After looking forward to the start of the show season all through the Winter months, what better start is there than the one and only Volksworld Show? Held at the grounds of Sandown park in Esher - a place more noted for seeing a dozen racehorses and John Mercrireck - but instead, graced by immaculate air-cooled variants ranging from common Beetles and campers to rarer Karmann Ghias and Porsches.
Slugga had arrived at mine, and we pootled along to Esher to meet up with two other No-Rice members, Jelly and Mark. Meanwhile, in Essex the planned convoy did not seem to materialise, as the lone J29er was that of Tris and his ever-so "pimpin" cabby.
After Tris met up with us at 1pm we all strolled around some truly amazing cars inside the showhall, including a Type 3 that had so much carbon fibre it had the confidence to opt for high-spec brakes! Many Beetles had contrasting ideas from stripped out drag racer to the retro style era. Another stand had the last ever brand new Campers and Beetles for sale that had been flown over from the VW factory in Mexico. The Camper was going for £18k and the Beetles from £8k. After viewing inside the hall we exited onto the race grounds where the various clubs were displaying some truly fine motors ranging from a fantastic yellow German postal van from the '40s to the immaculate air-cooled 914 Porsches.
The show was packed full of eager enthusiasts not only crowding round the amazing cars, but also around the impressive trade stands that were a display within themselves. So much so, my eyes are still recovering from the bling! This suited Tris, but I was amazed to find he did not purchase anything for his cabby, although he couldn't resist a Splitie a t-shirt for himself, the tart.
After Slugga had finished whoring the toasty stand, a tour round the car park commenced: A few water-cooled VWs had parked up but numbers were dwarfed by the air-cooled cars. While I was drooling over the classic Porsches and learning about them from Marks knowledge of air-cooled VW's, Jelly posed for this photo after we all witnessed a Transporter being helped out of the soft ground by other enthusiasts.
All-in-all, a great start to the show season for both types of VW. Roll on the summer.....
Words by Pola, pictures by Tris & Slugga.