The Cal-look Lounge

Well with the advent of Facebook, Instagram etc, I’m not sure if big wordy posts are the thing anymore, so my apologies for what could be a bit wordy. You can always just scroll through for the pics  ;D

In January this year Richie dropped me a message asking whether I fancied going to the 50th Anniversay show for 67 beetles in Brussels. Now when I built my beetle I kind of built it for me to have a laugh with and maybe go to a couple of local shows with the family, but this seemed to be a great opportunity to see some great cars and indulge in a few Belgium beers. So after chatting with Richie and then contacting Hans (whose also on here) a plan was hatched, a ferry ride from Newcastle to Amsterdam, a drive to meet Hans and his mates then cruise down to Belgium…..easy money. So the ferry was booked, I fannied about until about a month to go, then decided to have a look at my bug make sure it was ready to go after a winters inactivity. Putting the bug up on axle stands suddenly opened up a few surprises that resulted in me rebuilding the front beam and spraying dinitrol around like a loon. However it was all good to go……wasn’t it?

With two weeks to go the weather had cleared up enough to get out for a few test miles….5 miles later heading into the busiest roundabout in my area, the sweat sound of silence echoed around the car. From roaring 48s to utter silence and an artic truck up my arse suddenly made me pap myself. As it turned out the winter off hadn’t been good to the fuel pump and it had seized. Phone calls to Donald (DTH) Kara and Daz Chandler for some metaphorical hand holding and I solved the problem ordered and swapped the pump and all systems were go.  I should mention during all this I was pestering the Micheal Walvravens about tickets and generally worrying…chapeau for putting up with me.

So 5th May rolled around, I headed to the ferry, in a couple of hours I was on board and sipping a beer. Next morning the car was where I’d left it despite a little North Sea swell during the night, then it was off the ferry and heading down to meet Hans, this is where having a US 67 was a bonus, and for the first time in 4 years I was driving it on the correct side of the road. During the planning phase (a few messenger messages between myself and Hans) we’d decided on pancakes and windmills  before heading too Brussels. So an hours drive down to Hans and I was suddenly remembering that the Dutch are a massive people, particularly when I met JP and Hans again, I was going to be dwarfed for the weekend.

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After a quick coffee it was time to head out with both of Hans ‘67s and mine, some great pics were taken of the cars at KinderDijk. Then after a car swap and  JP picking up his, it was time for pancakes all round and time to head south and meet up with Rob Hongens, Nicola and the Painter. The drive down was deafening, especially the tunnel runs, I must remember ear plugs for next time. After negotiating a Brussels traffic jam and a car elevator to get into the Hotel car park, it was time for some site seeing, some food and some Belgium beers.

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Next morning was an early rise, breakfast, negotiate the hotel car lift and head to meet everyone.

I can’t say enough for the quality of the rest of the day, I really can’t. From the moment we arrived it was such a welcoming atmosphere, meeting people I’ve only ever chatted to on forums, everyone sharing an excitement at each others cars, then the organisation of the event. The initial venue was one the roof of a VW garage attached to the D’Leteren Galley, with a welcome speech, breakfast of croissant and coffee and guided tour of the gallery, and the goodie bags. Not often are you stunned by the quality of the cars outside, then walk inside to find cars like a Lamborghini Muira and Autounion 1930s race cars sitting around.


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After this is was onto a tour of Brussels with a break for a quick Chimay before heading to the Atomium for the main show. The tour was a good test of suspension on the Brussels cobbles and the clutch with amount of traffic lights. The most bizarre sight was seeing the Japanese tourists suddenly turning their cameras from taking pics of the famous Manneken Pis statue to taking pics of us as we roared past twin 48s blatting off the wall. Pretty soon we headed to the Atomium and a rest for my left leg.

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The rest of the day was awesome seeing some fantastic cars, eyeing up a set of original BRMs on a sublime red Cal looker ( I really must learn to remember peoples names) and the Lil Bastard 67 which you could spend all day looking at and still not pick up on every detail. There are many more, the DFL guys, Fabian (Speedwell) again cars which I’ve only seen on the internet. Too soon the day was over and it was time to drive back to Hans place, and also say goodbye to JP, Rob and Nicola and the Painter. A huge pizza and ice cream rounded off an awesome weekend and I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

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The next day I left Hans and his wife and headed to the ferry, deciding to drop in too Delft for some sightseeing I managed to lock my keys in the car. Much panic, a knife borrowed from a coffee shop and I managed to get back in. Then it was the easy task of getting on the ferry, putting my feet up and having a beer.

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I can’t thanks Hans and his wife enough for putting me up for the night and for putting up with me  :).  JP, Rob and Nicola for taking the time to speak English for my benefit, it was greatly appreciated. The guys who organised it all and made it possible, for €20 it was a bargain, it certainly made the trip from Newcastle very worth while. I’ll be back for a Bug in when my son is old enough,…and finally Wim….good to finally meet you buddy. Also thanks to all that helped in building my bug  :)

Rob

fantastic post and great story, you've a great car and even better that your using it, the vw community is normally really good especially the europeans.

Enjoy

Russell

As someone who does NOT do F/B or any of that jazz . . . THANKS for posting this!
Great photos . . . and yer '67 looks awesome!  8)

Thank-you, Rob, for posting this, looks to have been an awesome weekend.

Andrew

Many thanks guys as I said it was a great weekend, and just what i hoped it would be when I set out.

Here are a few more pics of the weekend

Oh and i managed to get a prize from Ican, which was a nice surprise

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Looks like you had a great time,

 Its been a few years since I've done a trip of that lenght. Thanks for giving me some inspiration to do it again .

Btw your car is a peach, great job.  8)

Was a nice event to see al those '67 together.
People came from a long way for this the first time:england,frane,germany,italie...
I was there with my black '67.
Did i not see you looking for your keys in brussel as well,when you thought you left them in your car and somebody found them in the trunk?

Henk!!!

Nice write up, and I wish I was brave enough to take my car that far! With regards to the keys,  my old 67 handles were so worn that you could get in with any key. Front door, padlock, anything. I even used a teaspoon once, and the arm of my sunglasses worked too...

It was great, to be fair I was a bit worried something would go wrong,.....

Many thanks


I saw your black '67 it looked lovely.

Yes that was me looking for my keys, they were in the boot, (trunk) thankfully Hans noticed that i hadn't closed it properly, or i'd have been locked out...again


I took out AA cover just in case, I could have done with your locks thats for sure  ;D

Nice write up. Far better to read this than looking at a batch of pics on FB without any text and stories  ;)
Thanks

Looks like you had a great time , nice write up , and congrats on picking up an award  :)

Great report, enjoyed the pics and reading!

Thanks for taking the time to write that report! It seems that you had a great time.

Tobi

Great write up, and fantastic pics. A taste of the event for those of us who couldn't make it.

Thanks for that

Was a blast for us 67 drivers.... Was good to have you over Rob  ;)

It was nice to meet you Rob,and it was a great weekend.
But you know:Cal-look guys are Always oke.

JeePee, TheHanz, you should have given me a shout  when you were in Kinderdijk could have come to look at you guys than.  ;D
Looks like a nice trip you guys had.... cool.

Sorry Eddie,too late.
now you have to waith for 50 years.LOL.

Nice small pic of your car in hot Vw's this month rob

Thanks Russell, just ordered a copy, thanks for the heads up

It appears i've been scuppered by photobucket,  


Edit hopefully migrated now

Great report, great pictures and a nice road trip!
It keeps The Lounge alive.

cheers,

Dem