Someone told me that this was the world's largest exhibition of air-cooled public cars. I do not doubt that. It was simply enormous.
A wonderful mix of bubbles and buses from all over Europe met at this year's Volksworld. Not only in the exhibition areas, but also out in the car parks, and on the lawns where people spent the night in their buses. Only public transport buses, of course. Visitors were encouraged to arrive the evening before to avoid the queues on the opening day.
Every year many a veteran VW has problems with the clutch in the last bit before arrival.
The event was held at Sundown Park racecourse in Esher, south-west of London. I was impressed by how many Belgians, Dutch and French had crossed the channel with their bubbles, T1 and T2 buses, Type3 notchback and fastback, - as well as beautiful Karmann Ghia. I saw one Courierwagen and a couple of Brazilian VWs. A 2-door Audi 100 Mk1 was among the public cars and I also saw a K70. Otherwise, most of it was air-cooled.
It is clear that early passenger coaches are worth their weight in gold down in Europe. Several exhibitors at Volksworld had specialized in furnishing solutions. It is possible to spend a lot of thought and money on the interior. I really liked solutions based on wooden veneer sheets. It reinforced the veteran character in a nice way. Others bet on plastic-fantastic. T70 buses from the 2s are well suited for such solutions.
VolksWorld revolves a lot around Volkswagen's buses, camping and multivan solutions. The very latest T6-based news of the day was also presented. I will tell more about that in a later post. But the focus on the early VW buses indicates how valuable these cars have become. If you have a forest wreck that can be saved, you are probably sitting on a gold mine. However, I missed the pickups, both single cabs and double cabs. There were only a few of them. I suspect that the high prices, especially of the T1 buses, have meant that the pickups have been used as donor cars for bus projects.
In terms of style, there is a lot going on in the rat look and lowering with extreme wheel angles. They are tough and very nice photo subjects, but I can't imagine them driving very well. Personally, I prefer more original cars, - probably because I experienced these in my own boyhood days in the 60s. My mate had a T1 double cab, the neighbors a 53 model bubble with a split rear window, and it was great when my cousins came to visit in their lemon yellow 59 bubble.
I never get tired of looking at public carriages. Over the weekend I got to study more than a hundred pieces in detail, - many of them in the car park. The exhibition continued there. And if I were to look at all the cars, I would have to spend another day.
I took lots of pictures. Far too many to show in this post, - but promise to continue posting pictures under the "Volkswagen" link on the right.
Join us on a little trip among bubbles and buses!
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