We rejoin the action at 8:15am, I awake 15 minutes later than I expected, yet I am refreshed from my early night and ready to do battle on the open road of the A23, a road Lennon and I are very much accustomed with as a duo.
Special guests mother and father joined me today on the run, of course the weather is nippy but clear in the morning and I am buoyant by the prospect of my first show with the new car. Fun fact, Brighton Breeze was the first show I have ever driven to, even after a year of driving VW Beetles.
A tank of fuel later at my local petrol station and we were ready to do business. This was it, this was my cup final. Everything that my family and I had worked for over a long and thankfully, hot summer was about to pay off. Lennon was the man for the job and fresh from a free car wash (another day), he looked on top form as we cruised along the motorway; joined onto the run halfway as we had already completed the northern portion of Brighton Breeze from my undisclosed location to Epsom the night before, which you can become accustomed with here...
Cheeky smiles along the road were little and often as the sun started to creep through and set us up for a good day ahead. We passed Bay Buses and various other uninteresting superminis on our trek down to the seaside city of Brighton, my favourite city to boot. Lennon, rejuvenated after a rest on Friday night was a trooper and as we bombed down to the coast at a pace under the National Speed Limit, everything felt perfect.
We inevitably hit the Saturday morning city traffic as busy, pent up, sexually tense commuters with equally irritating significant others and their significantly annoying 2.4 children cut up various classic VW owners as they have no idea that brakes are a token gesture in classic and superior predecessors of the motoring world. Something we later witnessed with another fellow owner at the destination, Madeira Drive.
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| Camera shy or just cheeky? |
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| No no, definitely just cheeky. |
As we pulled up to the gates, a feeling of joy hit me. It felt like I was a celebrity drunkenly falling out of the limo, showing some unwanted cleavage and underwear, and yet walking down the red carpet with grace and prowess. Truthfully, as soon as we placed the pass on the mirror, that was it, the work that we had put in felt like it was worth the pay off in time and finances. Fans and fellow enthusiasts, as well as the odd bystander nursing a hangover after a heavy night of thumping Drum and Bass at the nearby Volks (no resemblance to Volkswagen, but they should lap that up for future editions of The Brighton Breeze) saw us and Lennon trundle down the strip in a leisurely fashion and despite the fans seeing several hundred other Beetles and various compatriots of the classic VW family, the aura was such that Lennon was a real head turner, a show stopper in his own right, not a winner, but a subtle game changer and maybe to some, a nostalgia inducing motor vehicle that harked back to the original VW scene of the late 80's/early 90's, a period that in culture was very prominent and one I am influenced by.
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| A 1950's Californian Import, a great project for the dedicated VW enthusiast. |
More traffic hit once we were in the enclosure and even a police car wanted to get in on the act, despite only being a modern Ford Focus, which was lucky not to be bricked as it entered a classic VW event.
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| GET THE ROZZER'S! |
The theoretical riot aside, we parked up in the middle of the road and left the fellow visitors to dabble in opinion and views of our stamp on the VW scene. I managed to take some photo's and look at various other rides with a keen eye to see if anyone had replicated/shared ideas such as ours or merely created a unique and tasteful ride. For the show itself, the show stopper was a 'Hillbilly' style Bug, with the wheels slammed, huge tyres planted to the vehicle and with the cab, it was a half Beetle, half Splitty. The result was very clever indeed, although personally I wasn't a fan of molesting both a Beetle and a Split Camper Van.
I also sticker dropped for my employer, VW Heritage, who were also involved in the trade stands at Brighton Breeze, of whom I popped by and said hello to, nicked a sweet and politely buggered off after a natter about general VW chat and exchanges of banter. I felt it was good to do our bit for the company and I thank my family for helping, many people received stickers which I hope to see on their rides!
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| Getting in the way of the perfect VW Heritage shot. |
As the weather started to turn for the worse and culminate in a filthy drive home, a special mention for two particular cars. Not for their style or build quality, but that they were close descendants of cars we have owned and currently own. Firstly, we spotted a brother of the original Beetle, McCartney, a VW 1600, number plated on VYL 963G. McCartney's numberplate was VYL 961G. It was amazing to see a car from the same family and I am sure they would have been on the same ship as each other and even in the same dealership together as the parted ways and began life on the open road.
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| McCartney's Brother! |
We also spotted a cousin of our Sweden's biggest import, the Swede himself who was a Split Camper Van!
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| COUSIN! |
After the weather had turned sour and started to put a damper on our day, we reconvened for lunch and a piss in Concorde 2 (an excellent music venue mind you), we carried on our trek of the Brighton Breeze and discussed many future plans for 2015 and beyond, gaining inspiration for accessories too at the various trade stands. It was nice to see the lad and her girlfriend, whom we met the evening prior and collected photo's of our beloved vehicles, and also a friend who lives local to me, which was cool.
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| My dad reminiscing on the days when he owned a Panel Van. |
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| Pirelli P's, a very rare/expensive wheel. Look awesome too. |
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| CoolFlo represented themselves again with another interesting showpiece. |
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| Old and New. |
So, with the trade stands visited and cars closely scrutinised, we headed off home in somewhat damp conditions but with proud heads. Lennon got us to Madeira Drive and home swiftly and safely, with ourselves very pleased that we could show off our ride slap bang in the middle of the event, luckily.
Another safe journey from Lennon and the first show for me. Finally.
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| Another successful journey. |
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