VW Nationals 2026
2026 VW Nationals
Was für ein großartiges Wochenende! (What a great weekend!)
I was wondering how the weather might turn out. I am sure many were not able to give their cars a final tub on the Saturday before VW Nationals, as it rained for a good part of the day. And, there was some mist hanging in the air early on Sunday morning.
I sensed that some of the earlier entrants might have waited a while to watch what the water would bring. It seemed slow at the start, but the pace picked up through the morning, and we were able to display a great variety of cars. We are so fortunate to have the undercover venue of Fairfield Showground!
The show began on Saturday night, with many members setting up the venue, taping off areas, laying out tables and chairs, putting up signs and pitching tents. Thank you to those members who worked on the day to make this VW Nationals a great success. Without you, the event would not run at all.
Most of all, we all thank Lee Woods for coordinating the event. In running the event, Lee is second only to the late Dave Birchall, who ran VW Nationals since its inception. Lee has developed her experience over these years, making effective and practical improvements each year.
We would like to thank all our sponsors of the 2026 VW Nationals – the show wouldn’t happen without your support. Andrew Dodd, H&M Ferman, Stan Pobjoy and Vintage Veedub Supplies are still going strong after 38 shows – that’s every single year! Other sponsors who have supported us for over 30 shows include Aust VW Performance (Melbourne), Indian Automotive, Mick Motors (QLD), Shannons, and Wolfsburg Motors St Peters. Thank you so much to these long-time sponsors.
And despite the difficult cost of living, almost all of last year’s sponsors rejoined us for this year. Dino’s Pizza was the only one who took a break – we hope to see them back next year. Liqui-Moly rejoined us after a break of 15 years! It was great to see Dub-Hub Depot, Rockyroad Camper Coffee Van, Mini Halo Donuts and Showbags & Things back for their second year. And we welcome new sponsors Kurama Collectables, My Little Peony, Prized Pieces, Purist VW Films, and Tortatoes, supporting us for the first time.
Thank you to all our 2026 Nationals sponsors. See the full list of 2026 sponsors on the back page of the magazine, the summary on page 2 and some new business card ads. Please support them, because they support us!
Early Sunday morning, the fog followed me to Fairfield, and the leaves were unloading their catch on my car from the previous night. Swappers and sponsors were settling into their spots, and our volunteers were preparing to launch with fluorescent vests on their backs and radios in hand. The club shop and office were ready, and the entry gates were opened a little after 7 am. By 9 am, there were plenty of cars to see, and the bad weather was a forgotten memory.
Our volunteers were the key to producing this event. Zelko and Sandy welcomed spectators through the gates. Lee and Wayne directed vendors to their spot. John V directed the swappers. John L, Steve, Simon, Brendon, Adam, Daniel and Carl welcomed cars at the gate while Bob, Jason and I directed cars to their parking place. Narelle, Christine and Raymond worked well at the shop all day, while Phil and Sam worked in the back office on spreadsheets and photo presentations.
We became a well-oiled, air and water-cooled machine. Thank you to our club volunteers for all their work on the day. We adjusted the categories this year to 36 and the trophies to 46 in total (including two perpetual trophies) to speed up the presentation.
The Pam Withers award is chosen by Paul from Eurocruisers, in remembrance of his VW-loving late aunt. The David Birchall Car of the Day celebrates the late David Birchall and his 36 years of work organising the show. Steve C, Wayne and Boris from Vintage Veedub chose the winner based on what they believe Dave would have liked best. They also judged the ‘Concours d’Elegance’ category.
The wet weather affected entries this year, and we ended up with 209 cars in the show, plus another dozen or so belonging to traders and club committee who didn’t want to be judged. Not as big as the 221 last year, but still bigger than from 2018 to 2022. What a good turnout, especially on a drizzly weekend and with the cost of living hitting us all.
There were 141 air-cooled VWs at the show, down from 163 last year. However, the number of modern water-cooled VWs improved from 58 last year to 67 this year, the most since the 80 we saw in 2023. It’s nice to see the water-coolers getting more involved.
There were 66 Beetles entered in seven categories, and 37 Kombis across five categories. This was down from the 70 and 48 respectively last year. On the other hand, there were 39 Golfs, up from just 27 last year. This was great to see. Last year’s turnout was so poor that we reduced the Golf trophies from 8 to 4, in only two categories – ‘Classic’ and ‘Modern’ Golf.
As a result, this year’s most popular category was Classic Golf (Mk1-Mk4), with 22 entries, followed by Modern Golf (Mk5-Mk8) with 17 entries. There are enough entries now to have a third ‘in-between’ Golf category next year – say Classic (Mk1-Mk3), Mid (Mk4-Mk6) and Modern (Mk7-Mk8). Let us know what you think.
Also on 17 entries was Beetle ’58-’67 Modified, the best-ever result for traditionally our most popular category. Beetle ‘68-on Standard had 15 entries (6 more than last year), while Beetle ’68 Modified had 14 (2 less than last year). Beetle ’58-’67 Modified had 16 entries, two more than last year and equalling 2024.
There were 14 entries in the Rat class, 3 more than last year, and an amazing 10 entries in Type 3 Standard – the most ever. There were also 8 entries in Beetle Up to ’57 Standard, the most ever. Last year, there were only 3!
Apart from the two over-stacked Golf classes, the best water-cooled category was VW Sedan (Jetta and Passat). There were 6 of them, 4 more than last year. VAG Family combined all the other VW makes after years of zero entries for SEAT/Skoda, and this year, the 4 entries were all Porsches. Every other water-cooled category had fewer than 5 entries, including just 1 for VW SUV and zero for Amarok, disappointingly. There were 4 Amaroks last year.
Other categories were unpopular this year. Beetle Up to ’57 Modified dropped from 10 last year to 3 this time, way below the long-term average of 6.2. Beetle ’68-on Standard dropped from 15 to 10. Beetle Cabriolet dropped from 4 to 1, and Karmann Ghia (All) continues its downward slide – 8 in 2023, 7 in 2024, 6 last year and just 4 this time. Non-factory Off-Road (Buggies/Baja) dropped from 8 to 3, and Aussie Kit Cars/Convertibles dropped from 3 to 0.
Nearly all Kombi categories were down. T1 Standard Kombis improved from 7 to 8, but T1 Modified dropped from 9 to 6. T2 Modified was unchanged at 9, but T2 Standard dropped from 12 to 7. T3 Kombi dropped from 11 to 7. Even the later T4-T6 Transporters dropped, from 10 to 5.
In the watercoolers, Up/Polo dropped from 6 to 3, while Audi improved from 2 to 3!
The 209 car show entrants all got voting sheets, which enabled them to vote for up to 20 different cars of their choice, air and/or water. Some 1,683 votes were cast (on 143 different sheets) into the blue voting box before the 12:30 pm cut-off. As well, every spectator who went through the gates received a People’s Choice voting ticket, allowing them to vote for one vehicle. There were 415 of these handed in before the close-off, bringing the total to 2,098 votes (plus 209 entry forms) for Phil to enter into his computer. This took all morning and lunchtime, but was completed by 1 pm.
Once the computer had the trophy winners worked out, photographer Sam matched each winner with their specific car photo for the slide deck presentation. One or two usually go missing, and it then takes a few minutes to find the cars in the show and grab another shot. But everything was worked out by 2:10 pm.
Everyone was happy we could start the presentation more than 45 minutes early. In fact, a cheer went up when Phil announced that it was about to start. It would be possible to start the presentation (and end the show) even earlier without the photo presentation, but everyone enjoys seeing shots of the winning cars as the owners come up for their trophies.
Check out our Klub Kalendar and the flyers at the front of the magazine for our many upcoming events, including the Shannon's Sydney Classic on Sunday, 16 August. I look forward to seeing you there.
Bis bald (See you soon).
Danny Haynes
