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IT�S HOLIDAY TIME VOLKS �

3:38 AM

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The annual VW Camper & Bus Show takes place at Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Ledbury, July 29-31.

One of the must-attend events of the Volkswagen calendar is set to take place on the last weekend of July, with fun and entertainment promised for VW Camper and Bus enthusiasts of all ages.

The Volksworld VW Camper & Bus show, sponsored by VW parts suppliers Custom & Commercial and specialist insurers Carole Nash, takes place from 29th � 31st July 2016 at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Ledbury, Herefordshire and is a family and dog friendly event.

Among the weekend�s attractions will be one of the show�s traditional highlights, the Soapbox Challenge, with teams of up to four entering their home-made gravity-propelled four-wheelers in a downhill run against the clock. Entries are still open and anyone wishing to participate should email camper.show@kelsey.co.uk if they fancy a laugh-a-minute budget motorsport challenge.

In addition, the show promises live music all the way, with a mix of bands performing on stage throughout the weekend and a bar on site. The Friday night will be a Sixties themed event, with Sixties tribute band the Del Sharrons and Elvis tribute act Gordon Davis, plus a live DJ, while on Saturday the daytime will be taken care of with an Oompah band and fire performers, followed by an Eighties-themed tribute band and live DJ.

There will be prizes on offer for enthusiasts exhibiting their vehicles, be them Beetles, split-window campers, early and late bay-window vans, Type 25�s, T4�s, T5�s and other VWs. On Saturday, the awards will be in the Rust-and-Prime category for the not-so-shiny examples that are loved among the vee-dub scene, while on the Sunday there will be a more traditional Show�n�Shine.

Dogs are more than welcome at the Camper & Bus Show � indeed, they will be invited to participate in competitions of their own! Events will include dog agility, best looking pooch, doggy fancy dress and dog/ owner look-a-like competitions.

Meanwhile, family fun will be taken care of by the VW Bouncy Bus � a large inflatable �bouncy castle� in the shape of the iconic van. Along with dedicated kids� rides and entertainment, including the magical entertainer Van Man, the children�s attractions will all be free of charge.

There will be other family-themed events throughout the weekend, along with a thriving retail village offering all sorts of VW and camper themed goodies.

There�s still time to take advantage of Early Bird ticket offers, including a weekend adult ticket for just �39* to include an entire weekend�s camping (Under 16�s go free). More info.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BULLI! PRODUCTION OF CULT VOLKSWAGEN VEHICLE BEGAN 65 YEARS AGO

6:44 AM

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volkswagen

It all began in 1947 with a pencil sketch: the Dutch car importer Ben Pon saw a simple flat-bed vehicle at the Volkswagen plant and, taking it as a basic idea, he sketched the outlines of a Transporter with Beetle DNA in his notebook.

Two years later, Volkswagen Plant Manager, Heinrich Nordhoff, presented four prototypes: two panel vans, a kombi and a small bus. Nordhoff promised that the Transporter would be as uncompromising and robust as the Beetle: �These vehicles won't be handled with kid gloves, rather they will be treated roughly.�

Designers used the engine and axles of the Beetle. Instead of a central tubular frame of the popular family car, the bus had a unitized body that was mounted on a ladder frame. The 1.1-litre engine produced 18 kW (24.5PS) at 3300 rpm. The bus could transport up to eight people and the two rear seat rows could be removed easily to free up load space for around 750 kg of payload.

Alfred Haesner, Head of Technical Development of Volkswagen GmbH from 1948 to 1952, said: �Accordingly, this type of commercial delivery vehicle can be used for all branches of business, for rush deliveries and freight, e.g. as a small bus, a special-purpose vehicle, postal vehicle, ambulance or mobile station.�

Production began on 8 March 1950, in Hall 1 of the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, and ten vehicles were manufactured per day.

By the end of 1950, 8001 Transporters had already been built. Demand was enormous, especially since its affordable price made it an attractive option to tradesmen and retail businesses. The unique vehicle quickly became an export hit as well. Volkswagen buses could simply transport anything and everything: rubble and debris, mortar and building stones, breakfast rolls and bees wax, cigars and newspapers.

A Volkswagen bus with a camping box made its appearance in 1951 at the automobile exhibition in Berlin. The delivery van with a rear engine suddenly held the promise of an entirely different type of travel. For the first time, it travelled over the Alps. Later, it was driven to India when hippies discovered the �Bulli� for themselves.

Four years after its production launch, the 100,000th Volkswagen Transporter came off the assembly line in Wolfsburg in 1954. By this point, there were 30 different models of the vehicle. Daily production in Wolfsburg was at 80 vehicles but it couldn�t produce more because the plant was already filled to capacity with Beetle production. It became clear that the Transporter needed its own plant.

Construction work began in early March 1955 in Hannover-St�cken, and the plant was built from the ground up in just one year. In March 1956, the first "Made in St�cken" Transporters come off the assembly line. This was the beginning of a future symbol of the �economic wonder years�. Today, a total of 11 million T-series vehicles spanning five generations have been produced worldwide.

Dr. Eckhard Scholz, Chairman of the Brand Board of Management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said: �The production launch of the T1 represented the beginning of a long success story that has lasted right up to today. In the past, as well as the present, there is market demand for extremely reliable, versatile and individual vehicles. We deliver them in top quality and precisely tailored to every need � whether the vehicle is for trades work, a retail or service business, family or recreation.�

Production of the new generation model, the T6, launches this year. Along with the T-series, the Hannover-St�cken plant also produces the Amarok pick up. The successful California recreational vehicle is built not far away in Limmer. Around 12,200 people are employed at the Hannover business site of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The Poznan plant in Poland (5,700 employees) produces the Transporter and the Caddy, and another plant is being built in nearby, Wrzesnia for the new Crafter. Today, a total of around 19,500 employees work for the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand.

Click here to browse VW Bus books from Veloce.

AUTHOR PROFILE No.15: JAMES HALE

2:03 AM

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volkswagen

James Hale is the author of seven Veloce books. His most recent is a completely revised edition of his first book, The Dune Buggy Handbook.

James Hale has been a devotee of Dune Buggies from an early age, and has driven, built, manufactured, photographed and written about them in the years since. He is the leading authority on Buggies for many British and American magazines, and his most recent features have appeared in TKC under the title �The Buggy Guru.� He is also a member of the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain, and contributes to their publications.

Long before James could drive, he had a great interest in all forms of vehicles, including traction engines, veteran and vintage cars, and marketingmobiles (vehicles shaped like the product they advertise). The quality of engineering was the thing that captured his imagination, but, other than that, he had no strong opinions regarding different makes and models of vehicle.
In 1970, at the tender age of 13, the day came that changed everything. James was watching a local news programme on TV, called Scene South East, when they ran a feature on beach buggies, and showed two wildly outlandish (to a teenager) GP buggies being driven across a sandy beach somewhere in Kent. The rather fusty presented concluded the piece with the comment: �Cars on the beach; whatever next?!� For James, �next� was already decided. He wanted a buggy, and wanted to know how to build a buggy as soon as possible. He started finding out more about these fun vehicles, collected magazines and requested manufacturer�s brochures, visited workshop premises to see them being made, and even got a few free rides in demonstration vehicles through sheer persistence.

James & Hustler Buggy in 1977.

James & Hustler Buggy in 1979.
Years later, having passed his driving test, James finally acquired his first car � an EPC Hustler buggy, bought for the princely sum of �250. It had an asthmatic 1200cc VW Beetle engine, 6-volt electrics, balding tyres, and tired brakes. Having got the buggy properly roadworthy, James ventured much further from home to take part in national buggy conventions (the furthest journey was from the south coast up to Middlesbrough, during which the engine grenaded itself, sending hot oily piston and crankcase bits across the road, and necessitating an engine transplant at a friend�s house en-route). At most of the events James took a Pentax camera, and this resulted in him building up an unrivalled photographic archive of the 1970s and 1980s British buggy scene. It also led to him contributing photos to magazines and publications of the day � the first being The Fun Car Explosion by Peter Filby.

James on a VW chasis in 1985.

James with a VW Van in 1986.

James & Beetle in 2004.

James became a contributor to various motoring magazines, whilst also pursuing a professional career in marketing and public relations. The launch of Volksworld magazine gave James the opportunity to produce technical features on Volkswagen maintenance and technical upgrades, and his monthly features appeared for over ten years. The concept of upgrading humble air-cooled VWs led to the writing of two books � How to modify VW Beetle suspension, brakes & chassis for high performance, and a similar one for the VW Bus. These two books are in print to this day, due to the enduring popularity of the air-cooled VW marques.

Besides the buggies and VWs, James has also researched and written the only book ever produced on marketingmobiles. This was launched at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu in 2005, with the museum itself holding a major exhibition of promotional vehicles (called ProMotion) in 2010, opened by Lord Montague�s son, Ralph. The exhibition featured vehicles including the Outspan Orange car, the Cadbury�s Creme Egg car, the Duckhams Q car, and the Worthington�s bottle lorry.
As well as writing his original and revised editions of The Dune Buggy Handbook, which has become the bible for buggy devotees, James has also acted as a consultant on Top Gear, built promotional buggies for Coca-Cola and Liptons Iced Tea, and been interviewed in magazines and on radio in England and abroad to talk about his involvement with the buggy scene. His unique and extensive collection of toy buggies was also featured on a TV programme hosted by Sarah Greene.

James has owned a number of VW Beetles throughout his motoring career, plus a few VW Variants, a split-screen VW Bus, and a few more mundane foreign saloons. But it is the buggies that have always mattered most, and his friendship with the buggy originator, Bruce Meyers, resulted in James owning an exact replica of the Corvair-powered buggy driven by Steve McQueen in the 1968 film, The Thomas Crown Affair. Bruce Meyers also wrote the foreword for The Dune Buggy Handbook, in acknowledgement of the work James has done to document and preserve the history of his own most famous creation � the Meyers Manx buggy.