Wolfsburg Bus Crew, Milton Keynes division 1st meet up (part 1 of 2)

This weeks blog review is a two part review all about the 'Milton Keynes & Surrounding Areas' division of the 'Wolfsburg Bus Crew's first meet up. The Wolfsburg Bus Crew (WBC) is a Volkswagen club based in London with over 700 members from all over the world. The club was started a few years ago by Rich Coxhill for people in his local area of West London for owners of split screen, bay window and T25 buses. Today the WBC has two divisions of the London based main club, these are the Midlands division and the Milton Keynes & Surrounding Area' division. As I live quite central to both London and Milton Keynes I'm lucky enough to be able to attend both the London and M.K. meets. All divisions of the WBC usually have a line up of vehicles at all the major shows throughout the U.K. including Volksworld, Stanford Hall, Stonor Park and many more, and they also organise cruises to various shows throughout the season. Ken and James volunteered to run the M.K. division and organise the meets, camping and cruises. The first event Ken and James arranged was a casual meet up that was held at Jacks Hill Cafe, near Towcester in Northamptonshire on Sunday 11th March 2018. The forecast wasn't brilliant, with the risk of showers but the number of buses that turned up was very impressive, especially for the first ever meet up. (as you'll see below) If you want to join the WBC, you can follow the link here. (you may need to copy and paste)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/684035321730942/  I think you can also find them on Instagram, but as I don't have instagram I cant tell you how !! So the least you could do is check out the face book page. 
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 Ratty 11 window bus belongs to Ken, 
who along with James organised this meet.
Ken's bus nicknamed the church bus as it used
to ferry people to the church in a previous life in
California.

This really is a RAT looking bus that looks great,
the low stance is thanks to a 'Rustbox' 4.5" beam
and Ken describes his cool ride as 'Low and slow'.

The owner of this lovely beast is Graham. The '67
split screen panel van is running a 3.2 Porsche
Carrera motor with a 5 speed gearbox. The rear
beam is also from a Porsche. 

To help stop this van it has Porsche 911 discs on
all four corners and twin 8" remote servo dual
circuit brakes.The engine pushes out around
230 BHP and I can confirm it sounds awesome.

The inside of Graham's bus is a little sparse, but
when you have a Porsche motor tucked under
the engine lid, it doesn't really matter!

A nice Stella Artois bottle opener on Graham's
van, I'm not sure why but I liked this !

Alistair owns this cool 1978 Westfalia that was
imported from California back in 2005. This is
Alistair's first Volkswagen and I think he's made
a good choice for his first bus.

The bus has had a back to metal respray, and
Alistair has a few minor modifications planned
that include lowering the bus a little and adding
some alloy wheels, but that is about it.

This 1958 LHD ex- Swiss Army radio bus is the
pride and joy of James and has featured many
times on my blog, and it's easy to see why. The
bus had a bare metal respray about 5 years ago,
and it was painted in that lovely anniversary Ducati
red paint, with hand painted Ducati decals on
 the doors.

This bus is not all show and no go, it has a big
1776cc engine with electronic ignition, external
oil filter, deep sump and genuine Webber 44
carbs. It also has Porsche 944 disc brakes at
each corner.

The bespoke leather interior features a rock and
roll bed, cupboard storage, full electrics and a
microfibre headliner.

This lovely 1978 Westfalia Champagne edition is
owned by Rob. The lowered stance is thanks to
a 'French Slammer' beam with adjustable spring
plates.

Those lovely wheels, which suit the bus so well
are 17" Zender Stars. The motor is a pretty much
stock 2.0 litre with twin Webber carbs and a 123
ignition.

A close up of Rob's Zender Star wheels, these
really are nice wheels that suited Rob's Westy.

I'm not sure who this character was that was stuck
to Rob's side window but it caught my eye!

Julie's lovely 1978 Sage green (I think) Westfalia 
Berlin was super clean. Julie has had the bus for 
about a year after seeing it at the Volksworld show. 
The bus is a U.S. import with a 2 litre type 4 engine
and an automatic gearbox.

Future plans for the bus include replacing the
heat exchangers and maybe upgrading the old
U.S. electrics. Julie and her partner use the bus
for camping as much as possible and as Julie
says, 'there's nothing better than finding a site,
having a bottle of prosecco and just relaxing, its
my idea of heaven', I totally agree Julie !

My 1969 velvet green microbus all washed and
polished. I recently refurbished my 3 bow roof-
rack, as I don't have a lot of room to store it, I
keep it on the bus all year round.

I am so glad I chose the velvet green colour as I
think it suits the bus. The deluxe trim is a newish
addition from Just Kampers which just breaks
up the green nicely.

Robin wanted a walk through van and bought
this 1965 van off E-bay without seeing it, and 
although it needed more work than Robin wanted 
he was happy as it was so original and even 
had a full set of 5 wheels!

The bus had the standard usual lower repairs
and then was stripped and painted and detailed
with the 'Brumos Racing' decals. The van has an
adjustable beam, drop spindles, beetle IRS and
box with a 1600cc twin port engine. 

(from left to right) Julie's 1978 Westfalia Berlin,
my 1969 microbus and Robin's 1965 walk-
through split screen van.

(from left to right) Ken's 1964 Split, Graham's
1967 panel van, Alistair's 1978 Westfalia, Jame's
1958 ex Army split and Rob's 1978 Westfalia
Champagne bay.

The 'Duke' does have a Champagne lifestyle !

(from left to right) Ken's 1964 11 window split,
Graham's Porsche powered panel van and
Alistair's 1978 Westy.

This very sorry looking bus with its dull faded
paint was probably my favourite bus at the meet.
The bus was riding nice and high, and talking to
the buses owner, David, he was saying its going
to raised a little more with big off road tyres in the
near future. 

The reason for the height increase is that David 
is planning a short European trip followed by a
trip into the Artic circle and wild camping in Sweden
and Norway where he is going to need some
extra ground clearance and grip on those snowy
uneven Scandinavian forest roads.

David paid just £6000 ($8500 approx) for this
bus that actually requires very little work. I did
ask if he was installing a heater for the Artic trip
but David was confident he wouldn't need one...
that would have been the first thing I would have
had installed! Anyway Good luck David, hope all
goes well with your trip.

This stunning 1967 finished in titan red and pearl
white belongs to Brett who has owned this lovely
bus since 1997, although it didn't look anywhere
as nice as this when he acquired it. It used to be
blue with polished Empi 5 spoke wheels. The bus
underwent a full restoration between 2013 / 2016.

The refurbished interior is a bespoke Devon style
set up and finished to the highest standard.

The engine is a 1600cc unit with twin Webber
34 carbs and mated to a Vintage Speed exhaust.
It has a Red9 front suspension (something I'm
thinking about for my bus) and an IRS. The wheels
are original Porsche Fuchs items.


So that was part one of the Wolfsburg Bus Crew's
1st meet up at Jacks Hill Cafe. Next week will be
the second instalment where you can see more
bay window and split screen buses a T25 Komet
and not forgetting 'Archie' the biggest and cutest
puppy so don't forget to come back next Saturday.

Dubfreeze 2018 (part 2 of 2)

This weeks blog is the second instalment of a two part review all about the 30th annual 'Dub Freeze' VW Show that was held at Bingley Hall, County Show ground, Weston Road in Stafford ST18 9DB over the weekend of 16th -18th February 2018. The showground was open from 3pm on the Saturday for the hardy campers with plenty of space assured. The on site bar was also open on the Saturday night. Sunday was the main show day with the gates opening at 08.00am. The main show was held inside Bingley Hall with over 100 traders selling all sorts of VW related items. Also in the hall were numerous vehicles on display, there were plenty of food and drink vendors on the site to cater for most tastes and clean toilets. However for me the main attraction was the hundreds upon hundreds of both air-cooled and water cooled Volkswagen's parked within the grounds of Bingley Hall. I have been to this show several times now and have really enjoyed it, so I decided to go again this year. Bingley Hall is about a 220 mile return journey from my hometown so I decided to shoot up there in my more economical and quicker camouflaged T4, rather than take my slower 1969 microbus. The show opened quite early, but I didn't get there until about 10.30am by which time the car park at Bingley Hall was full so I had to park in the overflow car park with hundreds of other Volkswagen's. The main show is located inside the hall, where numerous traders and the main show and shine takes place, in addition to this there are plenty of places to get some food and drinks. Outside the grounds of Bingley Hall provide a massive outdoor show and shine area with vehicles of all descriptions on display. The blog continues as I wander around outside the hall looking at all the amazing Volkswagens.
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 low 1973 white over blue late bay
looked great parked up at the show. This really
was a lovely clean bus.

This really was a lovely clean bus and the lack of
front badge along with the two tone colour choice
gave the bus a real sleek look.

The black BRM wheels were the perfect choice
to compliment the overall look.

This stunning 1967 beetle caught my eye with
its lovely two tone green and cream paint job
and those standard wheels with the white wall
tyres.

I did like the look of this bug, the single bumper
mounted yellow spot light and the chrome head
light peaks along with that retro roof rack made
this bug stand out.

The bug had been lowered down to the bump
stops and the all red tail light lenses looked
great against the green.

Another stunning vehicle was this light blue 1969
deluxe early bay. This bus looked pretty much
stock including the ride height which always suits
an early bay.

Another 1967 beetle was this amazing bright
red Karmann Cabriolet. The nose down stance
with those polished Porsche wheels looked great. 

You can see just how straight this old Karmann
was from this photo. The narrowed front beam
tucks the front wheels under the arches just
enough.

The Karmann Convertible is such a pretty car,
that will never go out of fashion. 

This lovely clean cream and blue 1972 late bay
was one of the many vehicles for sale at the show.
It had a standard 1600cc twin port engine with a
re trimmed interior.

The bus had many new parts including: brakes,
clutch, exhaust, fuel tank, tyres and so much
more. The bus was priced at £11,995 ono.
($17,100 approx)

This 1978 T25 single cab pick up is a Swedish
import that has been restored. The enzian blue
paint looked great as did the truck in general.

This lovely pick up had the type 4, 2.0 litre fuel
injection engine and running on standard wheels.
This lovely looking pick up was up for sale for
the reasonable price of £8995 ($13000 approx)

This gorgeous 1964 was another vehicle that
was for sale. This bus had had so much work
carried out on it that there was to much to list,
but some of the mods included: 4" narrowed
beam with drop spindles, CSP front disc
brake conversion and a full respray. The price
for this bus was £32,000 ono ($45,500 approx)

Team white at Dubfreeze. 

This lovely cream and white 11 window split
screen bus was slowly cruising towards the
exit and it looked great.

It's time for a bit of colour after the above mono-
chrome pictures and it doesn't get much brighter
than this pair of awesome late bays.

This early RAT look split screen panel van just
drove off  before I could get some decent photos
of it, shame as I would have liked to have a decent
look at this van.

This lovely light blue 1969 fastback caught my
eye as it was so clean. I do like these type 3's
and although they were produced from 1961-
1973 there are very few of these around.

You can see why these were called the fastback,
the car looks as though its going 100 MPH even
when standing still. 

The really is a stunning example of the fastback.
This was the TLE model which I believe had the
fuel injection engine with electronic ignition.

A lovely black 1966 beetle and a lovely 1970
earl bay parked up together. 

The '66 really was a lovely looking stock car, the
old skool rear light mounted to the bumper was
a nice addition as was the cool roof rack.

The '70 early bay looked to be an import, and a
very clean one at that. The all red tail light lenses
and the roof rack helped to make this bay stand
out.

This cool 1966 white over blue 11 window split
had a bit of a RAT look going on with it's faded
paint.

The lowered stance with those lovely polished
Radar wheels looked great together. This bus
had a few knocks and scrapes but that just added
to it's charm.

Walking back to my bus after the show I spotted
this cool looking 1989 T25 woody! The name of
the game is to be different and this lovely bus
was certainly that.

I loved the wood effect on this bus, it reminded
me of a 'Woody' hot rod.

To be honest I don't know if this was a factory
option, or whether the owner has added this to
his bus himself, but either way it was cool.

This awesome bug was in the main show hall,
but I missed it.. must have been because it was
so low!! Anyway thanks to my mate Joe for the 
photos of this ultra cool Volksrod.

The interior was sparse to say the least, but how
cool does it look?

Another vehicle that I missed, but Joe didn't was
this gorgeous early sign written split screen 
panel van. I do like a nice panel van and this one
ticked all the right boxes.

So that was the review on the Dubfreeze show
2018. Overall another great day out with plenty
of amazing vehicles. Next weeks blog review is
all about Milton Keynes division of the Wolfsburg 
Bus Crew's 1st VW meet. All the vehicles are
WBC members and what an amazing collection
of vehicles there was! Make sure you come back
next Saturday to see and read all about this event.