Air cooled attendance at shows?

[Analog]

Nowadays however, it is completely centered around money and unless your vehicle is painted by a particular person with with detailed fuchs it’s considered a piece of shit.

I think that's a lot of the water cooled scene infecting the scene / attitude with that paint etc

i aerosol'd my bus 10 years ago and run on 15" split wheels, it's not slammed or narrowed, so never going to see that getting a trophy or being in a mag feature :lol:
i couldn't have a shiny bus i'd be more worried than i am about it as it is :msn4:

 

[Clem]

In fairness, I'd say its probably never been easier to get a mag feature than it is now. With the ongoing popularity of patina and rat vans, and the number of magazines pushing out monthly editions, coupled with the ability for more people to take and transfer decent quality photos, I'd say it was lot easier than when I set out - one (UK) magazine, noone owned anything much other than a 110 snap camera and the magazine was full of Paintbox/Newbury/Fuch'd cars - vans never got a look in!

 

[andy11]

For me it’s simply about seeing a lot of quality air cooled motors, if there’s not many attending I don’t bother. Most UK shows are now full of water coolers which don’t do anything for me. If I can make it I attend Stanford Hall,Skeg and Volksworld but I’d rather save my money and go to a big European show where air cooled motors are guaranteed.

 

[David Eccles]

and ever since I took on VW Camper in 2001 (eek) it was never about just what was prevalent in terms of shiny and "in" names..and never has been (though they have a place as do all types of bus!)
Hope Lavenham runs again .. closest we come in UK to a Hessisch / Camberg vibe and yes I agree Euro shows have a strong air cooled vibe still ...
The IGT2 (german T2) club do a really good BAY get together each year some of might like to check out ...

 

[andy11]

Nearly mentioned Lavernham, it’s on next year June 19th - 21st I’ll be checking that out !

 

[Sausage]

We will usually go to 2/3 VW shows a year but they are almost always tied in to a race event. For me, Big Bang is now the perfect event as it has top class drag racing [Doorslammers] along with the VW element and evening entertainment and all for around £40 for Fri-Sun. After a year or 2 absence we also went back to Bugjam this summer with our 18 month old daughter and again had a great time. These shows have changed as the years have gone by but you still get lots of air cooled in the camping fields but not so many in the line-ups. Santa Pod is a 3 hour drive each way so the costs soon add up but these shows are fun and so we try to attend.

Brighton Breeze is our "local" show as we live in Brighton but i have never attended in my Bus. We always pop into town and take a walk along Madeira Drive to see what's there but that only takes around an hour at most and recent years has seen a massive reduction in numbers so there really isn't that much to see and i am not going to pay £60+ pp to park on the seafront and camp up the race course.
It's the same story with the Volksworld show, we only go every 3/4 years as after a few hours we have seen it all and ready to go home.

We went to V Dub at the Pub in the summer of 2018 and that was good as it had plenty going on and a good choice of music. I agree with what someone said earlier about Ska bands, i never understand why they always seem to be at most of the shows we attend. The choice of bands doesn't directly infl uence my choice but it is part of the bigger package and with time/money being tight it can put me off a bit.
We went to EBI this year and it was good. Maybe a UK show could include a burnout box as that was great entertainment, sitting outside the bar watching people thrashing their cars....

When we go to these shows we always go in the camper [with the exception of Brighton Breeze] and its nice to see the air-cooled stuff but it doesn't worry me if there are lots of T4/5/6's, that's just how things are with the high cost of buying an Air-cooled.

But it is important for a show to tick the right boxes for me and a lot of them simply don't.

 

[paul_q]

We went to EBI this year and it was good. Maybe a UK show could include a burnout box as that was great entertainment, sitting outside the bar watching people thrashing their cars

..

The French car that had sparks coming from the wheels at ebi was at bug jam in the monster truck bit.

 

[Sausage]

Ah yes, the drift beetle. We got soaked this year watching that on the Saturday at Bugjam.

We went to EBI this year and it was good. Maybe a UK show could include a burnout box as that was great entertainment, sitting outside the bar watching people thrashing their cars

..

The French car that had sparks coming from the wheels at ebi was at bug jam in the monster truck bit.

 

[SiDev]

Just my personal opinion, but one built up after getting my first bay more than 25 years ago and going to shows ever since.....
I completely agree with most of the views above to different degrees:
- yes there are less aircooled VWs on the road nowadays, so as a result the value of them has increased and the ownership has shifted from teens and early 20-year-olds to those in their late-30's and above. This will naturally bring a different focus to shows as, rather than get pissed-up all weekend like I used to, me and most other attendees my age now have young kids with us to entertain and get us up the next morning, so we look for shows with kids entertainment or at least a "family camping" area
- as the value of aircooled has increased, the number of T4's and T5's attending shows has increased as they are a more affordable way to get away
- there are a lot of shows to choose from, so I tend to stay quite local: most of the shows I attend are within an hour of home, one is 2.5 hours, I don't need to go any further so why would I? My go-to's are Volksworld, Alive and V'Dubbin, Volksweald, Grill and Chill, Quex Park VW Show.
- the repetitive themes of SKA music, middle aged blokes on BMX's or Raleigh Choppers, etc bore me to tears
- THE CARS, this is to me one of the most important reasons to visit a show, and I like to see arrow-straight, mile-deep paint which owners have poured their heart and soul into and want to show and (rightly) be awarded for their efforts and vision. Rat-look is wasted on me, Patina (actual patina, not some old shit-box) can be cool. Rule of thumb: proper show car is an Olympic athlete who has spent years training and honing their technique to be the best they possibly can. Rat Look is a fat bloke in a leotard who cant be bothered.
- some shows just stop being good! Ive been to Brighton Breeze a few times including being in the EB line-up, and its nice to see all the motors but its just less and less buzzy each time ive been, so I stopped going. Went to EBI a couple of years ago and the show was great, as it was all about the cars, no themes, no gimmicks, the fact that its one of the best attended shows of the season cant be a coincidence.
I think its important that we keep attending shows and flying the flag for aircooled, or one day we will turn up at Volksworld and it will all be watercooled indoors with us having a quiet corner outside for "what inspired T8's".

 

[Clem]

Worth a mention that Slough Swapmeet was such a good meet this last weekend. On a November morning, loads of folk turned up to look at aircooled cars/vans, look at and buy aircooled car parts and products and chat aircooled shit.

Nothing else needed. Lesson to be learned is .... ? :lol:

 

[sparkywig]

Worth a mention that Slough Swapmeet was such a good meet this last weekend. On a November morning, loads of folk turned up to look at aircooled cars/vans, look at and buy aircooled car parts and products and chat aircooled shit.

Nothing else needed. Lesson to be learned is .... ? :lol:

And the best venue so far.

Yes, and the geographical location too, a hop just off the M4 corridor means a great catchment area as its so easy to get to.