Meet the Car Club - VW Owners Club of Great Britain

1. Foundation

The Club began life in 1974 as the Split Window section of the VW Owners Club of Great Britain. There had been discussion of creating such a club in the magazine Safer Motoring. The club in those days simply catered for owners of pre 1953 lit rear window beetles. The first meeting was held in May 1975 when five cars turned up. From this meeting was created the Stanford Hall VW event which still exists every May. There always features a large gathering of historic VWs.

Shortly after its foundation the club expanded to include pre’57 oval windowed cars and eventually all air-cooled beetles (type one) The Club eventually separated from the VWOC and was renamed the Historic VW Club. 

2. Membership

Membership is open to owners or enthusiast for air cooled VW Beetles (Type one)

The current membership is around 260 members and has been stable for some years.  Members have a whole range of Beetles form wartime models right up to the last RHD imports.

The club produces a very nice quarterly 48-page magazine and hosts a website utilises Facebook. Members have the services of a valuation officer and technical advisors. The Club is keen to enhance the online presence.

The Club used to have an annual meeting of its own, but a widely scattered membership made this unviable. The Historic Display is a major feature of the large Stanford Hall meeting and 30 plus vehicles are displayed on the front lawn of Stanford |Hall with a nearby club stand. The club does have smaller stands and gatherings at other VW and classic car events throughout the season. For some years there has been a presence at the march NEC Classic car show and sometimes also at the November event too.

The Club is represented by members (and often their cars) at major German VW events notably Bad Camberg and Hessisch Oldendorf.