Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2018 i VolksWorld

“the VolksWorld team has been ultra busy this month braving the cold…” Ongoing projects. Where would we be without them? Bereft of direction – richer perhaps – but thoroughly bored, I suspect. Just as well then that the VolksWorld team has been ultra busy this month braving the cold on driveways, in lock-ups and workshops all over the country. You can check out what we’ve been up to in our mega sagas section which runs from pages 74-81 this issue, but in the meantime here’s a bit of a summary. Paul Knight has been helping out a long-term buddy revert his drag strip Notchback into a road car. It’s street legal all right but as he says, it’s hot, noisy and a bit of an animal. And it sure looks…

“The Shorrock C75bv was just too high quality, effective and expensive for its own good” Early Volkswagen air-cooled engines may have been rugged and reliable compared to what powered many of their rivals, but one thing they definitely couldn’t claim was outright performance. The ability to cruise all day at maximum is all very well – but if that outright speed falls well below what everybody else is doing and it takes an age to get there, it becomes a little less useful. One way around this, other than buying a Porsche, was to tweak your VW’s engine to wring every last bit of potential out of it. A particularly effective yet quite simple way of doing this was by supercharging – fitting a mechanically-driven compressor that forced more oxygen…

“The engine in this racer is a work of art” “it was clear that he’d really gone to town this time” VW drag cars come in all shapes and sizes, but it’s fair to say that the majority are based upon the traditional Beetle. And there are several good reasons why the humble Bug has prevailed as ‘king of the strip’ for so long. It’s generally accepted that the rear-engine layout, relatively lightweight front end and the centre of gravity of the Beetle design lends itself well to drag racing as the transfer of weight to the rear wheels when launching from a standing start provides excellent traction. This unloading of the front end coupled with the light weight of the Beetle design is also why it’s not uncommon…

“decreased the altitude to increase the attitude” It’s been a while since my last project piece and a fair bit has happened to my Norwegian ’61, but we’ll start by mentioning how it broke down. To be fair, it was due to a number of factors, none of which were the car’s fault. I’d put a few hundred miles on the clock before the engine stuttered. Just the once, and only for a split second, but I did notice it and to my discredit I didn’t do anything about it. The day after that first warning shot I used it to get me to a photoshoot, and on the way home it did it again, only this time it was less of a stutter, more of an engine totally dead…

February DubFreeze Date:17-18 Feb 2018 Location:Bingley Hall, Stafford Contact: www.dubfreeze.co.uk March Freddy Files Date:11 March 2018 Location:Ninove, Belgium Contact: freddyfiles2017.skynetblogs.be TheVolksworldShow Date:24-25 Mar 2018 Location:Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey Contact: www.volksworldshows.com Camperfest Date:29 March-1 April 2018 Location:Chester Racecourse Contact: www.camperfest.co.uk April Elemental VWShow Date:7 April 2018 Location:Crouch ValleyShowground, Essex Contact: www.elementalvw.org.uk Elsecar Date:15 April 2018 Location:Doncaster Racecourse Contact: www.elsecarattheraces.com World of Air Date:15 April 2018 Location:Olen, Belgium Contact: www.worldofair.be Big Bang Date:27-29 April 2018 Location:Santa Pod Raceway Contact: www.big-bang.co.uk May The Only Meet is Essex Date:4-7 May 2018 Location:Orsett Showground RM16 3JU Contact: www.vw-tomie.co.uk Stanford Hall Date:6 May 2018 Location:Lutterworth, Leicestershire Contact: www.stanfordhallvw.com Vanwest Date:11-13 May 2018 Location:Burnham on Sea, Somerset Contact: www.vanwest.co.uk InternationalBuggy Treffen Date:18-21 May 2018 Location:Full-Reuenthal Militärmuseum, Switzerland Contact: www.buggy-club-schweiz.ch Run a show? Why not tell us about…

“I was always taught do things right first time” Whenever a specialist does major work on your classic Volkswagen you can expect the odd phonecall and probably the need to pop in from time to time. But what if you live in another country while your car is being built in the UK, and it’s a complete ground-up custom build? That’s when clear communication and complete mutual trust is vital. Something Pete Morley from Californian Classics Ltd (www.californianclassics.co.uk /01424 752217 ) definitely had when building this 1967 Karmann Ghia car for Matt Clark, a banker who lives in Switzerland. Although Matt knew what he wanted, Pete gave him the benefit of years of experience to make the car even better. “Matt got in touch in February 2016 wanting a Karmann…

“I’ve loved Volkswagens since I was a little girl” Owning a customised Volkswagen seems perfectly normal for anyone reading this magazine. But it doesn’t always translate that way to friends and family, as Sarah Broadway is quick to testify. “I’ve loved Volkswagens since I was a little girl and I’ve had four Beetles. My dad, Bob, patiently took me to various car shows but he wasn’t really into the scene. To be honest, he still doesn’t see the appeal!” she laughs. “They were crazy times back then, hundreds of mad cars and people having fun and my father was wandering around in the middle of it saying ‘that can’t be road legal’ or ‘how can you ever drive a car that’s so low?’” Thankfully though, despite his bewilderment, he realised…

“the scenery as you approach the event is nothing short of spectacular” Held in the heart of the Swiss Alps, the international VW meeting at Château-d’Oex is perhaps one of the most picturesque and beautiful locations for a gathering of air-cooled VWs. And yes, this is an air-cooled only event with the only exception being the Type 25/T3 range (up to 1992), which are also welcomed by the club. For UK visitors it’s quite a trek but the scenery as you approach the event is nothing short of spectacular. If you travel from Dover to Calais, you’ll be faced with an 8.5-hour (roughly 500 miles) drive through France into Switzerland, hence it might be something you’d include in a road trip or as part of a holiday tour rather than…

“someone had backed off the adjusters rather than fixing the problem” I last left the story of my recent Swedish Beetle purchase with the car broken down in Sweden – and a lot has happened since then. Although in the last report I anticipated a second trip to Sweden to collect the car when repaired, I received a call from the RAC a few days after I flew home to let me know there would only be a £75 excess to have the Beetle repatriated. This seemed like the most reasonable option, especially as any garage labour costs would be down to me and they had already found a major oil leak. What I neglected to mention in my last report that the brakes on the car were pretty bad…

“LHD price was £4,000, with conversion using new parts adding £750” The announcement that Beetle production in Germany was to end came as a bit of a body blow to enthusiasts. Beetles would henceforth be produced only in South America, with the main Mexican plant in Puebla building only left-hand drive versions. Worst of all, the Beetle model would no longer be officially imported into the UK. Undaunted, Beetle aficionados succumbed to the well-known phenomenon ‘If you can’t have one, you immediately want one’. The result was the emergence of ‘grey importers’ who now negotiated with sources abroad to procure new Beetles for British customers. Arranging to buy one was to take a bit of a risk. The price could be negotiated in advance but there were the inevitable questions…

The 2018 show is going to be a classic If you have not been to the show for a couple of years, make sure you come to the 2018 edition as it’s shaping up to be one of our best yet. The website is the place to go for all the latest news and information and while online, why not save some cash and buy your tickets in advance. www.volksworldshows.com Top European show vehicles We will have something to suit all tastes at The VolksWorldShow this year, with vehicles coming from all four corners of Europe. The one thing they have in common is that they are all finished to the very highest standard, with many making their debut at the event. If you have recently finished restoring…

“it was registered on 13 October 1965, the same day Paul was born” When I found out I was going to be writing about Paul Jackson-Turner’s 1965 Beetle, I assure you I was honoured. And not just because it’s one of the nicest cars on the show scene. No, it’s because it gave me an instant sense of déjà vu – and you’ll be amazed to hear I am talking about something that happened over a quarter of a century ago. You see I had joined VolksWorldat the start of July 1991 and Paul’s ’65 was one of the first top flight show cars I got to write about. The 1991 season was very memorable due to the fact Paul Jackson-Turner and his ’65 did battle at every show you…

“The event relies on seven drag classes, with Super Stock and Outlaw Turbo welcoming the fastest of the bunch” It all started in 1968, when a bunch of VW fans packed the grandstands of Orange County International Raceway (OCIR), eager to enjoy the inaugural Bug-In. The event went on to become hugely successful during the following 15 years, with the crowd witnessing a vast range of entertainment twice a year: drag racing, off-road and slalom competitions and engine-pull challenges, together with a packed car show. The busy format has since inspired Volkswagen promoters all over the world, the UK included, starting with the first Bug Jam at Santa Pod in ’87. Southern California’s VW scene truly mourned the closure of OCIR in 1983, as it sealed the fate of the…

“It’s hot, noisy as hell, bumpy and a bit of an animal in the bends” Last month I reintroduced you to my ’62 Type Notchback and alluded to the fact that there was another Type 3 in my life… the one my family and friends often refer to as ‘the other woman’! Those of you that have been part of the VW scene for a long while will almost certainly recognise this car, which actually belongs to my good friend (and photographic assistant), Jolly Jim Warner. It’s been featured in VolksWorldpreviously (twice actually) and is a well-known UK drag car with a collection of VWDRC trophies behind it. However, these days Jim has taken a step back from professional drag racing due partially to the high cost of running a…

“the oil’s been changed every 1,000-2,000 miles” At the end of October 2013 I was going to the last event of the year; Barn, Bugs & Wags which is run by Jon and Jackie White of VW Spares. As I drove into their barn I spotted a yellow Beetle sitting just around the corner outside the blasting booth. I could see it had high back seats and the shade of yellow led me to think it could be an Anniversary Beetle – a special edition manufactured in Autumn 1971 to celebrate the production of the 20 millionth VW. It was sold throughout Europe and was based on a flat screen Beetle as well as a 1302 with standard rims and hubcaps or Sprint Star rims. The specification was Saturn Yellow…