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Wigley
Beckons Once Again |
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Preparation
2005 marked the second year for the
event at Wigley Reserve. The organising committee, with the benefit
of the experience gained from the 2004 event, pulled out all stops
to make this years event bigger and better. This time around the
order was switched: the cruise on the Friday and the dinner on Sat.
The change aimed at keeping Saturday clear for members to clean
up their cars for the Show day.
Friday night's cruise kicked off from
Hackney Rd in the early evenin. The route took the cars through
the city and then down to Hungry Jacks at Edwardstown. After refreshments
the cars headed north and assembled again at Cafe Numero Uno at
Ingle Farm for more food, drinks and banter.
The Festival Dinner was held at Cafe
82, Littlehampton on Sat Oct 29th. This is an excellent venue, which
is operated by the son of one of our founding members, making for
a terrific atmosphere and excellent service. We enjoyed several
hours of VW related chat, great food and fine wine. What more could
you ask for. Only trouble was, with the start of daylight saving,
we had to cut the night short in order to be ready for an early
start on Sunday morning.
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Wigley Reserve 30th October 2005
Saturday had been one of the wettest days in weeks
and Ken, our President was starting to get jittery about whether
or not we would have to exercise our non existent contingency plans...
The forecasts were however looking good and we all had high hopes
for a better day on Sunday.
Sunday morning the sky was looking like it couldn't
make up its mind what to do. Things started fairly clear but before
long the cloud had thickened again. Everyone getting ready for the
day must have been sharing Ken's jitters. The first of the committee
arrived at the grounds at 7:00 to start markingthe site out. By
7:45 the Club Kombi had arrived on its trailer, ready for pride
of place next to the club tents once again. Sadly we had not made
much visible progress since VolksFest 2004, with 2005 being treated
as a bit of recovery time for the crew after the efforts of 2003
and 2004. But it was fantastic to get the old girl unloaded and
out on display once more. By 8:30 the crowd of helpers had grown
in size; the hire gear had arrived and was being set up; and best
of all, no sign of rain.
The first show cars started to arrive 15 minutes
before official opening time - a good sign in anyone's books, which
was made even better by the gradual clearing of the clouds. By 10:00
it was clear that the sun was going to win out and we would be in
for a perfect day.
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The Cars
The 2004 event had been the first show for the incoming
committee. We learnt many lessons form that event and tried to put
them all in to place for 2005. The results? We think they speak
for themselves. The number of cars on display grew from around 70
to over 100; the site was visited by around 2000 visitors through
the day; the food stall sold out of stock; the band whipped up a
storm; events ran to plan all day. Best of all though, would have
to be the calibre of cars which turned out. We had several people
who managed to bring 3 or 4 of their own cars down - quite an effor,
what with finding other drivers and even making multiple trips home
to grab other cars.
Most years and VW models were well represented.
The number of early beetles was truly inspiring, as was the contingent
of split window Kombi's. Numbers were split fairly evenly between
standard and modified cars. The Cal Look is truly alive and has
certainly influenced some of the recently completed restorations.
It's always good to be reminded of the linkage between
VW and Porsche. VolksFest was graced with the presence of two fabulous
examples of the Porsche marque in the form of a 356 coupe and 356
convertible.
Engine bays always attract their fair share of attention.
Dual big bore card on stroker engines are always good for an "ooh"
and a Porsche fan conversion for an "aaahh". But sometimes
something new jumps out and grabs you. A highlight for many was
the 2.7 litre V6 Audi engine gracing the engine bay of a T25 bus.
A beautiful conversion and a real credit to its owner.
And owners are a story in themselves. What about
the nut case who spent several years re-building a beautiful splittie,
only to sell it soon after last year's show because, now it was
finished, the challenge had gone. Threats of a resto on a valiant
soon came and went, before he cam back to reality and purchased
another split to start on. Trouble is when do you stop? Who can
resist a one owner deluxe 15 window when it comes along? Certainly
not this guy, who now proudly proclaims "this is the one".
Well the search for a perfect partner is certainly part of VolksFest,
with a number of cars finding new owners on the day. Even the traders
seemed to do well in moving their collected wares to new owners,
who no doubt will be one day sitting there selling off their surplus
stock and so the cycle goes.
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What's New
Just when you think you have seen most of the VW's
in town, out comes another one. Well VolksFest certainly brought
more than one new machine out of the woodwork. Not only were there
a number of high calibre show cars out for their first outing, there
was a variety of specials, daily drivers and unique cars that were
just a pleasure to behold.
Thanks to the efforts of our Club President, we
were visited by a group of local trike owners. When this group of
7 machines rolled up , they pulled an instant crowd. We extend our
special thanks to these guys for making the effort to come along.
Another welcome sight was a pair of Purvis Eureka's belonging to
members of the Eureka Car Club (check their web site for more).
The Eureka was a truly unique British kit car which was picked up
here in Australia by Alan Purvis. Many have been lost, but these
two examples showed just how special the Eureka was - 30 years later
it still is one of the most stirring body designs around. Maybe
not one of the most practical, but hey its a sports car with real
charisma.
We are also lucky to have as a member the builder
of the fabulous Marlin Buggies, who brought down a cluster of cars
for our pleasure. The Marlin is a beautiful example of engineering
and craftwork, capturing the feel of the 70's beach buggies and
blending it with styling and features of today. They can be ordered
in kit form or you can have them hand build a car to your needs.
Its always interesting
talking to people and finding a bit about their personal VW story.
At Volks Fest, you could OD on the experience! Its also great to
see where people have come from. In addition to those who live in
the Adelaide metropolitan area, we had drivers bring cars from the
South Coast, Whyalla, Gawler, the Riverland and more. Not sure who
travelled the greatest distance to come but we were pleased to welcome
visitors who had flown in from Victoria, as well as the intrepid
crew who towed their rat look single cab splittie from Pt Lincoln
to Adelaide for the event. They stopped Sat night at Stirling, unloaded
the ute, drove it to the Festival on Sunday, then had to load it
back up for the 600km trip home again.
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Trophy Winners
Once again we varied the prize categories to make
sure we had as wide an appeal as possible. Our judging panel did
an excellent job of checking over all the cars which had been entered
in a fair and equitable fashion. Judging is not an easy task and
it takes someone with a careful eye and a genuine appreciation of
quality to do it properly. They did a stirling job and came up with
the following winners:
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Award
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Sponsor |
Winner |
| Roy
Williams Trophy |
Volks
Enthusiasts Club |
David
Tanner |
| Best
T1 Modified |
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David
O'Connor |
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Best
T1 Standard |
Cartek |
Keith
Poole |
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Best
Type 3 Modified |
VolksCare |
Steve
Tanner |
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Best
Type 3 Standard |
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Barry
Johnson |
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Best
Kombi Split/Bay Modified |
Westpac |
Simon
Howard |
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Best
Kombi Split/Bay Standard |
V
& T Motors |
Keith
Poole |
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Best
Karmann Ghia Modified |
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Rob
Gilbert |
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Best
Karmann Ghia Standard |
Shannons |
Tony
Stone |
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Best
T25/T3/T4 |
VolksFactory |
Maris
Rozleja |
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Best
Buggy/Kit Car/Special |
Paint
Supplies |
Ian
Poynter |
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Best
New Gen Under 10 years |
VolksAuto |
Gary
Creber |
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Best
Rat (must be driven to Festival) |
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James
Minhard |
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Coolest
Ride |
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Glyn
Whale |
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Thanks
The Volks Enthusiasts Club of SA cordially
thanks its sponsors, without whom the event could not be held. Members
are encouraged to check out the companies listed above and patronise
their business when ever possible. Special thanks also to the committee
and office bearers for their tireless efforts in putting the show
together and to all who brought their cars along - both local and
interstate.
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Sadly
we have not been able to organise a VolksFest 2005 DVD but may still
compile a collection of photos. Watch our Merchandise page for details |
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