We were very pleased to recieve this guest entry from Johnny Somersett about the rise of interest in Estate cars.  So without further ado...

Now, a lot of us following the retro car scene may be used to the feeling that we possibly are driving a car that would be better suited to our father, grandfather or even great grandfather, and may well have had people comment on the fact that our choice of transport is more befitting of one of the, how should I put it, 'more mature' members of society. Generally, we are not ashamed of this affinity, and in more recent years, certain factions of our scene have come to appreciate this and actively seek it out in tribute to the gentle nuances and the notable love and care that people used to have for their vehicles - which is, in itself, testament to how many of our cars are here purely because of their owners dedication and sense of value they held to their cars that is often so lacking in today’s 'throw away society'.

So what is the ultimate in 'O.A.P.' chic? Beaded seat covers? Leather driving gloves? Doilies!? Well, none of these are complete without a gentle, respectful, silver-headed nod in the direction of our long suffering workhorses - the family's choice - the humble estate car.

Born out of practicality and the growing need of modern man to ferry around three children, a wife, a dog and a weekends worth of deck chairs, camping equipment, straw hats and picnic, the estate came into our world with no bravado or frills. But it's still here...and I for one am glad.

The first estates (or station wagons, depending from where you reside) followed not long after the first cars really. Around 1914, 'Depot Hacks' were starting to be produced as the forerunner of the 'enclosed estates' we know of today.

Picture from : Dick Taylor, San Diego

From their humble beginnings of being considered a cumbersome commercial vehicle, station wagons evolved quickly into an everyday sight and option to 20th century drivers. Widely considered as second-choice over a saloon or coupe variant due to the 'practicality over style' considerations, estates had a bad name with the car modification scene for a long time. This, thankfully, is no longer the case!

For a while now, but very much more so in recent years, more and more people are turning to a retro vehicles estate counterpart for inspiration and enjoyment. 50's & 60's American station wagons are going through a massive resurgence in the U.K. hot rodders scene at the moment. Not just as another base for modification but often as a viable, practical form of family transport - but with the added bonus of undeniable 'cool' factor. It certainly makes a change from the sea of clean 4x4's outside the nursery gates at the final bell!





Also estates are more and more being used for other movements of our retro scene. Lowriders, drag cars, track weapons, or just plain cool old school cruisers are all getting the treatment - with the added bonus of being able to get that old mattress down the dump on a weekend!


Picture from : vwkombi.com

Its an evolving trend all over the world, on all the four corners of the globe. The Japanese, for example, are fast becoming excellent exponents of the modified wagon, taking influences from the U.S.A. and the ever growing Mooneyes movement that has now firmly established itself as an Asian-owned but world-led establishment. Have a cruise over the excellent www.mooneyes.co.jp website or the visually stunning Street Van & Wagon Magazine for a taste of what is happening with our Pacific comrades.


Picture By : Stuart Izzard

The world would be a boring place if all we had were two-door saloons, or pillarless coupes - of which many groups of enthusiasts seem to silently 'require' in order to show appreciation of an excellent retro car. So, next time you're squeezing in that replacement crushed velour interior into the back seats of a Chevette or shoehorning your new rims and bumpers into the back of an Allegro - just think how much easier it'd be with a wagon.

 

 

In recent years three nations have been credited for creating the most inspirational and most talked about looks and styles in the car modification world. The German’s brought us not only the Euro look but also some of the first ‘Rat’ cars. The American’s took Rat to the next level thanks to the Hoodride crew, who at the time were a small community with a love for all things low and air-cooled. The Hoodride look soon became a worldwide phenomenon with cars from all over sporting the now iconic stencil. The American’s have also brought us Donk’s and DUB’s, although neither of these have had quite as much an effect as Hoodride (unless you’re a Footballer running a Lincoln Navigator on 22” Chromes) both have had enough significant coverage to become common knowledge to the everyday modder. Finally we have the Japanese. Where do you start? The Japanese modified scene is probably responsible for more trends and styles than any single country on the planet in recent years. Ask someone ten years ago what the JDM look was and they would look at you blankly. It’s the same with Bosozuku and to a lesser extent possibly the Drift cars, no one outside of a hardcore circle of Japanese car culture fans knew what these terms meant or stood for. However in 2008 the Japanese modified scene is a big deal, not just in its homeland but all over the western world too.

 

However, while all this has been going on there has been another country calmly going about its business in making some of the most awe-inspiring cars in the world. This is a country that’s main claim to fame is that it makes nice chocolates and a half decent pint to go with them. That’s right; it’s Belgium, possibly the only country on the planet that is notorious for being a bit boring. That is until you discover this little countries modified scene.

In recent years Belgium has slowly gained a reputation amongst both the Air and Water-Cooled Volkswagen scenes for building some of the most finest and tasteful creations around. But it’s not only the VW’s that are in on the action, the Belgian’s will tackle anything from Renault’s, Peugeot’s and Citroen’s to Ford’s, Opel’s and Audi’s.

 

The main look here is low and smooth, very smooth. If it sticks out the Belgian’s will smooth it, let’s just say badges aren’t a big deal here.

This is known as the ‘Cleaned’ look. The most common candidates for this kind of treatment tend to be modern euro-hatches such as Opel Corsa’s and Peugeot 206’s, as the smooth and low look compliments their curvy styling well.

So is it all about modern superminis? Oh no, the Belgian’s will turn their hands to anything, with big German saloon’s becoming increasingly popular. Again, it’s all about the smoothing with these bigger cars but coupled up with larger wheels and more often than not air-ride to get their barge down to optimum lowness.

 

 

However, as you’ve logged onto this site, you’re probably wondering where the retro content is? Well you’ve guessed it; the Belgian’s do a good line in the older side of things too. They’re probably best known for their air-cooled work having built some of the lowest vintage Volkswagen’s around, many of which feature some of the rarest accessories and extra’s around. Because of this many UK based VW enthusiasts have been making trips to the mainland in search of that elusive, super rare part that has been eluding them making Belgium the air-cooled Mecca.

Not into air-cooled stuff? Well then you might like some of the early water-cooled motors instead. It’s kept simple here, obviously as low as possible and with small, wide wheels and very little else. The body work is kept pretty simple and original with subtle arch rolling to tuck those wide rims in being the only major modification. Again rare and original period parts are high on the agenda. Something like a complete and original interior can gain you serious ‘scene points’ here.

 

 

All in all, Belgium has become a serious player in the ever-moving modified car world. More and more people are starting to turn to this small, unassuming country for their inspiration, especially in the UK’s French car scene who seem to be finding the Belgian’s approach particularly refreshing after years of plastic clad Citroen’s and Peugeot’s. The ‘Cleaned’ look certainly looks set to stay and for me that can only be a good thing, the more immaculately prepared and tastefully modified cars we start building over here the better.

All pictures taken from the fantastic Cleaned.be make sure you go and check it out!

Or maybe it should be titled 'How one thread changed the retro world'.  Rmad is fond of his time machine, mine isn't quite as good, more of a Bond Bug than a Deloreon, so it doesn't go back as far.  However that being said it can take you to a vastly different time, a time when the term Bosozoku was virtually unknown, an innocent time.

Today I will give you the story of how one thread changed the retro scene.  All the way back in April 2004 there was a thriving Japanese car scene quietly grooving along doing its own thing.  In the US this centred around the Datsun 510, which had a legacy from motorsport over there.  In Europe the 240Z and 260Z had its fans and there was a small but dedicated following for other Datsuns.  The Toyota AE86 was growing in popularity and value world wide off the back of the rising interest in drifting.  So there was already a ground swell of interest in Japanese cars, which was starting to float into the general consciousness of the regular retro fan.



If left like this then I have no doubt that interest would have gradually risen.  Something else happened.  A couple of days into 2004 someone went to a car meeting in a service stop at Diakoku in Yokohama, Japan, and they took some photos, four months later they put up a thread on VWvortex to show off his pictures.  That was all, but it was everything.

Here is that thread : http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1364258&page=1 titled : I'm back Part IV - Old School JDM-ness at Daikoku and even Bosozoku!!! (56k, go make a sandwich)

The thread contained images of cars that a lot of people had never seen before, what’s more it contained images of cars modified in a style that even more people had never seen before.  Some were amazed, some fascinated, some disgusted.  Everyone had a reaction.  VWvortex has a popular forum, a very popular forum, but the posting on there alone wouldn't have been enough to spark a fire of interest across the scene.  What happened next was that this thread gradually filtered out and got linked to on other forums and blogs.  Suddenly every forum you went into had this link, from Australia to the Ukraine, VW forums, Japanese car forums, drift forums, Alfa Romeo forums.  It was everywhere.



Suitably inspired people went off to find out what it was all about, to find more pictures of this type of car.  Each gallery discovered heralded more links to explore and fish our way around, clicking on everything because we couldn't speak Japanese.  In addition to finding more picture of Bosozoku style cars a lot of people also discovered the more restrained style of modifications, what is commonly called shakotan style, so started posting those up, particularly when people were ridiculing the bosozoku style.



Each time these things got posted they often required a little explination and soon the scene became aware of terms like bosozoku, grachan (originally incorrectly called garuchan), shakotan and even decotora.  Suitably inspired people have started building rides in this style outside of Japan.  Other people had their eyes drawn to the shakotan style cars and have gone out and bought cars to build.  The general profile of older Japanese cars has risen and the speed of its rise can, at least in part, be attributed to a single thread.



So next time you are out and about taking photos of interesting things, you never know what fire you might spark!

The original directory of images is here as well as a second set here 

 

 

PS: If "VadGTI" ever reads this; Thank you!

 

Take a look at this picture:  

Depending on your interests there's a few points that might grab you. Old school BMX fans will have no doubt spotted ex-BMX legend and MOBO boss Andy Ruffell polishing off a pint, others may have been instantly scanning the street for early Estelles and Maxis but that's not the reason I'm posting it. Check out that T25! Some original livery can make an otherwise bland ride something really special - how much would you want to roll up at Bug Jam, Vanfest or even the Backyard Jam in that beauty? To take things further, how about a replica complete with appropriate aging and the occasional rat-look inspired detail? A couple of old school Mongooses (Mongeese?!) on the roof rack, faded paint, the obligatory lowered stance and maybe a set of BMX inspired rims; some five-spokes painted to look like (Skyway) Tuffs or Moon discs with a Motomag stencil! Perhaps you could apply the same principal to another vehicle...a Kuwahara Honda Acty (with a white to burgundy fade paint scheme from the ET bike!) would rule!

 

Finds

You might find the original Ammaco/Mongoose team bus, but it's unlikely. That's not to say that liveried vans aren't out there, find the right one and it could be your admission to the VIP room reserved for retro heroes. These guys are inside right now, sipping champagne delivered by busty bunny-girls: 

Q-Vans

The perfect disguise - Robin Beardmore's inconceivably cool GPO van replica packed a Fiat Twin Cam, but could've easily performed duties on the set of Heartbeat. Incidentally this van went on to win the 'Street Machine of the year' award albeit in it's later guise as a new-school turquoise roadster pick up. Take a trip to www.beardmorebros.com for the full story.

 

Something's Not Quite Right Here....

Taking Robin's example above and adding a humourous or clever twist might get you in our fictitious VIP room too, like the Rover V8 powered 'Royal Male' van, or the 'Bun In The Oven' pro-street MKIII Escort: 

I've always fancied a nose-in-the-air Bedford HA van with 'British Gasser' on the side!

 

Not Just Vans

There's no reason why you should restrict your ideas to just commercial vehicles, a 'Croydon Social Services' MKIII Escort Estate would still get you noticed. This Japanese Carina wears original fire service livery: 

Get your thinking caps on, and get into the VIP room. Whether you resist re-painting that barn find or mock up a humourous rat-wagon rollin' with the retro scene's A list could be just one cleverly executed idea away.

 

Almost nothing can give more satisfaction than alliterative headlines.  Nothing that is except for some highly modified Morris Minors.

If there is one particular model of car that will be having a resurgence this year it will defiantly be the humble Morris Minor.  Not only is it celebrating its 60th birthday, but it seems there is an arms race on in the modifying community to turn out Morris Minors of epic proportion.

There are a few already floating around John Beardmore's Fiat Twincam powered hill climber is already the stuff of legend


Along side that we have Retro Rides forum member MotherOfGod's wicked black creation


Here it is in action.


There are another couple of wild builds joining them this year.  Cliff B's 200SX/Minor hybrid has been famous since forever, it is possible it'll be finished this year, but we know he isn't going to rush things to just keep his waiting public happy.


Recently the other half of the Beardmore Brothers, Robin, started building a new Minor.  This project has finally broken cover and now has a build up page on the Beardmore's site.  It's a Minor/MX5 hybrid, in much the same way as Cliff's car it is requiring a lot of fabrication, will it be out and about this year?  The build up is looking promising.


So there we have a handful of high powered Minors, but where are the custom ones?  Surely whatever works on a Beetle will work with a Minor?  They are cheap and plentiful, easy to work on and have a great owners club who are supportive of the modifying side of their hobby.  What’s not to love?  What else is lurking out there ready to pounce?

We put VW Split screen vans on the way down in our Trends for 2008, mainly due to a saturated market combined with continued high prices.  For those with tighter pockets and those that want to stand out from the crowd, we thought it was worth showing you some of the alternatives on the run up to summer (in Europe at least).

Lets start with the older vans.

A good start is the Commer PB van, there are many many camper converted ones around already, they are more spacious than an equivalent VW van which makes them a very practical solution for all those show trips.  What's more they come with rear wheel skirts, which is always a great thing.  There are a few modified ones floating around, one of the most inspirational being this one that lives in New Zealand


They already have a following so you can jump right in safe in the knowledge there is a support network!

If you fancy a trip to Germany to pick up a camper then eschew the usual Bavarian choice and go back to a time when Ford made different cars in different European countries.  The Transit FK was the van that Germany got when we had the Mk1 Transit Thames*.  They can certainly look cool with a little bit of work


The joy doesn't stop there.  If we cast our eyes Eastwards (at least from where I'm sitting) you get a great selection of campers and mini vans from the land of the rising sun.

The Toyota HiAce is by far the most populous of these now days with many camper converted ones from the 70's still floating around which have a reputation for reliability and can certainly be made to look the business.


We're just waiting for someone to stuff a 1JZ engine in one and take it down the strip.

The HiAce badge carries on till present day and the eighties ones really look the part as well.

Nissan offered us the Urvan and the Caravan which are both around in limited numbers in the UK and Europe and in more plentiful supply in other parts of the rest of the world.

For our money though the Toyota Space Cruiser is where its at, cheap, plentiful with parts available, can be made to look awesome, can be used as a day van or converted to camper, we'd just love to see more modified ones.

No list of cool alternative vans would be complete without the guys from Barracuda and their funky vans

This isn't even half the tip of the iceberg, you've got Transit, Liteace, Mazda E2000, Morris J and a host of others, so next time you fancy a comfortable place to sleep with wheels, have a look further than the VW classifieds, blaze your own trail.

 

*edit : Thanks to Dave who owns the lovely blue Transit FK for the correction

The BBC aired a one-off comedy/drama special recently - "Phoo Action" on BBC Three. It was based around work by Jamie Hewlett (responsible for Tank Girl and the Gorillaz characters), was set in a highly stylised near-future world and featured lots of fast paced comic-book action.

The star of the programme for car lovers had to be the Lancia Stratos, a shape so wildly wacky when it first appeared in the early 1970s that it still looks fresh in the near-tomorrow.

Along with the Audi Ur-Quattro in "Ashes to Ashes" and countless adverts and music videos featuring plenty of retro-iconic machinery we're seeing much more of our scene on screen. That can only be a good thing, in a world where the car is increasingly demonised as an environmental monster we need all the appreciation and enthusiasm we can get. 

 

The fashions of my youth weren't about clothes (although I did have a Sergio Taccini tracksuit at one point!), they were about something I was much more interested in - BMX. If I'm honest it was the yellow, blue or red tyres and padsets that drew me into the hobby in the first place. A couple of years in and there was a sudden revelation - a 'new' colour - white. White Tuffs, white frames, white brakes, even white tyres...the BMX world turned white overnight and I was hooked. The next lot of Christmas and birthday money was spent on following the white trend, but just as I managed to catch up things changed again...pastel colours started to appear and shortly after day-glo bikes were cropping up too (oh, how I lusted after that neon green Haro Master!).

What has this got to do with cars though? I've always been a tad partial to a splash of the classy cream tone of BL's old English white, but until I got into the Japanese (modified) classic scene white would've been my last choice for a cool looking ride. The Japanese simply don't have the white predujice we've traditionally had here in the UK and as a result quite a few of their rides sport the colour. Just as I was getting used to seeing white in the same way I did back in those BMX days I realised I wasn't alone - some top cars in Worthersee last year were unashamedly flouting the brightest of whites. Suddenly the road test cars sent out to the mags by Ford, Audi and BMW are resplendent in the no-colour colour even scene-meister and legendary wheel-ho Stanton (known as Ryan in the real world) slapped a lick of white paint onto those huge ATS classics worn by that white Golf of his...and this is where things come full circle and we are drawn back into the BMX fashions we started with...wasn't Ryan experimenting with day-glo inserts on those very same rims? Have you seen the Revo's on his fandango'd Polo project? It's happening all over again! It'll be splatter graphics and Don Johnson suit / T-shirt combos in no time! Could this be the time for a revival of the mint green with pink heartbeat graphic'd cars that we all thought were 'rad' at the time?

Every year we see different car modifications and things within the car modification community become more or less popular.  Here are our predictions for 2008.

On The Up:

Retro Tourism - Heading across countries and continents for shows, experiences and new friends is one of the best things you can do with your time, make sure you get out there and do it.

White Cars - Big news in the VW watercooled scene this year, will it bleed over to the retro scene, only time will tell.

Actually Buying Japanese Cars - People have been admiring Japanese cars more and more of the past few years, this year people are actually buying them!

Retro Focussed Publications - With Retro Scene Mag finally here and at least one other publication in the works the scene finally returns to having regular coverage.

Body Coloured Rims - Floating around as part of the top end modifiers pallette of ideas for a while, adds instant appeal for not huge outlay.


Going down

VW Split Screen Campers - They will always be cool, but have now firmly lodged themselves out of a lot of peoples justifiable price range. Bring on the HiAce revolution.

Boring Wheels On Fords - Begone Minilite and Revolution 4 spoke, welcome a more eclectic selection of wheels, please.

Ebay Bargains - Now everyone and their dog is on ebay the bargains are drying up, obscure search terms and even mis-listed items are always being watched like a hawk.

Rained Off Car Shows - Here in the UK last summer was a total wash out. This year it will be different. We hope!

False Rat Look - No styles every truely die, they just go out of fashion, there are still great rat look cars around and there are more to come. However it is all over for just matt blacking your car, adding stickers, a roof rack and calling it rat look.

 

We'll have to see at the end of the year what we got right, and what we got wrong.