trophy went to a super slammed red
type 1 Ghia owned by Tom Watts
which in spite of a few technical
hiccups en-route completed the
journey and looked incredible laid
out on black Porsche Cookie Cutter
wheels.
Once things finally wound down
at the brewery everyone headed to
various hotels or into the town centre
to set up camp on the streets where
the air-cooled spectacle always draws
smiles from the slightly bemused
locals. The evening brings Freddy’s
meal at Bar Resto for good food and
company (and local beer) followed
by the afterparty at the T’Cafe where
world famous funk enthusiasts Steve
Gilbert and Mick Tattersal were ably
spinning the tunes.
The main event comes on Sunday
and is difficult to imagine unless
you have seen it for yourself, the
entire town is transformed by an air-
cooled takeover! All regular vehicles
are cleared from the streets to be
replaced by 600+ cool VWs! Imagine
this... every single street lined with
air-cooled vw’s and what a sight, it
is, a truly amazing spectacle!
This year’s theme was ‘Sexy
Semaphore Sunday’ and we were
treated to a line-up of semaphore-
equipped cars along the main street
as we entered the show. We were
quickly shown to a space and for us
the show could begin!
We spent a good few hours10: Amy Gordon
won the ‘Spirit of
the Cruise’ with her
slammed late bay
panel rolling on
polished Porsche
Design 90 wheels
11: The cruise starts
to form up after
disembarking at
Calais
12: Deadhaus Crew
13: Night time is
party time!
14: Check out that
stance on Terry
Settle’s Cabriolet
15: Ben Strong’s ratty
double door panel
16: Fully original
Westy SO 23...would
you preserve or
restore?
17: Narrowed and
slammed meets
original paint and
patinawandering the streets checking
everything out, snapping pics and
chatting to owners. There were cars
of every style, variant and type, and
just when you thought you’d seen
everything you turn a corner and are
faced with another street lined with
more diverse and colourful VW’s!
A small swap meet broke up the
car spotting and many visits to the
food vans and the Kweenony DJ bus
keeping us fed and entertained.
Without exception this is a
spectacularly diverse show with all
styles represented from super-stock,
to full Cal-look to patina to stuff
that doesn’t have a genre. Attendees
come from across France, Germany,
Switzerland, Netherlands and of
course the UK which is what makes
this event so interesting and worth
the effort to attend. The best of
show was snagged by a beautiful
traditional Cal look split Beetle from
France, with our own Karl Fennel
taking a top 15 place with his 1960
Mango split bus.
At about 4pm the show winds
down and people start to head off
for the journey home, we made good
time back to the channel tunnel to
be greeted by a two-hour delay on
our crossing.
We’ll be going again next year
(if the borders are open!) keep an
eye on our social media pages @
ukcruisetoninove on Instagram and
Facebook where next year’s dates
will be released.
See you in Calais!192018: Given the
custom styling going
on here I’m not
sure the patina is
genuine...?
19: The Hayburner
choice went to a
sublime unrestored
black early Beetle
cab, a real survivor
from 1958 owned by
James de Ath
20: An absolutely
bonkers Jürgen’s
Autovilla slammed
over gold banded
steel wheels won the
VW Heritage awardhttp://www.volkswagencamper.co.ukSHOWS^37
NINOVE 2019SHOWS