Volkswagen Camper & Commercial – May 2019

I

t all starts for us Brits early

Saturday morning, with the

official ‘UK cruise to Ninove’

meeting bright and early in

Calais, then convoying all the way

to the Witkap Brewery. In spite of

Eurotunnel’s best efforts to put us

behind, spirits remained high and

we arrived at the half way point 85

strong. It was an impressive sight

indeed, over a mile of cool VWs,

uninterrupted, nose to tail snaking

along pretty much as far as the eye

could see!

Whilst refueling both cars and

people, the cruise sponsors took a

look around to decide on the lucky

prize recipients. We had our own

‘Spirit of the Cruise’ trophy, two

VW Heritage choices, Hayburner

Magazine choice, the Californian

Classics trophy and the Buttys Bits

favourite.

Having picked up more cruisers

at Jabekke, we set off for the final

leg to the Witkap Brewery to enjoy

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS: OLLIE DYER & GEZ ENSINE

This year Freddy was celebrating his twenty-second ‘Freddy Files’, a

solely air-cooled event of unique style and magnitude in his home

town of Ninove, Belgium.

Freddy’s hospitality with local

beer, food, local beer, music, local

beer and of course a shed load of

air-cooled VW’s. The afternoon is a

great time to catch up with friends,

make some new ones and enjoy the

historic brewery. After settling in we

had a small award ceremony for the

cruise trophies and distributed the

limited-edition cruise t-shirts to the

lucky winners.

Amy Gordon won the ‘Spirit of the

Cruise’ with her slammed late bay

panel rolling on polished Design 90

wheels. We loved everything about

this bus and were blown away by it

the minute we saw it rolling into the

Bonjour Services.

The first VW Heritage award

went to an absolutely bonkers

Jürgen’s Autovilla, a 25th

anniversary edition slammed over

gold banded steel wheels which

looked like it was straight out of the

hot-wheels catalogue. The second

VW Heritage award went to a slick

grey Ghia rolling repo Cosmic

Wheels owned by Martyn Dunstan

looking great on the move.

The California Classics trophy

went to Neil ‘all the ghia and

no idea’ Camp a self-confessed

newcomer to the scene. What he

lacks in knowledge he makes up in

enthusiasm with his sea blue and

white 1964 T34 Razor Edge Ghia.

The Hayburner choice went to

a sublime unrestored black early

Beetle cab, a real survivor from

1958 owned by James de Ath. This

beautiful gem was tucked around the

side of one of the brewery buildings

almost out of sight behind a Jürgen’s

Autovilla. Finally, the Buttys Bits

1: Porsche wheel

paradise: Jonny

Hunt’s Bay Panel

sports Porsche

Wintercuts; Amy

Gordon’s Panel has

Porsche Design 90

wheels

2: If it’s a classic

show, this SA spec

custom Doka will be

there!

3: Buttys Bits trophy

went to a super

slammed Ghia on

Porsche Cookie

Cutters, owned by

Tom Watts

4: Tim Sansom’s

super slammed bug

5: Cruise leader

6: Just time for a last

fuel stop!

7: Paul Medhurst’s

body dropped 14

window bus

8: Neil ‘all the

ghia and no idea’

celebrates winning

the California

Classics trophy with

his 1964 T34 Razor

Edge Ghia.

9: Just love those

clean lines and rake

The main event comes is

difficult to imagine unless you

have seen it for yourself, the

entire town is transformed by

an air-cooled takeover

Sexy Semaphore

Sunday

1

34 SHOWwww.volkswagencamper.co.ukS

SHOWNINOVE 2019S