One of the things I enjoy the most when walking around a vintage car show such as the Freddy Files event at Ninove in Belgium, is seeing all the various little details or contrasts in style that can be found, the juxtaposition of vintage versus modern, original versus restored or simply the subtle versus the in your face looks that are often on display. Although to be fair, if you look at my Instagram or Flickr feeds, you will see that more often than not, it is the detail to be found in everyday life that fascinates me and draws the attention of my lense most anytime!
Like on this original paint Split Screen bus, I loved the tiny attention to detail to blend in the Union Jack with the overall aged look of the bus…
…as opposed to the stand out simplicity and boldness of taking a vintage Volkswagen Split screen bus, and giving it a contemporary monochromatic grey paint scheme. The result is a very subtle, yet really stylish looking bus!
One of my favourite campers at the show was the beautifully battle-scarred, White over Mouse grey sub hatch Westfalia camper. I loved the way it wore its battle scars on its sleeve and carried its aged exterior with pride.
Equally I loved the curved, sensuous lines of the T34 Karmann Ghia ‘Razor Edge’ headlight detail, such beautiful organic styling, barely a straight line in sight! Really loving the contrasting yellow headlight lenses too, fast becoming a trend I suspect!
Then look at the vast array of wheel size and design on display. Some serious effort and time went into getting these full polished Porsche Fuchs with their detailed centre cap ready to roll on…
…but equally I really liked to see the modern trend of almost luminous coloured wheels applied to these solid steels that this vintage VW Beetle was sporting, a nice little twist!
Seeing the clean and simple lines of this deluxe Beetle dash with its beautiful vintage radio reminded me of my much missed early Ragtop beetle…
…but if you like simplicity, then the Flandria moped speedo certainly epitomised it, but with an added dash of aged patina!
There were lots of various ‘hot’ engines on display, unfortunately way above my pay grade or understand to fully appreciate their complexity, however visually stunning they appeared. However, one engine that caught my eye was this fairly stock looking flat 4 air cooled unit in the back of a Beetle, I just liked the way it had been stripped back to bare metal and cleaned up to give a fairly urban industrial look with its satin/natural gun-metal grey appearance, simple but effective styling.
All in all, the Freddy Files event in Ninove was a great first introduction to European VW shows, that both my friend Ollie and I really enjoyed. I think it really benefitted from being in the urban context of Ninove itself as opposed to being in some remote location, and it was great to have such a warm welcome from the town itself who really seemed to embrace the event. Looks like I might need to book this event into the calendar as a regular show to go to! Roll on 2015!
