the bus for 10 years and who
uses the bus as a daily driver, for weeknds away
camping with the family and as a work van for his 
business,  a air-cooled specialist garage. In the
time Daniel has owned the bus, he has restored
the bus with every panel from the windows down
having been replaced and the bus was repainted
in the original colour. This lovely bus has a type 4
2.0 litre motor with twin Webber 44 carbs.

This gorgeous 1972 Westfalia Continental belongs
to the guy that runs the WBC, Rich. 'Margo' as
Rich and the family call her has the original 1600cc
engine and interior although Rich has added a
few modern twists to keep the family entertained
on those long journeys.

This stunning 1968 split screen belongs to Will
and Mandy. This recently finished bus used to be
an 8 seater kombi back in Brazil. Since then
Will and Mandy have restored this bus into some-
thing quite unique...

This lovely bus bus is now a hearse ! You could
take your final ride in this gorgeous Volkswagen,
and go out in some serious style.

This gorgeous 1967 sea blue and white split
screen bus is Susie's daily driver and how she
keeps it that clean and shiny is beyond me!

Susie's shiny hub cap provides a great reflection
of Will's 1968 hearse. 

This stunning 1969 early bay belongs to the very
lucky Mark. This really is an immaculate bus,
which runs a smooth 1646cc engine.

This super straight 1964 11 window is the pride
and joy of Si. The bus was shipped to the U.S
and it spent the next 45 years basking in the 
Californian sunshine. The bus now features a
narrowed front beam, and the chassis has been
notched to allow the bus to sit real low.

I took this sneaky photo of Ken whilst he was
having a bite to eat whilst sat behind his bus,
 unfortunately Ken is a meat eater and here he
was eating salad, hence the slightly disappointing  
look I guess. :-). There will be photos of Ken's
cool split screen in the next instalment. 

This ultra low T25 belongs to Davyd, and is a
twin slider model. The bus has a fully remote
Rayvern hydraulic suspension system fitted and
whopping 2.5 litre Subaru motor and gearbox.

This super bright 1982 Westfalia Joker T25 is
the pride and joy of Alex. This stunning bus sits
this low thanks to a DIY air ride suspension system.
The bus rides on 16" banded steel wheels with
OG hubcaps. Alex has fitted a solar panel to the
roof to provide lots of extra off grid power.

This lovely German import 1990 T25 Bluestar
belongs to Martin. This stunning bus has a Subaru
motor, with air suspension and a few interior tweaks.

Darren and Anne own this beautiful 1969 Westy
which has a Riviera pop top with that contrasting
blue canvas. This bus was imported in 2012 from
Texas and it has a 1776 win port motor with twin
Webber 34 icts. The bus also has dropped spindles
with a CSP disc brake conversion.

This lovely white over light blue 1971 early bay
belongs to Craig who has owned the bus for 4
years and describes is as a continuous rolling
project. His first camping trip in the bus ended
in disaster when a brand new piston cracked.
The 1600cc engine was soon rebuilt and with
twin Webber 34 carbs seems to be going well.

The last of the WBC buses in this years line up
was this 1971, unfortunately I couldn't find out
anything about this cool looking bus, which is a
shame, but I'm sure I'll run into it at another show
in the near future.

The colour matched awning not only looked good
but also provided some welcome shade from the
blazing sun. I like this photo with the blue WBC
banner, the blue bus with the blue awning and of
course the cloud free blue sky.

The early bay.com crew had a fantastic display
of early bays. There is more from the great club
display in next weeks bog review.

So that was the second of three instalments all
about the Stanford Hall show 2018. Unfortunately
due to work commitments there will not be a blog
next Saturday as I have so many sign writing
projects that I really do need to finish, so the third 
and final instalment will be in two weeks time where 
you can see more buses and bugs, volksrods and
 a lovely Fridolin so be sure to come back in
two weeks time.

Stanford Hall Show 2018 (part 1 of 3)

This weeks blog review is the first of three reviews all the Stanford Hall VW show which this year was held on Sunday 6th May and is an annual one day event organised by the Leicestershire and Warkickshire VW owners club. The show is held in the grounds of Stanford Hall, which was built in the 1690's in the beautiful village of Stanford-on-Avon, near Lutterworth in Leicestershire, LE17 6DH. The manicured lawns of the hall also has the River Avon gently flowing through the grounds, and provides a spectacular backdrop for a VW show. As Stanford Hall is only about 60 miles from my hometown, and as the weather forecast was good I decided to drive up. I have been to this show over the past 5 years and there is always a good collection of top quality VW's of all varieties with plenty of trade stands and an auto jumble and all set in the beautiful grounds of Stanford Hall. This show is seen by many as one of those 'not to miss' shows and it always gets busy there.
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.

When you arrive at a VW show and one of the
first buses you see is a slammed patina'd bay,
you just know it's going to be a good day. This
really was one cool looking bus.

Even before paying my £10 entrance fee and
entering the show I noticed that the public car
park was like a VW show itself. This pair of early
beetles looked great in the morning sunshine.

Another vehicle in the public cat park was this
awesome early bay Doka. This velvet green ( I
think) double cab really was clean and straight
and the single colour, including the roof really
made this bus stand out.

You can see just how clean this doka really was
from this photo. Look at the tail gate and the back
of the bus, that really was a fantastic reflection from
the perfectly straight body panels and the perfectly
applied coat of paint.

From one extreme to another, but equally as nice
in it's own right was this super cool looking early
split screen 13 window. I loved how original this
bus looked.

Another stock looking split was this 1967 bus.
Again this bus had plenty of real patina and with
those stock wheels and the what looked to be
original interior this old bus got my attention.

I was certainly getting my patina fix at Stanford
Hall, as this gorgeous early split oval shows.

This lovely bug looked cool with it's slammed
stance, and those shiny Porsche wheels looked
great against the paitina'd body panels.

This type 3 fastback was up for sale, and although
it had seen better days I'm sure someone at the
show struck a deal with the owner.

Although the dreaded rust had taken its toll on
virtually all the body panels, I'm sure the £1000
($1300 approx) asking price was too good for
someone to resist.

One of the many catering vendors at the show
had this amazing converted split screen bus that
they used as a mobile bar. 

Whilst wandering around the show, I happened
to bump into John who where there promoting
his 'Run the Ring' VW M25 charity cruise. It was
originally John's idea to have a convoy of VW's
driving around the M25 London orbital motorway
to raise money for charity. Now in it's 3rd year,
this years event promises to be bigger and better
than last year. I will be taking part in this great
event for the third year running and to be honest
I can't wait. You can find out more about the Run 
the Ring' charity cruise, and sign up for this years
RTR  here:  https://run-the-ring.myshopify.com/
(you may need to copy and paste)

Amanda, John's better half was caught striking
a pose by her, sorry I mean John's Canterbury
Pitt. Both John and Amanda (and all the others
who help organise this event) work very hard to
promote this charity event, so the least you could
do is sign up and join in, right?

Around the oval drive in front of Stanford Hall is
where all the concourse vehicles were parked.
This is where you will see some exceptional
original beetle's and of course this gorgeous
Hebmuller.

The Hebmuller convertible, or Type 14A to give it
it's official title, was only produced from 1949 -
1953 with only around 700 being produced. Out
of that number only around 100 are believed to
still exist.

The standard and quality of the beetle's in the
concourse area was incredible. Each of these
beautiful cars was 99.99% original/

A lovely badge I spotted on the 'A' panel on one
of the concourse beetle's. I'm guessing the car
took part in a rally at the Nurburgring in 1958.

Having just said that all these cars were 99.99%
original, I've just seen this bug which clearly isn't.!
Although it is very nice though...

Early bugs from all years and all models were
in the line up, it made for a fantastic display.

There is just something about the shape of an
early bug that looks just right, and when they are
this clean and straight, and of course original then
so much the better.

This stunning white split oval window 1951 deluxe 
(Type 11D) was absolutely stunning. This gorgeous 
car is a South African import and a rare right hand 
drive model.

The car was imported into the U.K. in 2008, and
the present owner purchased the car in 2009. The
car had had a partial restoration but the current
owner carried out a full restoration,

A vehicle doesn't necessarily have to be painted
and shiny to be desirable, as this early bug proves.
I did like the look of this car, the patina'd hood
with the leather strap across it and the single
yellow spot light helped this bug stand out.

But there again, if you do have a painted and
shiny vehicle, you could give off some awesome
reflections like the reflection in the side of this
early bug of Stanford Hall.

This super cool looking Jungle green (L315) 1952
standard beetle (Type 11E) was delivered on 30th
July 1952 to 151 Vehicle COY at Lippstadt for use
by the British Forces. There is anecdotal evidence
that this very car was used to extract poor unfortunates
from East Germany through 'Checkpoint Charlie'.

The car returned to the U.K. in 1962 when the
Military Chaplin, who owned the car returned
home to Lincolnshire. The car was striped down
in preparation for a restoration, which never
happened. The current owner purchased the car
as boxes of bits and spent the next 3 years putting
all those bits together into what you see here.

This stunning 1960's Porsche 356B looked great
in it's all white paint. The 356B was produced from
1960 - 1963 and differed from the previous 356A
with various body modifications.

One of the body modifications was replacing the
single engine grille to twin grilles. Other small
modifications included an external fuel filler cap
and a larger rear window.

The super shiny hub cap on the 356 gave a great
reflection.

The split screen van club were at Stanford Hall
and they came in force with hundreds upon
hundreds of split screen buses of all descriptions
and years turning up.

Ooh, yes please! I did like this high top split. A
few years ago these were the ugly ducklings
of the split screen world but now these are so 
desirable, and it's easy to see why.

The perfectly straight rear panels, and the depth
of this paint on this split screen provided a perfect
reflection of all the other buses that were parked in
close proximity.

OK, I was trying to be artistic with this photo, I
tried to get the reflection of the split identical on
both sides... it almost worked, but its still a good
photo.

Stanford Hall is one of the split screen van club's
biggest meetings. There were so many splits to
look at, and each one was different.

A fantastic variety from all years made for a great
display, and a great photo opportunity. 

The early summer sun did get quite hot, and this
lovely little fellow had the right idea, get in the back
of a splitty with the rear hatch open and have a 
snooze.

The weather at Stanford hall couldn't have been
better, glorious sunshine all day made for a very
relaxed chilled out show.

I do like a shiny bus that gives off a nice reflection
of another bus.

This T25 Syncro has to be one of my favourite
vehicles at the show. Why? well because for one
it's all original and never been butchered about,
and two the owner who I had a quick chat with
has no intention of changing anything.

This gorgeous van has very low mileage and as
original as it left the factory. How many buses do
you see that have never had any changes to them?

The owner was saying that he has no intention
of selling it, and intends to keep it just the way it
is. The inside is just as clean as the outside.

So that was part one of three about this great one
day show. Next week will be the second instalment
where you can see more quality Volkswagen's
including more buses, bugs and Karmann's,
so be sure to come back next Saturday.