Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i VolksWorld

“my request was greeted by the classic Gallic shrug” Last time I was waiting for my Beetle’s ‘birth certificate’ to arrive. Well, it came in super fast time, thankfully expelling the myth there was a six-month delay. So, armed with my British passport, the purchase invoice for the car, a fresh Contrôle Technique (see my sagas on pages 80-81) and various other bits of paperwork I excitedly made my way to the prefecture in Vannes to get a French registration, or Carte Grise. There was a queue, of course, but I eventually got seen and I presented all my documentation. Confirming my name and address, I began thinking about getting the new French number plates made up and where I would take the Beetle on its inaugural drive but alas,…

Idon’t know about you, but one of the great appeals about owning old cars, whatever the make, is the unknown ‘back story’. We can often glean a build date, sometimes even a couple of previous owners’ details, but it’s the gaps in the middle that are the tantalising mysteries, especially faced with something that has survived well over the decades. Portsmouth’s Chris Geary’s ’54 Oval is one of those cars. This feature won’t be a long tale of cold nights toiling away in a lock up with no power and zero budget, simply because Chris has already “been there and done that”, having rebuilt a 1302S Beetle in just such a fashion, with the help of his dad, many years ago. Having spent some years away from the scene, this…

I first met Martin John a few years ago when I featured his immaculate Split Screen Bus. At the time, he mentioned he was working on a Beetle project. Fast forward a few years to Beach Buggin’ 2016 and his Bug only goes and picks up the award for Best Beetle. Time to reestablish communication and get his Beetle in front of my cameras. So, had Martin always dreamed of owning a Beetle? “Not at all,” he replies. “We went to VW Action about four years ago and my daughter saw one and said she really wanted one.” So Martin started doing some Bug research. “I did find a ’57 Oval for sale on eBay, so it must have been one of the last ones as they were only produced…

At last, the body is ready to leave Deluxe HQ. There will always be more you could do in search of perfection, but with the tight timescale we’re working to, we’ve done all we can. Time for someone else to take over… The body arrived at Spike’s Vintage Restorations safely and was immediately set up on a trolley, in readiness for body prep and paint. I think of a restoration like this as a relay race, and we’ve now passed the baton to Spike and his crew. Normally, you’d have to pay a deposit and wait around six to 12 months for a slot as they’re so booked up, but these guys know the score with this job and have just six weeks to turn it around for us. The…

January Hochzeitsmesse Luzern Date: 14-15 January 2017 Location: Luzern, Switzerland Contact: www.vwbussli-mieten.ch Hot Chocolate Party VII Date: 21 January 2017 Location: Renkum, Holland Contact: www.kieftenklok.nl Camper Mart Date: 29 Jan 2017 Location: The International Centre, Telford Contact: www.campermart.co.uk February Indoor Swapmeet Date:2 Feb 2017 Location:Mol, Belgium Contact: www.dekempensekeverclub.com Nicana’s Oltimer swapmeet Date:11 Feb 2017 Location:Brunegg, Switzerland Contact: www.nicanaotm.ch 29e BourseVW deValence Date:19 Feb 2017 Location:Valence, France Contact: www.facebook.com/ events/1309572102395769 Bourse de Pieces Air Cooled Date:19 Feb 2017 Location:Auby, France Contact: www.passioncox.com DubFreeze Date:19 Feb 2017 Location:Bingley Hall, Stafford Contact: www.dubfreeze.co.uk March Spring Dub Date:5 March 2017 Location:The Great Harrogate Showground Contact: www.springdub.co.uk Bulli Ausstellung Date:10 March 2017 Location:Pfäffikon, Switzerland Contact: www.vwbussli-mieten.ch Ultimate Dubs Date:12 March 2017 Location:Telford International Centre Contact: www.ultimate-dubs.co.uk Lincoln VW Camper Day Date: 26…

“I spotted it for sale on ebay and thought, it’s mine!” Leanne Dodd, 1971 Volksrod Graphic designer Leanne Dodd produces custom artwork, VW themed gifts (www.leadarts.com), runs Guluzar, which specialises in ladies fashion handbags, scarves, jewellery and accessories and is a member of Victory Wheelers rod and custom car club. With that amount of creativity and individuality, you know her Volkswagen isn’t going to be run of the mill and stock! Indeed, Leanne owns a rather eye catching 1971 Volksrod that was originally built by a rodder from Hayling Island, Hants. “I first clocked this rod around two years ago at a show,” she smiles. “Several years later I spotted it for sale on ebay and thought, it’s mine!” Since purchasing it, she’s fitted 2-inch drop front spindles in order…

Far be it from me to question any car owner giving their vehicle a name – it seems a terrifically popular thing to do in classic Volkswagen circles. But when David Powell, with a completely straight face, introduces his immaculate Bay Window Camper as ‘Binky’, I stifled a giggle and instead, asked the inevitable question. Why Binky? “My daughter, Megan, came up with it when she was five years old,” grins David, “and we all liked the name.” Well, that’s good enough for me. “I always wanted a Volkswagen Camper,” he continues, “I’d seen a number of them advertised around the £7,000-£9,000 mark, but they all needed a lot of work. Then I spotted this one on Preloved – a selling website that’s a bit like Gumtree – and bought…

JOB INFO TOOLS NEEDED 5mm Allen key; breaker bar; electric drill and 4-8mm drill bits; feeler gauges; pry bars; screwdrivers; spanners / sockets: 10-32mm; torque wrench MATERIALS USED Paper towels; marker pen TIME TAKEN 8 hours COST DIY   £2,040 You may relish the challenge of static timing your engine, checking the points gap, changing the odd dizzy cap and whatever else may need to be done to keep your Beetle or Camper running properly, but what if you didn’t have to do any of those things ever again? The peace of mind modern ignition and electronic fuel injection offers means motorists take it for granted that their vehicles’engines will always start in the morning, and always run at their optimum efficiency. And now you can have the benefits of…

“it has skated a little close to the fashion wind at times” L20B. L96N. L10A. L96E. And L13A. If you really know your Volkswagens, you’ll instinctively recognise those designations as Brilliant Orange, Viper Green Metallic, Rally Yellow, Gemini Metallic and Dakota Beige. Four of them are among the most flamboyant Volkswagen shades of the 1970s, the decade that taste forgot. And the other one is beige. They’re just some of the many hundreds of paint colours that have appeared on the Beetle (and its brethren) over the 65 years the car was in production. Such was the longevity of the Type 1 that probably no other car has ever been available with such a huge and varied choice of hues. It’s testament to the timeless design that it managed to…

2-year-old Max Edwards is the talented man behind Rugeley, Staffordshire-based EVA Restorations, and it comes as no surprise his own air-cooled show piece is something a little bit special, so when he offered us the opportunity to take a closer look at his ’78 Bug, we were there like a shot. Despite his tender age, Max has had air-cooled VWs in his blood pretty much since birth. Not only was his dad involved with restoring and modifying them, his grandad before that was, too. “They were working on Beetles in the ’80s, but then stopped for a while, and my dad got back into it all again around 10 years ago, along with me,” Max recalls. This ’78 is actually Max’s first car, and the one he says will always…

Friday started with a queue to get into the legendary Santa Pod venue as racers, traders, autojumblers and visitors alike, arrived to set up their temporary homes for the weekend and meet up with old friends, or indeed, make new ones. Friday evening’s entertainment simply rocked. The Skatonics blew everyone away in the Fueler’s Bar as part of the ‘Complete Madness Soul & Ska’ night, while DJs Ash Fern and Craig ‘Cut-Up’ Jones had everyone throwing shapes to dance and house classics in the main marquee. You must be mad! Saturday dawned bright, with no hint of the weather that would arrive later. In keeping with the ‘Mad Hatter’s’ theme for the event, the ‘Mad Vehicle Display’ in the main marquee was genius, with radical and crazy vehicles of all…

“the obvious disadvantage was quickly spotted by a bewildered PR man in Wolfsburg” Being at the ‘sharp end’ of Safer Motoring(later VW Motoring) magazine for some years gave me a regular glimpse into the wacky, often downright weird, world of the compulsive inventor. Not only were these owners convinced they knew better than the hundreds of highly qualified engineers at Wolfsburg; they often demonstrated it in a striking and convincing manner. Take, for example, Richard Ihm from Saffron Walden, whom we featured in February 1972. He woke up one morning with a startlingly simple idea to make crashes safer. Ideally, of course, you’d hope not to crash in the first place, but Richard reckoned that if you did, you’d be safer in a pointed car. The idea, you see, was…