For those that missed the first ever Grill-n-Chill VW show at Exted Farm in Kent over 17-18 September, well it was  a corker! The grillin’ was provided by the burger flippers in the food tent and the chillin’ was definitely the laidback atmosphere created by VDub enthusiasts from all walks of life, including those that turned up in their trusty steeds from France and Germany.

Heavily supported by the aircooled fraternity, there were a huge selection of vans from the early splitties, bays, right up to T4s and T5s, some modified and others left rat look, plus Bugs, Type 4s and Type 3 Squarebacks. Wayne Callaway’s gorgeous 1967 splitscreen camper lowered on Drayton wire wheels took ‘Best in Show’ over in the show and shine arena (which he bought in 1997 as a wreck for just £1500!). It’s now worth £25k and he’s spent at least £40,000 over the years getting it to the standard it is today.

As well as club and happy camper areas, there were traders and plenty of activities to keep the youngsters entertained for the weekend jolly. Anyhow if they misbehaved you could have always put them in a Zorb ball or lost them on the camper-shaped bouncy castle…

We even found time to explore the venue as on site were Volks Farmers VW spares – there were plenty of old skool campers and Type 4s in varying conditions, some perfect for a restoration, although others had already been reclaimed by vegetation! It was an Aladdin’s Cave of aircooled madness and a mecca for happy snappers.

For a first show we think the organisers did well to try and accommodate a huge cross-section of the VW community. There’s promises of a bigger and better round two next year already.