Volksworld Plus Show 2024: Photo Gallery

It's a few days since the doors closed at Sandown Park, and the surrounding chaos from the biggest show of the season has died down. Join us as we reflect upon our weekend at Volksworld Plus 2024 including our favourite cars, who we saw and what we got up to.  

The big headline for 2024 was the partnership with sister magazines Performance VW and Classic Porsche, alongside established Transporter title VWT, which meant a broader spectrum of VW and Porsche-based machinery could be expected, and this included retro watercooled VW models such as the Mk1 Golf, which celebrates its 50th birthday this year. 

Whilst a few grumbles were heard about it not being purely vintage VW anymore, the quality of cars representing the visiting tribes was very much up to scratch. 

From your arrival at Sandown Park, and clocking our iconic Single Cab parked on the roundabout, you'd have had to walk around with your eyes closed to avoid spotting a Heritage banner, flag or member of the team at the show. As headline sponsor, this is an event we care deeply about, and ensure we take as many of our team as possible to experience it with us. Firstly for them to have a good time, but secondly, to get out from behind their desks and meet the enthusiasts and specialists they spend all day helping. 

This year our focus display in the Brasserie area was in conjunction with the excellent Back to '89 club, run by Stu Betty. If you haven't read the article about New Wave VWs, Shows, Cars and Shops it's a great story of how the UK aircooled VW scene has evolved in the past 40 years. 

With a lot of hard work from Stu, we were able to display cars representing many eras of Volkslore history, from the late eighties through to the mid-noughties, and a couple of new builds which were very much in keeping with the much loved 'New Wave' custom style. One build was so customised, having been widened by 10 inches at the rear, it wouldn't fit through the doors to sit with the others! 

We had a couple of special guests on the Heritage stand over the weekend... You may have spotted them. The first was the Type 2 Detectives Barn Door bus, which we've been collaborating on as part of their T2DTV YouTube series. Not only did it look splendid with the recently applied signwriting, but it was also a great place to display our collection of SSP wheels!

The second guest was none other than Mr Bubblehead a.k.a Jay Townsend, the man behind the legendary Billabug and Thump! Thump! who built the Targa Beetles. He was raising money in support of Great Ormand Street Hospital, where his daughter has been and is still being treated. If you missed the chance but would like to donate you can do so here. 

Another collaboration that made it into the hallowed halls was this shorty Bay Window belonging to Kaz Collins from Surrey Auto Works. We've been working with Kaz on a few projects recently, and it was wonderful to see Sid the Kid popping a wheelie for all to see. It wasn't plain sailing by any means - give their YouTube channel a watch and find out about the accident damage just weeks before the show, which so very nearly kept him back at workshop. 

To bring more interactive entertainment to the show, Heritage CEO, Barney, wanted to present our popular vehicle buyers guides from the blog, live in front of showgoers. In collaboration with Paul from Type 2 Detectives and Kaz from Surrey Auto Works these were presented twice daily in the red brick area. With an hour dedicated to Beetle, and another later in the day to Bus, this gave potential buyers the chance to be guided on what to look for and ask questions of the experts, with a reference vehicle right there in front of them. 

It's not easy to get up and speak in front of an audience, but after a few minutes, we all settled into it, and feel these talks brought some great value to the show. If you stopped by to watch we hope you felt so too. If you missed it, we recorded each one live for Facebook, and you can watch them back here.  

Proving that variety really is the spice of show life, let us share a few of the more unusual sights from the show below. From a pair of uber rare Rometsch Lawrence models, through to a fabulous 356 powered Tempo Matador and some vintage VW percularities thrown in for good measure, we love this kind of stuff! 

There is still plenty of love for the People's Car, with many different takes and styles, from a faithful restoration of a pre-war KdFwagen through to Cal-Look, Custom and Baja. 

Each year we reserve some space on the Grandstand for members of our Heretics community to display their vehicles. With an aircooled VW theme on Saturday and a Retro VW and Porsche entry requirement on the Sunday, it was great to make new friends and catch up with customers and check out their projects in the flesh. Thanks to Gez, Thomas, Alex and Kurt for coming down on Saturday and Gavin, Robin, Gary and Dave for displaying with us on Sunday. 

Whilst the show has displayed Porsche models before, never had it amassed quite the collection as in 2024 for Volksworld Plus. The jury is out on whether they should all be parked together in one room, or mixed in amongst everything else, but it certainly brought an extra element to the show. Concours condition coupes to barn find survivor Speedsters, there was lots to tickle your Stuttgart crested fancy. 

Sunday in the Grandstand area was a chance for watercooled VWs to become part of the show for the first time. It's safe to say the weather and M25 closures put a few owners off, but there was still some great metal on display, and hopefully, this inclusivity (just like our Heretics events) can continue to grow. 

Campervans, panel vans, pickups and more. The Type 2 and its derivatives continue to be immensley popular, and there were countless wonderful examples competiting for your attention. 

With heavy rainfall for what seemed like forever this year, the T4 / T5 / T6 display was down on numbers, with only a select few risking the sodden grass as their chosen parking spot. But there were still some great-looking vans on display.

Announced on Sunday afternoon, the biggest award of the weekend went to a Razor Edge Ghia belonging to Paul Warman and built by Spike's Vintage Restorations. What an amazing car, and a very worthy winner. 

Here are a few more cars and specific details that caught our eye. 

Wrapping up our show coverage, we'd like to give a shout out to Aurelie and her partner Nico, who won the 'Builders Choice' award for their Barndoor bus. Having driven over from their home in France, they were a last-minute addition to the show, but clearly, Nico's workmanship caught the eye of the judging team. 

Rather than drop the mic and simply walk away, let us remind you that our Heretics events start back up again in April 2024. Check out all the details on our blog here. 

We hope you can make it... 

Thanks to everyone for making Volksworld Plus such a fun weekend. It was great to work alongside the organisation team, and lovely to see so many customers, catch up with friends and make new ones, plus check out tons of cool cars. Here's to the rest of the 2024 show season.

Andy