Dub's at the Pub- An air cooled event.
21 February 2011
VW?s had a great day at the pub, but I had no idea it was going to be a BBQ there as well!
Super hot day and apart from the owners, not one overheating drama to be seen!
The annual pilgrimage of all manner of German air cooled machinery was put together by the crew from the Bad Little Buggers VW club. Hundreds of VW?s poured in from all over the state for a big show and BBQ at the Big Fish Pub in Caboolture. I say BBQ due to the heat of the day.. The radio news officially said it was the hottest day in Queensland this year, I had a fellow tell me the read out on the dash of his late model Golf was 39 degrees in the car park.. No wonder it was melting thongs!
Big fan of these early vans, Mum got her driving licence in her families one, back in the sixties. 
Ahh the interior of a 23 window Samba.. as good as it gets.
Did I mention the camper "love-in" they were having down the back?
After seeing our girl Casey almost pass out from giving out Gel Wash samples in the heat, I am sure he was about right! After midday it was only the most hardcore fanatics still in the car park, checking out the cars, chatting about semaphores and scat engines, with the more sensible having already headed into the relative cool of the air conditioned pub. A few of our facebook and chrome club crew came and said hello, hiding from the suns rays in our tent, everyone having a ball looking at the different cars (and owners!) despite the days heat.
Poor Casey overheated, but still kept smiling, even with the melting thongs..
Pretty much every model of beetle, except the really early split window types was on show.
My favourite oval of the meeting.
Still, the heat aside it was a great event, a multitude of different cars turned up from pristine 23 window Samba vans, to a bunch of very cool ?rat rod? beetles, that shows the diversity of the VWs and their owners! One Oval rat rod beetle was perhaps my favourite car of the day, as rough as it looked (Would never be able to sell him our wax on the freshly rusted body) you could see the attention the owner had placed into getting her to look so ?ratty?.
Rat Rodding has really made it's ways into the VW culture too.
Not sure how much car care these guys will be needing from us...
My other favourite of the day, lots of detail in making her ratty!
Yep, sticker says it all!
We took our 356 Carrera coupe along, not at all out of place being air cooled, remembering the VW origins of Porsche. Three other ?A? models from the Queensland 356 registry came along too, biggest grouping of this one model I have seen in years. Talking with registry member Greg Riddel, I was surprised to hear that he had over 100 356?s on his books that lived in Qld now.. Amazing! It?s a wonder we do not see more on the roads?
A rare wash with water for the Carrera, which is OK, as it is about to be taken for a drive!
356's Porsches were well represented.
You can notice the shade of difference between our white carrera on the left and the ivory 356 next to it.
I really am not one to talk about getting the cars out and about on the roads as It had been at least 2 years since I last drove the Carrera. Lots of excuses, but mainly due to always being a bit busy.
It was a very refreshing run down to the event and an all "air cooled affair"- just open the sun roof, front and rear windows, divert the wind wings into the cabin and let it cool you down...You really would not have known it was such a hot day. Engine temp did not budge either, so who says these early cars are made for just the colder european conditions..
To relive this drive over and over... Must be what heaven will be like. :)
The race bred Carrera engine is a real honey, does not get warm, beautiful even power and sounds a treat once it comes on song over the 4000rpm mark.
A lovely drive there and back, I will have to make a point of getting her out of the shed more often.
Love being air cooled,
Dan
