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Gertie just got home from Chris Gilley Beetles and as you can see she was very excited about seeing us... She's had a few bits done, a coat of Hammerite on of her chassis / pans and fresh Waxoyl sprayed on the underside and in the heater channels ready for the winter...

She's now tucked up in her tent waiting for a dry day when we can take her out for a winter run... until then she'll be hiding away from the salty roads...

Roll on Spring...!

The dreaded annual MOT yearly test came round this month so on the 15th I took her to the local garage for her annual 'check up' and I'm very happy that she passed. All she needed was the headlamps re-aligning (must be from taking them off and on again when I put on  /took off the eyelids) and a few bolts on the front suspension tightening up...

She's back at Chris Gilley Beetles for a few days now having a check up for the winter and a few bits and bobs done on the paintwork to keep her in tip top shape...

Almost coming to the end of another year in, the weather and dark nights are drawing in and the VW shows coming to an end for 2005... Last Sunday, the 18th September, we took Gert' to the Bradford Show & Shine in West Yorkshire - it was between that and the Beetle Drive at the Tram Museum in Matlock, I chose the closer venue...

We got there around lunchtime, parked up, gave her a quick clean - it was in a pub car park so not much going on apart from looking at the other cars and no prizes this time...

I forgot my camera but luckily had my phone with me, great phone, not great camera... got to say love the ragtop oval in the third picture...

Found these pics on the Internet...

We drove to Matlock Bath yesterday for Run to the Hills 2005, great weather, clear roads and a great show with Gertie taking 5th place in the overall Aircooled class and second place in the Beetles... very pleased....

The show had Beetles, vans, type 3s, Karmann's and Porsche's, mainly aircooled but with a few water cooled dotted around...

I took my nephew, Joe, with me and let him loose with the camera resulting in over 70 pictures...! Click for them all...

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Gertie attended VW North West in Tatton Park just south of Manchester today, We entered her in the Show & Shine but had to put her with Custom cars(!) due to her being 12v and having a modified engine, she didn't stand a chance... The Inch Pincher 4 replica won, a completely different class of car - great car but I'd bet it's never driven on a road and only on a track and was trailered in...

Anyway, as always we got pictures...

 

Below are two 'other' Herbies I came across at the show, notice the black 'reverse' Herbie... when you make it negative in Photo Editor it looks just like Herbie...!

Sunday 7th August Gertie went to the seaside...  From lunchtime 'til 6pm, to help promote the new Disney Herbie Fully Loaded film, she was on display at the The Island Cinema, South Promenade, St.Annes on Sea near Blackpool. As we drove up the 'New Beetle Herbie', donated from a local VW dealer, also arrived and we drove in together... A quick wash 'round the back and she took her place outside the cinema much to everyone's delight...

All day she was being admired and photographed and to top it all we were treated to a free showing of the new Herbie film...

It's proving to be a good month...

part 2

About a month ago I started speaking to the PR company that was handling the UK Premier of Herbie Fully Loaded (US Site and German Site). They needed a second car for promotional use and I was asked if Gert' would be available... Of course I said yes... Over the next few weeks the filming schedules were changed and the permit for the second car to attend the premier was not forthcoming... By 3pm on the Friday 22nd July Gert' was going to be at the Press Junket at the Dorchester Hotel but plans changed again by 3.30pm and she wasn't attending at all...

The PR guy I had been liaising with very kindly kept his word and gave me a pair of tickets to the July 28th London premier for Chris and I, so off we went... We collected the tickets on the Wednesday before going down to the Dorchester Hotel for the Press Junket. He was a really great guy, very pleasant and really enthusiastic about the cars... Disney's Herbie was parked outside the hotel (this is where Gert was going to be) with cameras posed for pics... The Wheely Remote Control Cars were available to take home... The Disney Herbie is a 1974 Beetle GT, over the past few weeks it has completed and won the London to Monte Carlo Rally (very fitting...!) and also done a few laps at Grands Hatch...

On the Thursday we went down to Leicester Square for 5.30pm and hung around the Square waiting for our walk up the red carpet. Jut after 6pm the official Disney Herbie drove up to the doors with cheerleaders dancing along... At about 6.15pm we wandered up to the barrier with our passes and took the walk along the red carpet to go see the film - it sounds silly but we were so nervous, even got our pictures snapped a couple of times... (wonder who they thought we were???)

Once inside we went into the screen (free drink, crisps and official premier glossy) and waited, they played an elongated version of the 'behind the scenes' video you can download from the Herbie US website, along with Lindsay Lohan's 'First' video. At around 7pm Angela Robinson was introduced to say a few words, I thought she came across really genuine (she made a joke about Herbie driving over posters to make autographs) and then she introduced Michael Keaton (a favorite actor of mine), he was a bit 'quick' before they both left and the credits rolled... Lindsay Lohan didn't attend, shame really as her fans were lining up from lunchtime outside the cinema...

The film was amazing on the big screen, I loved Herbie's expressions and even the noises he makes - I felt that he had all of his old charm and some new traits thrown in... It was so sad to see him towed away and when the Demo Derby started I felt a pain and almost shouted out for them to stop... The NASCAR race was fab, loved it loads... My only regret is that there wasn't more Pimp Herbie...

After the film there was a round of applause before heading out where I had a chat with the PR guy who asked me if they could use Gert' for the DVD Premier (they have those?) and of course I've said yes...

Gertie was all this time tucked up in her tent, due to the bombings, changing filming schedules and Leicester Square permit problems she didn't come along but was there in spirit... Still a bit gutted about that really... We had a fantastic time, loved the movie and am really thankful for the tickets from Mr PR for Disney...

If I can get my phone to speak to my PC I'll post some pics later.... Below are pics of the tickets, premier glossy's and the exterior of the cinema on Leicester Square...

Been a busy Sunday... 

When I put the '53' on the decklid in June it was really creased just under the '3'. Doc Herbie very has very kindly sent me a replacement so today I removed the '53' and replaced it. The original came off really easily, guess because it was such a warm day leaving no marks on the paint. Once I cleaned it I put the new one on using lots of window clean solution and its on perfect, if a slightly different angle to the one I took off.

I also took the opportunity to put Gert's 'OFP 857' California plate on for a few pictures. Due to the hole that has been cut behind the plate to assist with engine cooling I needed a frame, I thought a USA Empi surround would look good and (in my opinion) it does...

Got up this morning (26th June) and was browsing the forums and came across 'VW Festival 2005' at Harewood House just outside Leeds. So, we packed up (2) cars and me, Chris, Max, Dexter and Winston all went on our merry way to the show. When we got there the ushers 'ushered' me and Max into the Show & Shine area, gave us a form to fill in and hey presto we were in the competition.

The guy who judged the cars spent ages checking out Gert', running his fingers under the wings, looking under carpets, in the engine bay, around the sunroof opening (eek...! the headliner is not quite finished there) and asked a few questions before moving on to the beige Beetle next to us.

As the day went on, Dexter barked (alot), Winston & Max just lay there panting away - it was blue sky, sunshine and a burnt forehead(!).

At 3pm they announced the winners, the first category was the aircooled, all classed as one... they read out my name first, we got 2nd place runner up...!

It was her first official outing into the VW world since her restoration and she came second (a Bay camper van came first). 

A very happy day and can't believe she came second, next time I'll clean her first...!

Whilst rooting through the Internet I came across these pictures of Gertie that people had snapped on the day, the last one was where Chris was polishing the bumper and windscreen right before the judge came along...

June 18th 2005... hottest day this year so far so we jumped in Gertie, rolled the windows down and headed across the Pennies over to Hull to see relatives... Its the first 'real' drive that Gertie has been on since we got her a year ago and we covered around 150 miles taking a stop near the Humber Bridge for a couple of pictures.

You'll be noticing a change to Gertie in the pictures below, the 'inevitable racing stripes and 53's' are now in place. It took a full weekend to get them on and I'm very happy with the results. Before we got admiring glances but now we get people pointing, waving and bibbing their horns at us... Gertie has become very popular and has learn to Beep back at them...

All in all a few good weeks for Gertie, her ragtop is in a working great (a tip for anyone installing a clip - you need to put 2mm spacers between the rails and roof to allow for the clip being welded in from below or it won't slide smoothly), the stripes are on and the engines running great...

Click here for November 2004 - June 2005 --->