Sept 2023:
Rad Sunday is part of the Southend Volkslore. Established in 1988 by German Car Company and Karmann Konnection head honcho Ritchie King as a local gathering of the new wave vibrant Cal Look Volkswagen scene. Now affectionately known as 'Back to 89' or 'B289'.
It's no surprise that the man behind 'Back to 89' Stu Betty together with his partner Heather has resurrected 'Rad Sunday' with Ritchie King back in 2012 with the main ethos that it would be a show than a gathering and it would be a FREE event for all and bring back something for the local Southend community by donations for local charities where we have raised a lot of money by local businesses donating raffle prizes.
Rad Sunday the event itself starts with a seafront cruise along the Southend Golden Mile to the event. Once at the venue we have Aircooled Volkswagens to Custom Cars, Hot Rods and Classic cars on show. We also welcome BMX Life who's members bring their Old School BMX's from the 70s and 80s and line these up on the lawn.
We have top 5 Raddest Rides Trophies for the top 4 cars and BMX winner. In the past we have also had 'Spirit of 89' trophy for someone within the scene deserving of the award. In 2018 we lost Rosa Neto and were pleased that the family have agreed to the 'Rosa Neto Memorial Trophy' now in its second year with Trophies made by the talented Andy Wright.
Special Guests we have welcomed many famous faces from Gary Constable of 'Thump! Thump!' fame, Brian Burrows (VW Action), Brett Hawkesbee (original founder of Bug Jam) , Mark Salisbury (aka Silly Syd the BMX kid and BMX rider of the 80s) and in 2018 we had Simon Emery who celebrated 30 years of the 'Paintbox'. We had some fantastic 'Paintbox' cars at the event plus a celebration on the video screens with over 500 pictures. Ritchie King was our special guest (2019) and we had a Porsche display with some very cool vintage Porsche's at the Castle Pub mingled with many more Rad Rides that packed out the car park and surrounding roads.
The show has grown to be a popular event with many returning year after year.
You can follow us on Instagram Radsunday89 for pictures of previous shows. Rad Sunday Swapmeet for 2022 was a huge success but for 2023 we are taking a break and will be back in 2024.