From vintage flair to modern speed
DUBS on the Hill at Picnic
Point attracts all kinds of people.
At one end of the spectrum sits Josh Ward and Sasha Wilson – lovers of the vintage era and all that it entails.
Usually admiring from the sidelines when it comes to competitions, Ms Wilson entered the inaugural Dolls on the Hill retro pageant at Dubs on the Hill – and was named Miss Dubs and Dolls for 2020.
“I’m a little bit overwhelmed,” she said yesterday.
For five weeks she spent most of her spare time in the evenings piecing together her dress from three dresses she bought from Toowoomba op shops, along with a couple of meters of ribbon and some newly-purchased lace gloves.
And at the other end of the spectrum is James Pauly – a lifelong lover of Volkswagon Beetles who is ensuring they’ll last into the next generation with electric engines.
“The potential for these things with racing and things like that – they’re lightweight and they’re a perfect candidate for an electric swap,” he said.
Mr Pauly learned the art of electric conversion after spending a few months interning at a company in the US.
While the conversion of his 1968 Beetle took him six months of on-and-off work, he can now perform an electric conversion for a customer in a month.
The Beetle’s old 40 horse power engine has been replaced with a 120 horsepower NetGain HyPer 9, which cruises comfortably in third gear at 140km/h and he reckons could top out in fourth at 200km/h.