Volksworld 2010

It had been eight years since I'd last been to an aircooled VW show and as Brian from the mighty Volkszone reminded me this is really a trip to remind me of my roots in this whole car thing.  This time I was an outsider, I didn't know what to expect, who was building what, who the new names where or what the current trends in the VW scene were. An interesting journey or rediscovery was ahead.

For many it is easy to dismiss the aircooled VW scene, due to its size there is no shortage of similar cars and when a style or trend takes hold it can spawn a whole sub culture with hundreds of cars very quickly.  There were plenty of cal look, resto cal look and rat look cars and vans in evidence alongside a variety of standard cars. Things do keep moving forwards though with new twists on older ideas and some fresh new ideas taking shape. The steampunk inspired black beetle lurking in the third hall was a particular stand out car, along with Bug Box's(link) full size Sand Scorcher.

The VW Drag scene continues to build cars that are not only fast but look great, with Outlaw Flat Four continuing to lead the charge.  The show attracts an international crowd and attendance, in fact this cross border swapping of ideas and show attendance is one of the cornerstones of the VW scene, both air and water cooled, bringing in new ideas and a friendly rivalry.  The twisted VW Brasilia off roader a case in point for some international new thinking attending the show.

In the club area plenty of variety was on display, Trekkers, buses, Type3s, Beetles, Porsches and more obscure VW kits made their way to the show.  Trade wise the event was very well stocked with traders, just about everything you could need for your project was present.  Upstairs there were handy how-to presentations that have no doubt got a bunch of people ready to break out the tools and tackle jobs they wouldn't ordinarily do.

The show was busy, as ever, which is the only real down side to the event, getting photographs with the way the cars are parked up inside and the amount of people there can be very tricky, but then the point of car shows is to check out the cars, not to just take photographs.  The car park provided a whole lot to look at too, with a range of cool VWs as well as other makes being present.  Having a gap between events certainly means going in with fresh eyes, but I won't be leaving it for eight years next time.

You can view all of out 150 photos from the event on our Flickr photostream.