Holy cow!…. Has it been 7 months already? This year has been nuts, totally nuts, but all good none the less. These past weeks have offered up a huge number of new cars on the local scene and the coolest thing is, most of them belong to NoH2O members!!!

Earlier this month we had the pleasure of attending the VW Club of WA’s premier event… The Day of the Volkswagen. Once again NoH2O made its presence felt with a good showing of members cars all arriving at the event on mass. As some of you may know, some of our members are also members of other VW owners clubs in WA… Like NoH2O, Kombi Konnection and the VW Club of WA members dig doing stuff with other groups, so for members from these groups to come along on our regular pre-event DoVW cruise was a pretty cool thing… Leaving the Park Centre carpark at 10am, the collection of dubs completed the short journey to DoVW show at McCallum Park. Sam has posted some vids on Youtube of the drive to the show which makes for some cool viewing.

Upon arrival NoH2O took up our usual spot under the trees along side the main concourse. Some of our members joined in the festivities and entered some categories… At this stage I have no idea if any awards were won by our crew, but I can tell you that our cars caused quite a stir yet again…

Highlight car of the event for me was Paul’s black 57 ‘Bigwindow’… This car is truely amazing! And to to think he built this car in his home garage… Paint (he still needs to find a good bonnet for it!), panel, engine, suspension the whole lot! Another amazing car is Johnny’s Mean Green Time Machine…. This thing is wack…. I mean, check out the interior!

Choppa’s Drag Day was a bit of a fizzer… It got rained out… But not before a few of the guys got some runs in… It was damp, so the guys found it tough to be consistent, but I know the newbies had a ball and were suprised with how quick they ran!!! Some of us are heading down there again tomorrow night… I’m taking the POS for a run and I know a few other guys are gonna make it too.

In closing… Check out Boz’s cool little flik of the last few weeks events… Its bloody cool!

Well…. Plenty actually… This past month there has been a lot of chatter as projects come together, plans are being made and events are being hatched. Also there has been some inter-dub negotiations going on too. I won’t go into details here, but I would suggest you read all about it in the “Whats Up” section…

I’m happy to report that my old car “The Green Meanie”, now in the hands of Greypower, is getting a much deserved seeing to…. Be sure to keep up with Grahams plans for the old girl… Big rims, big brakes and big power are on the cards…

Also we have a Tempo in our midst… Well two actually, both owned by the very lucky DrEvil…

His plans for both of these machines are cool… One is gonna be stock as a rock and the other could very well end up getting hit with a Hot Rod stick!… Stay tuned!!!!!

Events… Ok, there is plenty coming up and you should be putting this into your calendar right away. Later this month we have four very important VW events booked…. Two of these events are NoH2O events which are intended to be lead up events for the DoVW on the 30th. The first event is Choppa’s Drag Day on Wednesday 26th… Its looking like there will be a number of VW’s having a go at the street meet… Everyone is encouraged to have a go here…. This sort of racing is not about who’s the fastest, its about being consistent… Imagine beating a 8 second Falcon with your 22 second Splitty! The next event is the Germany V The Allies Softball match and BBQ on the evening of the 28th. This is on open invite to everyone out there, bring the family, friends, anyone interested in having a hitout and bit of burnt meat… Remember, its a BYO event… We’ll supply the Softball gear and the grass… You supply the rest!

In closing, I’d also like to remind everyone of what has become a tradition of NoH2O and the DoVW. The NoH2O Cruise to the event. We meet at 9.30am in the The Park Centre Shopping Centre in Victoria Park. Leaving there at 10am in a short cruise to the DoVW show area. As is also tradition, NoH2O usually park together under the trees to the right of open grassed area. Obviously, you can enter the judging for the show if you like, that is entirely up to you.

That’s it… See you lot out there!

Well…. What can I say? This (last!) month has gone by so fast…. So fast in fact, I missed it! But the truth be told, not too much has happened in the local Dub world really, well nothing cool like shows or cruises or projects being unveiled. Hoodwink’s Paprika bug is now back home…. The welding is all done, the car is solid once more and Hoodie is into it hammer and tongs to get it ready for the DoTVW in December.

On the subject of cars in workshops…. The HQ is no more… Last weekend Bernie had his last BBQ at the HQ! It was a sad day indeed… Copious amounts of the amber fluid was downed and many a happy tale was uttered, but the day had to come. The HQ is dead.

But fear not… HQII is coming!

There is a distinct possibility that NoH2O’s inaugural pre-DoTVW barbie will be held there… Speaking of events.. Another NoH2O inaugural pre-DoTVW event in the works is Choppa’s Drag Day…. This event is shaping up pretty well, with loads of NoH2O, KK and WA Watercoolers expressing interest in attending…. Stay tuned!

And lastly… I’d like to congratulate all over at KK for putting on another great event. From all reports the Kombis on Kampus events was a huge success…. Hopefully more of our lot will be able to attend next year!

Hey gang… Sorry it has been over a month since my last post, been a little busy, but things are moving along. First up…. Brian’s big trip to Valla is still on going…. He made the trip, got crook not long after and will soon be getting down to the business of traveling southward… Check out his thread for the latest. It also sounds like Jean and Alex (and Kev!) got back here safe and sound… I hope they can fill us all in on the trip!?

The site is getting bigger everyday… We have over 75 members on board now (and the spammers keep trying to sign up!) and its getting bigger! I know of a few peeps out there that have signed up, but have yet to make their presents known to the masses… One thing that I’m happy to report, is that we have plenty of members from all parts of the globe contributing to forum. But that is not to say we can’t improve. You lot know dubbers out there, we all do, but where are they? Tell’em about NoH2O, get’em on here!!!

And to help in that regard… We are working on some merch… Wayne (5PL1TDC510N: check out his art thread for some awesome illustration work) has been kind enough to help out with the artwork for some new stickers and t-shirts… Its all coming together, but the progress is slow… I hope to be putting some designs together in the coming weeks too and then we can nail down the designs and get the stuff printed and out there.

What else? Our mate Reuben up in Darwin has been making his presents felt out there in the big bad world. The VWRX has been shot for an upcoming feature in Volksworld and is also doing very well in the points standing for the annual ZOO Weekly ‘Real Cars‘ Awards. His car is currently sitting in 1st place!!! Top effort Reub.

And lastly…. Evan’s ‘Paprika’ Bug is getting a good seeing to down at the HQ… Johnno is doing wonders to a few machines down there I can tell you… The man is a wizard!… Evan has got some plans for the ‘Paprika’ Bug too…. I think the 36′er rebuild that I’ll be doing on that one will be a short term fix… Could it be that Evan wants some HP in there now?… Dunno….

Stay tuned!

So whats been happening?… Well quite a lot really… I’ve been flat out with school stuff, making more changes to my own projects, having beers and bangers at Bernie’s, getting the lowdown on some of the projects in peoples sheds, meeting new WA dubbers and planning future events…. And most importantly… Working on other peoples projects!…

But why do I hear you ask?… Well I like to see things moving along and I really like to see dubbers enjoying their cars…. Some of us out there can do our own stuff, and some, for what ever reason can’t… I never seem to get my own projects finished as quickly as I would like, but it doesn’t really bother me… What I really get a kick out of is seeing my mates cars get done, and get done in a timely manner… Take Brian’s Bus for instance…

Brian started on a freshen up of the engine for this old girl some time back, but things got a little delayed along the way and the next thing you know, its 2 weeks till he leaves for his big trip! So in these past couple of weeks a few of us have worked on Brian’s bus to get it sorted for the trip… I won’t go in to details (you can read all about it in the thread), but I would like to extend a huge cheers to Dave, Patrick and Paul for their massive help in getting the bus ready for the trip… Make sure you check the thread for the on going trip report.

Next up… Big Bad Bernie’s BBQ… Man this was a good night… Bernie and the boys at the shed put on a great evening, with copious amounts of beer and bangers along with some very cool cars in the car park…. It was great to catch up with the usual suspects, but the highlight of the evening for me was catching up with Gary…

What a top fella is Gary…

Lastly…. The other week I got a call from Hoodwink… He asked me if I was busy and could I lend a hand to drag his latest acquisition home…

I knew the Hoodmeister was bidding on this car and had been sworn to secrecy about it, but lets just say, that Ev has found yet another pearl…. Want to know more?… Check out the thread on the super fast build-up of this project….

That’s it for now…. See ya out there.

Well gang…. Its been a busy couple of weeks for us here at NoH2O… The site is moving along nicely, events are getting closer to confirmation, and more and more cool cars are coming to light! There is a couple of new splitties here in Perth that will blow your mind, as well as a couple of hot stroker old school Cal style bugs being built too. These cars are reported to be ready for action in time for the up coming street drag season. There is a vintage FV racecar being restored (sorta!). My brothers BD is getting ever closer to rego, Brian’s trip to Valla (and back) is shaping up to be huge!!!

Speaking of Brian…. As some of you may know, Brian is one of Australia’s top automotive journalists/photographers and he is responsible for many of the magazine features found in most of the top auto mags here in Australia… I suggest you guys get to the ‘events’ section and check out some of his recent “event” work… I would also suggest you login to his personal site to see some of the best photographic work you are ever likely to see….

One last thing… While you guys are looking around…. Keep an eye out Bad Bernie’s tough little oval…. It has to be one the coolest (if not the coolest) bugs in Perth…

See you all out there!

Well things are shaping up pretty good already…. We have cracked 20 new members and only in the first 17 hours we have been online!…. And most of that we were asleep!…. But seriously, all jokes aside, I’d really like to thank you all for swinging by the site and saying hi, it is really gratifying to read all the positive comments from you all, but now the work really starts for me.

At the moment, I’m doing all the moderating of the forum, but I can see that that will become a huge task in the coming months as the forum grows. So if any of you guys out there would like to lend a hand in that regard, I’d truly appreciate it… Next up…. I’d like extend an offer to you all to use this space to voice your opinion (within reason), state your wishes, help out where you can, look after our little niche and support all the good work that is going on, things will grow and prosper… Of this I am certain.

Also… I’d like to report on the drive out to Alfred’s last Wednesday night…. It was rocking to catch up with those that made it out to deepest darkest Guildford, to have a burger and some of their fine Pea’n'Ham soup, both of which Alfred’s is world famous for…. I can highly recommend the place… I’ve been going there for years of’n'on, and its a great chilled out thing to do on a cold Autumn night…. Bring on the next one I say…. Check out the link to it in the “Events” section.

Next up… Id like to put the call out to you lot for content…. For years WA dubbers have been banging on about getting a world class scene going on here, but to date it hasn’t really taken off… Granted, we have had our moments… There are some world class cars here, there is no doubt… We even have some very well established events that happen here, but really we can do better… Events like the DoVW, TYPE 2s in TOODYAY and the myriad of other happenings are there to be enjoyed. NoH2O has in the past run our own events, some on a pretty large scale, this is something I would like to make happen again. Of course we will still do the runs in conjunction with other groups, but I would like to get the “Scab’n'Grab” going again on a semi regular basis as well as possibly look at getting the “Free’n'Easy” back up once more. Upcoming NoH2O events to look out for are “Choppa’s Drag Day” at the Motorplex and the picnic/bbq (TBA) that will follow it later that same week. And one last thing… There has been some talk of getting the Como pub gathering happening again soon too…. Stay tuned for that.

After many a false start and with much help from Hoodwink (Evan to you and me), the new NoH2O web presence is up and running…

I hope you all find the new model to your liking with a brand new splash page, followed by the ever present ‘blog’ section. From here members can enter the forum or the gallery sections.

So now is a good time for me to ask the big question….

Most of you know what I’m into when it comes to my dubs, and where I feel NoH2O should head, but I have to ask you all what it is that you want to see on this forum?

As I said, it has a ‘blog’ front page, where the administrators (myself, Evan and Brian for now) will post current news and info. Members can post content specific to what they are up to, using the ‘categories’ link…. The sorts of things that can be posted there will be project build up stories, travel articles etc… From this front page there will be links to the gallery section (public access/posting), events calendar (admin posting and public access) and the forum (moderated public access/posting).

Some things that I want to make clear here….

I’m prolly gonna upset some people with this, but I want this site (and NoH2O) to remain pure to its beginning, in that all ‘aircooled’ VW’s are welcome. But I will invoke some ’style rights’ in that I will not have some cars on this site….. I’m not a big fan of the fiberglass, boyracer shite…. You got a wing on your bug and Torana tail lights too…. Try to keep it to yourself!…. Watercooled VW’s such as T25/3’s or re-engined examples of ‘aircooled’ VW’s are welcome as they are, IMHO, still true to the idea of a rear engine ‘aircooled’ VW…. As most of you know…. I’m a hotrodder, so the idea of stickin’ an engine from one make of car into another is pure honey to me…. Its not for everone, and thats ok, but I dig it…. But what I want to maintain here is a quality edge… German-Lookers, Cal-Lookers, Resto-Cals, slammed OG rides, Volksrods, tatty stockers, premo stockers, full resto’s, drag cars, fast street cars, beach buggies, track cars, FV’s, Baja’s, Monster bus’…. To name a few variations out there, are all welcome….

But keep that Porga or Roadster or Chop job convertible in your shed…. Sorry.

I look forward to your feedback on this guys…. I know some people might get upset with what I have said here, but I feel it needs to be made clear right from the start….

See you all soon….

Simon T