Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2015 i VolksWorld

Million dollar question Rob Hazelwood, Essex, via email I’m writing about the ’63 Beetle I bought earlier this year. The car in question came third at Stanford Hall this year in the concours section. I bought it from the previous owner who had the car for 16 years. Prior to that it was owned by a gentleman in Surrey who bought it for £661 in 1963. I have a subscription to VolksWorld and, after reading your article a few months ago about the blue Swedish Bug you highlighted as an ideal project car, I had to contact you. You described the ideal project car as original, low mileage, ideally a one-owner car, and with original paint (the more faded the better as that would indicate it hadn’t been messed with).…

I was only interested in buying a Red 1967 1500cc Cabriolet, as that’s the year I was born. I wanted a red one because it’s my favourite colour for a Beetle Cabriolet. Oh, and it had to be as close to 100% original as possible. Apart from that, I wasn’t fussy. When my car arrived in the UK and I saw it ‘in the flesh’ I was delighted by how original it is, but I was blown away how smoothly it drove. It’s a proper time warp car and it drives like it must have done when new in ’67. This one’s definitely a keeper…

The car we were competing in is a 1951 Split Window Beetle, which was entered in the Mille Miglia historic road race in Italy in 2011. It was built by the Grundmanns and entered by Volkswagen Classic itself. The car features period tuning components such as Porsche 356 16-inch steel wheels bolted to early 356 radial finned aluminium drum brakes. The engine was built by Marcel Tode of Getriebeservice Junker in Hessisch Oldendorf, and is a highly modified VW 25bhp unit with Porsche 356 barrels and pistons, which push the capacity up from 1131cc to 1488cc. Fitted with modified cylinder heads, dual Solex carbs, again from a porsche 356, and a Bosch centrifugal advance distributor, it produces a very healthy 60bhp. Inside, the car is completely stripped of trim and…

JOB INFO TOOLS NEEDED: 13 & 17mm sockets and spanners, drill, drill bit, spirit level, set square, saw, jigsaw, cone shaped stepped hole cutter, quickgrips, a friend MATERIALS USED: Rust inhibitor, primer and paint, Rusty Lee rock ’n’ roll bed TIME TAKEN: 2 -3 hours COST DIY: 3/4 width beds start from £255 and go to £280 for full width, including P+P PRO: £400 - £500 + trimming Rock ’n’ roll beds are a vital piece of equipment for any Camper nowadays, proving the perfect compromise between sociable seating and somewhere comfortable to sleep. Slotting one into your Split Screen or Bay Window needn’t be a chore though, especially if you start out with a product that’s as well considered and thought through as the trusty Rusty Lee bed. With…

Over the last 25 years, the swapmeet at The VolksWorld Show has grown from a few stands to a sprawling mass of some 100 tables, filled to the gunwhales with all manner of vintage VW paraphernalia. The VolksWorld Show attracts swapmeeters from all over the UK and Europe, so there’s always a ton of cool gear you won’t have been able to buy at any other UK show. In fact, the swapmeet is the first port of call for a great many show visitors, keen to find that super-rare part before someone else beats them to it, so why not do the same? Better still, why not get in on the action yourself and book your own swapmeet table? If you have a stash of Volkswagen parts in your garage…

What a difference a year makes. Last year’s Beach Buggin’ was struck by the remnants of Hurricane Bertha, and was cancelled early in the morning when it was deemed unsafe to hold it. On Sunday, August 9 this year though, Southsea Common was enjoying clear blue skies, a gentle breeze, wall-to-wall sunshine and temperatures steady at 72degF. We knew we were going to have a great day. Beach Buggin’ is now in its 15th year with David Western and Allyson O’Connor at the helm, with proceeds going to Ickle Pickles Premature Baby Unit, and the Macmillan Hospice at the local hospital in Portsmouth. By lunchtime, the Common was heaving with Volkswagens of all generations, with a fabulous show ’n’ shine entry, plus huge VW club support. Several enthusiasts boarded the…

Robin Snook, East Sussex , ’67 1300 My love of VWs dates back to my teens when my mum bought her first car, a ’67 Beetle, in 1972. We were so excited! I used that same Beetle up until 1990, it was an amazing car. Recently, I decided I needed a Beetle in my life and so set about searching for a decent one. I was prepared to go abroad if need be, and saw a couple of cars advertised in Portugal and Italy that were interesting. Then I saw an ad for a beautiful ’67 ragtop 1300 at a dealership in King’s Lynn. We were just about to head off on holiday to Turkey and, although I’d only seen a selection of photos, I decided to commit and put…

Västerås is an industrial city in the Swedish province of Västmanland, around 60 miles west of Stockholm, the capital of the Scandinavian country. The winters are long and cold in this town, situated close to the huge Mälaren Lake, like almost everywhere in Sweden. This fact may be one of the reasons why many inhabitants, mainly male, spend the cold season in their heated garages, fiddling around with cars. With turbocharged cars, to be precise. That’s their favourite way to increase performance, and why many people in the car world know Västerås simply as ‘Turbo Town’. Long-term readers of VolksWorld may remember our first story about this crazy city in the May 1995 issue – that’s 20 years ago! But it’s not only air-cooled VW people experimenting with blown vehicles,…

SPONSORED BY For a good 25 years (well, it will be next year) we, as in VolksWorld, have had our own show – you know, the big one at Sandown Park – but it took until last year for our sister magazine, Camper&Bus, to launch its own event, which it duly did at Eastnor Castle. It was so good they decided to do it again, only for 2015 the weather played ball and everyone who came along had a fine old time. If you weren’t luckily enough to make this year’s shenanigans, what did you miss? Well, quite a bit as it happens. Take a look at the pictures and you’ll notice a smörgåsbord of family-friendly entertainment, the vast majority of which was free, once you were inside the show.…

The regulations for the Petermax Müller Gedächtnis Rennen are based on FIA Appendix K, which covers historic circuit and rally cars. You can take part in a Split or Oval Beetle, a pre-’55 Type 2, a Porsche 356 built up to 1959 or any special-bodied, VW-powered coachbuilt, such as a Karmann, Hebmüller, Denzel or Enzmann. Vehicles have to be period correct and only use tuning parts available up to ’59 (though modern dropped spindles are permitted). Cars must have a minimum of 100mm ground clearance and narrowed beams are not allowed. You can bin the bumpers and the rear seat, but have to have two front seats, even if you don’t have a navigator. Concessions to safety include the option of a rollcage, 12-volt electrical systems and a driver /…

Given that some of the best-known Volkswagen Camper conversion companies christened themselves after the places they were based – think Westfalia, Danbury and Devon – you might expect the very northern-sounding Holdsworth to have emerged from somewhere like Yorkshire, or Lancashire. But not a bit of it. During its 30-year life, which saw the firm have a few different homes, it didn’t stray far from the home counties of England, around London. And its true origins were even more southern than that, all the way down under to Australia. Holdsworth Motorhomes takes its name from Richard Holdsworth and his Australian wife, Heather. After having spent eight years working in Aus, the couple returned to the UK in the late 1960s and decided to start exploring this much smaller land mass…

There was some big news at VW Heritage in September. David Ward, the founder and Managing Director has decided it’s time to take on a new role, announcing himself as Chairman, with Sales Director, Barney Dines (pictured middle, right), stepping into his shoes and taking over as Managing Director. Barney has been with VW Heritage since 2002, having previously founded Street Style and Power (SSP) and, before that, worked at Big Boys Toys in Thurrock and Volkspares in London. It’s fair to say he’s every bit the VW enthusiast David is, and we’ve no doubt will continue to run the company with the same ethos and values. David: “Having spent 30 years building VW Heritage from a single person operation into the global business it is today, I feel it…

I’ve seen it happen countless times – the drag racing bug bites, the quest for more speed and quicker times leads to the balance tipping so far toward the race side that the street side is neglected and, before long, what was a useable, fast street car becomes an unused, faster strip car. In a country where we have just three permanent drag strips, and weather that doesn’t even guarantee a successful race meet in the height of summer, it takes massive commitment to build and run a VW solely for quarter mile use. Far better, in my opinion, to have a fast VW built with the quarter mile in mind, but that stops just short of an all out race car you can’t enjoy the rest of the year.…

Whichever way you look at it, Barndoor Buses are hot property these days, with those with a penchant for the earliest Type 2s of all falling over each other to try and own the oldest, or the most unusual, versions of the marque. It took approximately 50 years for the Volkswagen world to wake up to them as a cool mode of transport but, now they have, prices have gone through the roof, original parts are in high demand and a whole new side to the VW aftermarket has opened up, with specialist companies like Auto Craft Engineering and Klassic Fab making excellent quality, Barndoor-specific repair panels. I asked Gertjan Bilderbeek, Djoek (pronounced Duke) to his friends, what it was that attracted him to a Barndoor after a lifetime of…

The 1967 Karmann Beetle you see here, owned by Mark Reynolds from Tilford, Surrey is among the first to have upright headlights, as opposed to sloping ones. This was unique to American-spec cars and the promotional blurb VW of America (VWoA) put out at the time stated, “The front fenders [wings] have a new look because our headlights have a new look. We straightened them, eliminated the glass cover and added more electrical power.” VW had to fit 12-volt fit sealed beams to meet with US federal regulations. The US market also got two-speed wipers, hazard warning lights and a pair of reversing lights on the back bumper. Locking front seat back rests were added to help keep rear seat passengers from slamming those in front into the dashboard in…

When Christian Grundmann called me and said, “My father would like you to be his navigator in the Petermax Müller Gedächtnis Rennen (PMGR), would you like to do this?” Before I could answer, he went on to say, “You would be driving in the 1951 Mille Miglia car.” I replied, “I’d be honored. 100% definitely, YES!” “Okay, cool, that is great news my friend. Goodbye.” I said the same and that was that. Well, except for the fact I went from thinking what a result, to thinking what the hell have I let myself in for? I’d just agreed to take part in a road race in a car over 60 years old, but I’d said yes, there was no going back. A bit of a laugh To give you…