Out with the new, in with the old...Pt 1

As another show season draws nearer to a close i find myself looking back over the last six months, contemplating what we've seen and considering how far, if at all, we've moved on from previous years. How has the bar been raised? Has the U.K scene bridged the gap with our European cousins and what part has the ever increasing emergence of new clubs and increased traffic on internet forums played in all of this? Ironically, for all our obsession with the next big thing, all these questions and more leave me considering how we got started in all of this in the first place, who were the faces behind it and the true driving forces.

I find myself face to face with Danny Smith - good friend and fellow Team Wackeldackel member, at his home in Oxford with a list of questions as long as my arm and an appetite to know more about the humble beginnings of this hobby, from his personal involvement in the late 80's, through to the emergence of Oxford Edition and their subsequent triumph in the early 90's through to the mid 90's. As we begin chatting, it's clear the original pioneers experienced dubbing wholey different from todays scene. The main U.K show at the time centred around an annual gathering at the TRL Crowthorne for GTI International, looking at pictures from '88, this is no fashion show - there are no sneakers on dashboards, there might have been the odd pair of skinny jeans (this was the 80's remember) but for the most part this is hard core enthusiasts displaying cars, built up and improved on over winter months being unveiled to a public largely oblivious to what they were about to witness - no internet forums, no build threads, no spy shots, word of mouth between friends quite possibly but in reality just a genuine intrigue amongst 'rivals' to see what people had been up to and what new trends were emerging. Looking at the pictures, it's amazing to see what rarities were about on these shores from home based tuning companies - BRM Motorsport, GTI Engineering etc. A BRM Motorsport Z600 MK2 golf with Zender bodykit catches my eye, Then another Zender kitted mk2 in white with white Zender Turbo's, white leather interior including dash, white door cards, and white carpets. The car in question, on a 'D' registration - a year, possibly two years old at this point, is a serious bit of kit. For all our cravings for rare parts now from tuners such as Oettinger, Nothelle etc it makes me wonder whether we've seriously overlooked what may still be out there in this country. Of course, such cars are few and far between even at this meet but the styling reflects what we saw as innovative and cutting edge at the time. Fast forward a year or two and Dannny begins to take up the story of a personal crusade that left him seeking a style of car witnessed only at European meets - bring on the Treffen!