Nena makes it into print for 2009

CKC Jan 09
Originally uploaded by Jim and Sarah's photos

As if 2008 didn't bring enough accolades ! Nena has made it into print again, in January's Complete Kit car magazine.

Thanks go to Ian for giving us a small mention on their 'Living It' pages, with a picture of us at Brighton Breeze - also got the club info published - cheers !

Nena gets into print again !

Nena Ultra VW
Originally uploaded by Jim and Sarah's photos

Hi all,

Been a while, but thought I would share the atached picture. This is a page of November's Ultra VW magazine's Readers Rides page.

It stems from a meeting with James Hale at the SDBC (Southern Dune Buggy Club) meet in August. I know James from my beach buggy days and he passed me the editors details for the magazine as he writes for them.

Well low and behold, some 3 months later I was flicking through the mag and find a picture has made its way in - nice one !

It's been quite a year for articles and photos !

Nena gets pimped

Nena pimped
Originally uploaded by Jim and Sarah's photos

Cheers Adam for giving Nena a set of huge rims and a lowering job.

Now need to do it for real !

Brighton Breeze 2008

Wow, what a weekend. Saturday 18th October was Brighton Breeze, a cruise of mainly air cooled VWs from Epsom to Brighton.

Living close to Brighton we had an early start to get to Epsom, and then cruise to Brighton with hundreds of VWs.

Nena lines up at Epsom

It was a cold start on the day, but as we joined the masses at Epsom the mist lifted and the sun shone bright. Nena also drew many an admiring glance, as she was the only Nova amongst hundreds of bugs, and campers.

Nena arriving in Brighton

Nena draws lots of curious onlookers

Volkswagens as far as the eye can see.

We had an excellent drive down, taking in a stop at Pease Pottage services to chat to other Volkswagen drivers, and general public who were very curious about what was going on. There is nothing to beat a VW cruise, the sight of campers filling the inside, and middle lanes of the M23 makes you smile.

As you can as at Brighton the line up was huge. The atmosphere was also great, with plenty of BBQs, beer in the sunshine, and a great relaxed feel. What a way to end the show season.

For us, (and Nena), this was the last show of 2008. As I write this Nena already is topless in the garage, with the roof off to allow for a few winter tweaks - more of that soon,

All the best,

Jim

Kingsfold Steam & Vintage Vehicle Show

A late summer, hoorah - and another opportunity to exhibit Nena.




This was also our first opportunity to exhibit with Sussex VW Owners club - thanks to everyone at the club who made us feel welcome.












A great show was had by all, spectacular weather, and a great variety of cars and commercial vehicles














This observation coach was a clear favourite - what a project !

Sussex VW Owners Club Summer Festival

What a difference a day makes !

The weather was spot on, and we had a great day at a brilliantly organised show. Make it one for your diaries next year.

Nena was entered in the Custom class Show n Shine, against some hardcore buggies, so no prizes, but lots of admirers.

The event also reminded me what a great sense of humour VW fans have !

What more do I need to say...........................

Wheels 08 - here comes the rain again !

Another weekend, another local show, and yes, more rain.

This weekend saw Wheels 08 in Littlehampton get a little wet, well on the Saturday. We didn't go on Sunday as we were at the Sussex VW Owners Club Event, but Saturday was particularly miserable !

Also the organizers had failed to put a ramp or sleeper on the kerb at the entrance, so to avoid damaging Nena's nose we had to reverse in !

Here are a couple of photos:

Well done to the dirty low down dubbers for putting on a good display

As you can see below the event thinned out pretty quickly, and we got wet !

British weather huh !

Nena hangs out with the beach buggy crew

Well the weather wasn't kind, particularly to those without wet weather gear, but this Sunday saw the SDBC (Southern Dune Buggy Club) Annual meet.

I am still a member from my beach buggy days, but non members are also welcome and a host of buggies, a few campers and beetles and one Nova made the day.

Here are a few pictures from the day

The benefit of a roof was clearly demonstrated to the beach buggy crew, and Nena drew many admirers.

We had a good run there and back, about 1hr 15 each way, with no events to report. I recently fitted a Pertronix ignition system to the 009 dizzy, and that seems to be working well. Overall a very enjoyable day,

More show reports soon,

Jim

Goodwood Festival 2008 Friday & Saturday report

What a weekend so far.

The Part 2 magazine article in CKC is out, Nena is on display in the sunshine at the festival and getting loads of attention.

We have seen 3 Bugatti Veyrons, F1 cars from McLaren, Honda, Ferrari, Toyota and many more. Been in touching distance of Derek Bell & Alan McNeish.

The feedback from CKC is that Nena is the most photographed on the stand, and I have spoken to lots (and I do mean lots) of kit car builders who were going to go home, look up the blog and euronova/club nova, and get searching e-bay for Nova projects ! Great. It's been a great feeling of acheivment getting to this point, and we have enjoyed supporting the magazine who continue to be great fans of the Nova and promote the club.

Oh, and I got to hold a Silverstone 2008 Trophy in the McLaren garage !

Here are a couple of photos - off to the Sunday show now, more soon !

Nena into print - Part 2

scan0002
Originally uploaded by Jim and Sarah's photos

Well the day is finally here. Part 2 of Nena's story has hit press, advance copies are on sale at Goodwood Festival of Speed, where Nena is on display this weekend too !

What a weekend. 5 pages, plus another shot on the cover. Get down to the shops and buy it !!

Nena gets in on Goodwood

If you are a kit car follower you may have read in CKC (Complete Kit Car), this year is the first time a kit car mag has got a stand, and Justin, Adam and Ian will be there all weekend.

I got in touch with them all after Newark and sent on the Club Nova Newark photos as well as enquiring how the Goodwood preparations were going.The outcome was that Ian had a look at the layout of their stand, decided they could accomodate three cars rather than the orignal plan of 2. They have a very early Lotus Seven and their latest Adrenaline Murtaya there, and something iconic in the middle which they though would work really well.

Any guesses what the Iconic kit car in the middle is? Yep, you guessed it, Nena is off to Goodwood !Exhibitor passes arrived just in time and Dad and I delivered the car today - I have spent the last two nights polishing!

The magazine are putting together some background displays on the cars, and I have supplied him some info. Also Part 2 of Nena' article is in the August magazine, which will go on sale at the show. I will of course get lots of photos - but for now here are a few of the show in set up mode, without the thousands that will flood through the gate tomorrow
Driving into the show - a Kit Car queue ! This year's 'sculpture'



























Race cars lining up in the Paddock - my favourite GT40 colour scheme, recognize the blue at all ??

And finally, Nena outside the CKC stand whilst the stand was being set up.

Lots more photos soon, Jim

Newark 2008

A long run for Nena this weekend - near to Nottingham, and she ran faultlessly. The new engine is definately run in now !

Well the journey up on the Friday was sunny, and the journey home on Sunday too !

Saturday however was a wet affair with Nova roofs firmly down for much of the day ! Sunday was a lot better, though very windy.

Here are a few pics:

Rendevouz at the services – sorry we were late ! Convoy to the showground

Setting up in the sunshine

Kevin & Nova ICE:Mike & Purple Passion

There are many more from the show, including the other show cars here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim73vw/sets/72157605752325712/

Nena makes a full feature

CKC Cover July 08
Originally uploaded by Jim and Sarah's photos

Another day, another magazine ! I have been waiting for this moment for some time.

The main reason I was browsing the mags yesterday was to see if the latest Complete Kit Car mag was out.

As some of those at Stoneleigh may recall Ian of CKC had been to see Nena re running a feature.

Well, that went ahead and this month's edition shows part 1 of Nena's story

We have already done a outdoors photo shoot with Ian for Part 2 which will be in next months mag, and the pics are superb I have promised to not put any up online until the mag hits the shops so will have to wait for those. We had a great day with Ian out in the sunshine, and even got some good driving shots.

To say the least I am really chuffed, particularly to get into 2 mags in the same month.

Much of the build story in this month's CKC (5 pages & 41 pics) will be very familiar to you all, if you have followed this blog.

Also for the keen readers you will spot the Club Nova contact details are a little out of date (Part 1 was prepped pre Stones). Up to date info will be in Part 2.

Here is this month's cover, not a great scan but you can just about make out me and Nena in the picture at the bottom (first time I turned over the engine).

Now get out and buy it !

Nena makes it into print again !

Buglovin Ultra
Originally uploaded by Jim and Sarah's photos

What a surprise. There I was browsing the mags in WHSmiths, and I saw Ultra VW.

I don't usually buy it, but remembered they were at Buglovin, so had a look for a show write up.

Yep, Nena made it into the photos, and got a comment 'We haven't seen a Nova kit car at a VW show for some years - this one was cool!

Well chuffed !

Nena gets snapped

Presentation1
Originally uploaded by Jim and Sarah's photos

There I was browsing through the Volksworld website and I stumble across their blog coverage of the recent Buglovin show at Ardingly.

Which pale blue Nova managed to sneak into one of the shots !?! You guessed it:

You can see the full picture, and others from the show here: http://www.volksworld.com/photos/events/6773/4/4/bug-lovin-vw-show-2008.html

Who knows, maybe Nena will make it into print too !

More soon,

Jim

PS Drove Nena to work today, new Weber 32/36 carb working well, and newly wired up stereo worked well also !

Nena on show again, and what an entrance !

This weekend was the Retro, Custom and Classic Show at Merrist Wood, Guilford.

A great day was had by all, and a superb variety of cars attended. Everything from Pontiacs, Drag Racers, Beach Buggies, Campers, even a Delorian.

However, our entrance was a little challenging, as the roof jammed in the up position, and wouldn't return !

A kind spectator helped investigate the fault, and we just about managed to open the bonnet 6" to get in, disconnect the battery, and find a blown fuse. The cause? A faulty £2 switch !

Once that was resolved we were able to enjoy the show and had a great day looking at the other machines on display, and chatting to other show goers about Nena.

Here are some pictures of other cars at the show:

Again, she was really well received, and days like this make the last 2 years worthwhile !

Fire up the flux capacitor !

Nena makes it into print

Detling
Originally uploaded by Jim and Sarah's photos

Fame, fortune, glamour - well nearly !

This month's (June) Complete Kit Car Magazine features a shot of the Club Nova stand at Detling.

Well done everyone,

Jim

Nena on show - A VW Show debut at Buglovin 2008

Some good news at last !

Nena made it to her first VW show of the year, as a show car.

The show was Buglovin, a new VW show for all the family at the South of England Ardingly Showground. The showground is a great place, where I have enjoyed many Country Shows, Steam Rallies and Vintage vehicle shows over the years.

The organizers even managed to secure the best weather of the year, which really helped the weekend be a success.

Nena had to get there early on the Friday to set up in the show hall, so Thursday night was 5 hours of polishing for me ! Fortunately it didn't rain on our way to the show so little further polishing was needed when we arrived.

As you can see she really shone when we arrived, as was the first show car to arrive.

I also took the opportunity to set us up a camping spot on the Friday morning, which Sarah and I returned to Friday evening, to start chilling out. We had definitely made the right decision to get Nena in early as the frantic polishing by torchlight looked like hard work, but the show hall was getting there:

The weather got better and better over the weekend and by the Sunday was a real scorcher. There were some amazing VW's in the showhall, and also on club stands and the show n shine.

Bands and DJs were laid on both nights, and lots of entertainment.

Hopefully some of these pictures give you a feel for the show, I really hope it is run again next year, and would strongly recommend it to everyone.

By the Sunday morning the showground was buzzing, and I was really pleased to see how many people were taking Nena's photo, and wanted to learn more about the NOVA. She certainly drew a crowd, and it really made the hard work worth it all. I took the photo album of the restoration along with me and it was certainly well thumbed.

VW shows continue to impress me with how friendly everyone is, and I had many enjoyable chats with VW fans over the weekend, many of whom I referred to the club, so perhaps a few more Nova restorations will start up soon !

Here are a few more pictures showing Nena lapping up the attention !

And if you are feeling sorry for Nena as she was shut away indoors all weekend and missed the sunshine, don't worry - she did get out in the sun at the end of the day.

A good weekend.............................. Jim