Tagged: Photography
Lovely Lavenham
Last weekend the 3rd International Vintage Volkswagen Show was held in the historic town of Lavenham in Suffolk, UK. I had helped to organise the first two shows which take place every four years but this on was organised by The UK Historic VW Club who I entrusted it to after deciding it need a bigger, dedicated team for it to continue to happen.
I set off for the 150 mile, 3 hour drive to Lavenham at 5.30am on Saturday morning. The sun was already out and the weather was looking promising for the day. When I arrived in Lavenham, I managed to park near the Market Square which was to be home to the oldest Beetles and Busses – following the same format as the previous shows. There was a great turn out with around 160 vehicles pre registered for the weekend, arriving from all over Europe. I hung around the Square taking photographs until it was full and chatted with some old friends who I’ve not seen for a while – probably the last show in Lavenham 4 years ago!
Moving on, I followed the ‘Vintage VW Trail’ which lead me to Lavenham Hall which was a new display area which hasn’t been used before for the show. The house and gardens made a fantastic setting for the Karmann Ghias and Commercial Busses. The house is home to sculptor Kate Denton and her sculptures are placed around the grounds and gallery, next to the house and barns.
Continuing along the trail, I was directed to the sports field which was the location of the sixties beetles, later split busses, military VWs and the trade stands. Lots more traders present this year which was great to see. I stopped to chat with Rob and Paul for a while over coffee and bacon rolls and then headed back to the market square just in time for the first rain shower of the day. The rain quickly passed and the sun returned for a while before the next shower rolled in. I headed home having had a great day as a visitor to the show. Thanks to The Historic VW Club and everyone involved for putting on a fantastic show, well done!
Click on the first picture for full screen images…
Original ’55 for sale
Thanks for all the interest, Sale pending…
I’ve decided that after six years of ownership, it’s time to sell my very original 1955 Oval-Window Beetle.
It’s an unrestored 1955 VW Oval Beetle still in original Stratos Silver paint, one of the nicest colours for a vintage VW. It has driven just 139084 KM (86422 Miles) from new and only had one owner in Sweden from 1955 -2003 when it had 68,000 Miles on the clock. It has never required any welding and is in remarkable condition for a 60 year old beetle, a true survivor!
The Stratos Silver paint and all the bodywork is completely original and has a lovely patina. It appears that just a single semaphore was replaced at some point in it’s early life in Sweden. It has it’s original 30hp engine from April ’55 which has just been serviced and drives great – as you would expect for a low-mileage VW.
The interior is original too and has the original floor mats, carpets, upholstery, door-cards and headlining. VW lap belts are fitted at the front and a single 3-point belt at the back.
I’ve always kept the beetle in my garage and it’s only covered 700 miles since I bought it in 2009.
It has several period accessories fitted including original Swedish wheel trims which it would have had from new, a dash-clock, Bambus parcel shelf, VW Gear leaver lock (no key), Passenger sun-visor and a high-level rear LED Brake light in the back window which helps overcome the size of the small heart-shaped rear brake lights! It also has an optima red-top battery so it always starts easily even after several months.
If originality is your thing, I doubt you will find a better early oval-window beetle. I’m happy to help with world wide shipping at the buyers expense. I would consider a trade for a VW T4 or T5 Camper with a similar value in the UK.
I can be contacted through this blog or directly via: malcolm@vueca.com
3 years ago today…
I just got a reminder from WordPress that it was exactly 3 years ago today that I made my first post on Bandwagen. And it’s also a double celebration as today the followers counter ticked over the 6,000 mark. So a big thank you to everyone out there who is following my blog. If you look back at my earlier posts, I think that my photography has improved a bit over the 3 years – And the photos have gotten bigger too! Here are some of the photos from that first post, way back in 2011 from the REME show…
Stanford Hall 2014 Continued…
Here is my second set of photos from this year’s show. Still not all of them though! Such a good VW show and some nice weather helps too.
VWs at Vintage Stony
Last month I made it along to the annual summer classic car gathering in Stony Stratford, about 30 minutes drive from where I now live. It was a very hot day which was perfect for getting everyone out in their classics for the day. As usual, there were just a hand full of Volkswagens but the quality definitely made up for the quantity! I’ve posted some other pictures from the show on my other blog, MHPIX.
Vueca – The Camera Market
Another photography related hobby of mine is collecting Vintage Canon Film Cameras. I often visit antique markets, auctions and boot sales on the hunt for old cameras, sometimes buying a ‘lot’ of cameras to get a single camera for my collection. I don’t have space for all of them so I have been auctioning the unwanted cameras, often really nice, sometimes really rare, on good ol’ ebay to try and recoup some of the cost of collecting…
We’ll after a conversation with a full-time camera dealer, I decided to take the plunge and try and come up with a serious alternative for buyers and sellers of photographic equipment to list and buy their gear at sensible prices – No listing fees, No final value fees and No fees on postage. All very simple…
Vueca – The Camera Market is what I’ve come up with. It’s only been up and running for a few day but there are already around 100 items listed for sale. Sellers can list globally in any currency and choose to just ship locally or internationally. Hopefully some of you reading this have an interest in Photography and Vintage in general so may find the site useful – You may even have an old camera you would like to sell or, perhaps you may know someone else who might like to take a look?
It’s free to register to list and buy/bid on the site so please spread the word about Vueca – The Camera Market.
The Chiltern Hills Rally 2014
As is was a nice day, I decided to pop along to the Chiltern Hills Rally. I’ve not been to this car show before but, there have beed signs for the show on my route to work and I pass the show site every day. Out of the 1000 or so vintage vehicles there were only a hand full of VWs on display. The Chiltern Hills Vintage Vehicle Rally is organised by The Game Club to raise money for local good causes. The Rally is a well established annual event which enables the owners of classic and vintage vehicles to gather together in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Just for a change I took along my Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens instead of my Canon 24-70 2.8L lens which is attached to my 60d most of the time. I think you’ll agree the pictures look a little different from the ones I normally take a t shows and post on here. Let me know what you think.
Stanford Hall 2014
I have to say that the annual show at Stanford Hall is a long time favourite of mine and a show I always try a make a point of attending, whether in my beetle or in my daily driver. I tried to get my beetle out of hibernation a few weeks ago and it was having non of it. Even with a freshly charged battery it refused to wake up. On further investigation, I’ve discovered that there’s no fuel getting through to the carb so a fuel-pump rebuild is now on my to do list…
It’s so nice to see the sun out at a show in this country for a change. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I was getting a bit fed up of taking pictures with grey skies! This Show has changed very little over the years and there is always a huge variety of VW’s on display, from concourse entrants to club displays so plenty around to photograph. The fine weather had brought the crowds out in their thousands and I think this is the busiest I have ever seen it. I arrived nice and early at 8.30 and spent a good 5 hours exploring the show and taking pictures. I still think I missed some areas though.
My favourite VW I found at the show was a freshly imported, Black Low-light Karmann Ghia from California. Totally unrestored and in good original condition. It was in the sales area but there were no price details and the owner wasn’t around to ask. I wouldn’t mind trading my ’55 but I reckon that wouldn’t be enough! These are some of my pictures from the day. I’ll try and post some more over the coming weeks. Hopefully we’ll have a decent summer this year and I can visit a few more shows with my camera.
Green Type Three
Photo of the week #84 – I’ve seen this late-model VW Type 3 Notchback around the Brackley area a few times in the past but have never had the opportunity to take a photo of it before. So when it was parked up near my home in Syresham, I managed to grab a few pictures on my iPhone. I seem to be taking more VW pictures on my phone then with my DSLR in recent months!
Rainy day dub
Photo of the week #83 – I spotted this 1970 daily driver in Banbury, while I was visiting an Auction House on Saturday morning so took a quick photo on my iPhone. I used to drive an aircooled VW all year round in my younger days but, it became quite a challenge driving 40 miles to work in terrible weather. The VWs ended up being tucked away for the winter in favour of a good heating system , decent road holding and bright lights! I wonder how many people brave the winter in a beetle?
Bandwagen 