OK, one last push over the top my brave lads and we'll get finished with the Hun. Ghias, then? Seemed to be an inordinate number of them scattered around this year
Ghia noses by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Quite a colour, this one. Can't imagine that it's an original VW colour, though I'm happy to be contradicted if anyone knows better? It had definitely been on the car for a while though, cos it had a chance to get chipped and worn and let rust through in places
Ghia lowlight peach by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Ghia white by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
There were a lot more Beetles this year compared to last, too. Which is a Good Thing. We found Dolly's younger sister, in a 1302 flavour. What's "1302", you ask? No idea. It's some mysterious VW type number, basically designating the first version of the so-called Super Beetle. Believing the reason that Beetle sales were tailing of was that people were looking askance at the olde-worlde torsion bar suspension system (rather than the fact that the car had been more or less unchanged for thirty years), VW went to a new-fangled MacPherson strut setup in the early 70s. This resulted in a large, bulgy bonnet and valance, elephant's foot rear lights and many other cosmetic changes. The under-bonnet luggage space grew exponentially as it was no longer full of torsion bar beams and the Super Beetles handled much, much better than the scaffold pole-suspended ones, but still no-one bought any and this was made worse by the subsequent launch of the 1303 Beetle with its curved windscreen. Like I said earlier, the people who by now were still buying new Beetles were people who wanted a
Beetle ...a clunky, torsion bar, old skool Beetle... not a modern car that looked like a slightly uglier Beetle. As the Nu Beetle proved in the new millennium, the time for that would come but the Super Beetle 1302s and 1303s were about three decades too early to tap that particular zeitgeist and so were consigned to the "white elephant" dustbin of history
Beetle 1302 blue white 71 by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Nowadays of course, they specifically appeal to a certain element of aircooled VW enthusiast, and there have been some really good ones built. And some with all manner of outrageous accessories. Roof tent version, anyone? Great protection from lions and crocodiles and stuff
Beetle 1303 yellow 73 by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Ignoring the rear offset fail, I reckon early 60s Beetles are amongst the best. If I couldn't afford an Oval (and I can't) then these would be a close second. They still have the small side windows and windscreen that doesn't go halfway up the roof, but have the narrow art deco indicators and lots of other details that are somehow more elegant and tasteful than later versions; the chrome rear-view mirror, the early enamel Wolfsburg bonnet crest, wide side trim, streamline door handles. Lovely
Beetle white 62 by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
It's funny, given that EMPI eight-spokes are pretty much the VW equivalent of Minilites (and I even have Compomotive MLs on my own RX-7) how
wrong they usually look. But then every so often a car comes along that you can't imagine on any other wheel and they look perfect. Weird innit!
Beetle white 70 by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
This is one of my favourite Beetles; as we've already established, Ovals are my fave anyway, especially in anthracite. I now know thanks to the Retro Rides Hivemind that it rolls on Avon Safety Wheels as modelled by Bristols. It also has pretty much perfect stance. The only thing letting it down are the inexplicable Ferrari centre caps
Beetle anthracite 56 by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
And we're left with buses again. This one has a beer shelf that sits on the front when it's parked up. And who can fail to be cheered by such jaunty and colourful fabric int he poptop, even on an increasingly gloomy and overcast day?
Split white red 65 by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Likewise...
Split turrettop brown gold by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Every scar tells a story
Bay red scars by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Unusual steering wheel is unusual. Don't recall seeing this odd spoke arrangement before. But then, there was a lot that was unusual about this particular bus...
Split doubledoor white 64 dsh by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
...let's have a look, shall we? Everything goes in cycles, doesn't it? Yeats wrote poems about it and everything. It's true of VW aircooled buses as it is with anything. When I was growing up there was a broken, rusty Bay Window on every street corner and in the latter part of the 20th Century you couldn't give them away. Now even Bays are going for daft money and earlier splits are out of the reach of most mere mortals. And so it was once before. VW couldn't sell anything in America at one point. And they needed to, because any car company that can't break America is missing out on the largest market in the world. It took all of Heinrich Nordhoff's vision and dedication to get started, including having the conviction to sack his original American importer and set up a cast-iron spares and servicing network country-wide before they even sold a single car, so that when people
did finally buy Volkswagens they knew they could rely on after-sales care anywhere in the States. It worked, and within a few years VWs were on waiting lists and second hand recent models changed hands for as much as brand new ones. In particular there was a shortage of the new-fangled "station wagon" Type 2, which inspired buyers had realised made a fantastic away-day vehicle, camper, home from home. The shortage meant it wasn't unusual for humble panel vans to get converted into campers to meet the overwhelming demand. And so it was for this one. Originally a humble delivery van, it was factory-ordered in the very rare variant with load bay doors on both sides of the body rather than the more common single sided. Which means when it got converted into a camper, it was a very unusual bus indeed. And now it's even more so. A triumph of packaging but with an extra special feeling of light and airiness with it's walk-through double doors. Very cool
Split doubledoor white 64 int by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Random Sprint Star. Just cos I liked the shiny new paint and manky old centre cap juxtaposition
Split brown white 65 sprintstar by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Sound advice;
Bay yellow 79 flowers by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Another bus was playing tunes right down the end of the prom. Seems that the Type 2 as a mobile DJ phenomenon is a well-established thing. It was a bit kinda...well, Jazz Club... Niiiiiiice... for our tastes but I did like the way the dude had dressed it up with props and accessories
stuff and tings by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Go-anywhere T25 complete with roof ladder. Cyclists beware!
T25 grey 90 d by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
Red buses by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
buses by the sea by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
We'd reached the end of Madeira Drive now. The kids were getting mutinous due to being hungry, and wanted to immerse themselves in the lure of the Mall, the Lego Shop and other tawdry plastic trinkets. To be fair, I'm not usually in need of much persuasion to visit the Lego Shop. Remembering what a debacle it was getting the correct order from the chippy on the prom, we also succumbed to the plastic but at least predictable offerings from Burger King. Outside which was a stark reminder of how hard Sussex seagulls are basically feathered Velociraptors and have no respect for... well, anything. Including vulgar wrapped junior Supercars
R8 vandalism by
Nick Liassides, on Flickr
and then, bellies full of rubberised meat products and bags full of vulgar plastic potential landfill, we made our way back to the Breeze from the heaving town centre where Spurs fans were trying to drown their sorrows in a hooligan chant and heavily-made up fashionistas tottered on high heels in pleather strides. And when we get back we'll have a quick peek at my two favourite cars from the day...