Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i VolksWorld

We’re always being asked “what does it take to make a feature car?” and, all too often, people assume it takes a huge budget to build a 100-point show car or, at the opposite end of the scale, finding a car with the kind of patina that money simply can’t buy. However, it’s not always about money, restoration or being lucky enough to find the perfect sun bleached paintwork… sometimes it’s simply about ‘style’ – something this Bug has in abundance. Casper Waehrens from Frederiksberg, Denmark is the man behind this stylish OldSpeed ’55 Oval, which he has owned for more than 16 years. “When I was young, I watched a local guy named Anders build a ’56 Oval, which he’d fitted with a Golf GTi engine,” he explained. “I…

“he decided he’d had enough fun and that it was now time to get serious” Jose works as a plumber in and around the El Paso area but, in his spare time, he works just as hard on his VWs and has previously assembled a tough ’67 Bug and a hot Buggy based on a shortened ’66 chassis. However, it’s the ’63, his latest project, which we’re interested in today – it’s been turning heads and tearing up the streets for a short while now, hence we had Adam Avenue track Jose down to snap some photos and find out more. When Jose purchased the ’63 back in 2010 it looked pretty good and he was quite happy with his latest buy. But, as he explains, his joy was somewhat…

Of course, the vast majority of cars exhibited at The VolksWorldShow are fresh builds. However, we wanted to mention a handful of eagerly-anticipated show car debuts, which caught the attention of the VolksWorldshow crew… Whilst some of the owners of these cars had shared photos and details throughout the build (i.e. in the run up to the show), there were others that had been very secretive about their vehicles. In fact, there were a handful of cars that really had us quite worried, as we hadn’t seen a single photograph of them prior to the show! Sometimes you have to trust friends, go with your instincts and just throw caution to the wind… but, when we heard that some were still being assembled literally hours before they were due to…

JOE WILLIAMS’ PHUNKY PHANTOM V8›POWERED BUG This car was actually built many moons ago by Wayne Allman of The Intergalactic Custom Shop (yes, the guy that runs the insane‘Mental Breakdown’7-second Split-screen dragster) but had changed hands (and colour) since it was featured in VolksWorldway back in May 2002, hence it had pretty much slipped off the radar. But then we heard that Darryn Coleman at DC Customs had been commissioned to tear the Phantom down and treat it to a comprehensive rebuild and a fresh new look, which would put this wild ride very much back on the map. It was touch-and-go in the run up to the event, but Darryn pulled out all the stops and blew us all away with the ‘new look’ Phunky Phantom. OK, the V8…

“The late Major Ivan Hirst was a most interesting contributor, causing much mirth when he impishly mentioned that he now drove a BMW!“ One of the most interesting of many visits to Germany during my stint as editor of Safer Motoring/ VW Motoring magazine, was the subject of a report in our December 1985 issue. For Volkswagen had declared October 17 of that year to be the Beetle’s 50th birthday – and who were we to argue? It seems the date was based on the first road test run of a Beetle prototype in 1935. As it happened, making this connection enabled VW to coincide the event with the official 100th anniversary of the motor car (some readers may remember the British celebration, Motor 100, held at a rain-drenched Silverstone…

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 All Types VWShow Date:20 May 2018 Location:Bodwelwyddan Castle, North Wales Contact:www.alltypesvwshow.co.uk InternationalBuggy Treffen Date:18-21 May 2018 Location:Full-Reuenthal Militärmuseum, Switzerland Contact:www.buggy-club-schweiz.ch June Stonor VWRally Date:3 July 2018 Location:Stonor Park, Henley onThames, Oxfordshire Contact:www.abvwc.com Deva Dubs n Rods Date:8-10 May 2018 Location:Shrewsbury Showground, SYI 2PF Contact:www.devadubshow.co.uk Hangarz Date:9-10 May 2018 Location:Sporthal Nazareth, Belgium Contact:@Hangarz Bristol Volksfest Date:15-17 June 2018 Location:Birches Farm, Bristol Contact:www.bristolvolksfest.co.uk InternationalKever Weekend Date:15-17 June 2018 Location:Event Centre De Bergen, Wanroij, Holland Contact:www.ikwwanroij.nl Drive yourVW toWork Day Date:22 June 2018 Location:Worldwide Contact:http://www.ploon.nl Run a show? Why not tell us about it? email VolksWorld.ed@kelsey.co.uk Bristol Volksfest Now in its 26th…

“I knew it had to be a classic as my dad, Mick, was always tinkering with old motorbikes and cars on the driveway” Just because you use your Bus for camping, doesn’t mean it can’t be built to a high standard. Similarly, owning a show-quality vehicle shouldn’t dictate that it has to be bundled in bubblewrap. Take Karen and Chris Woolsey’s 1969 Bay Window. It’s a genuine Dormobile, but they weren’t looking for a period perfect van if that meant a compromise on modern comforts and conveniences. “It’s got a proper 240-volt electric heater that can also run on gas,” says Chris, “hot and cold running water, an electrical hook up and a gas cooker. We bought it in 2013 with the original Dormobile interior still fitted, but took it…

Up until 1987, Volkswagen events hosted in the UK were more akin to classic car shows, with little emphasis on modified vehicles. But the scene had already begun to change around 1982-83, when an increasing number of the younger generation discovered the joy of driving air-cooled VWs, then plentiful and inexpensive. Several British magazines devoted to rods and customs helped spread the gospel, before the launch of VolksWorld in ’87. Colin Burnham’s Air-Cooled Volkswagens became the ‘style guide’ of the period and I will always cherish the copy I purchased shortly after it came out in ’86. Colin mostly depicted the Californian VW hobby and it seems that everybody wanted a piece of it. Visiting the inaugural Bug Jam proved the point, with plenty of cars being inspired by the…

MARK ‘SILLY SID’ SALISBURY’S BAY WINDOW DELUXE – Mark has been involved in the UK VW scene since the mid-late ’80s and is perhaps best known amongst longterm readers as ‘Silly Sid the BMX kid’. (That’s right, he’s the guy that famously jumped over Ritchie King’s red Karmann Ghia on his BMX!) Fast-forward 30 years and Mark is back, this time with a super-trick Bus, which he had commissioned to be built in the USA then shipped to the UK in the latter-part of 2017. The Bay was delivered to T2D where it was prepared for a UK show debut at Sandown Park. Having seen the build photos, we were keen to check out the finished product and, as expected, it was a top-notch vehicle (which the judges deemed to…

“noises that you want to hear, such as the engine, can be all the more appreciated” The delicate sound of an air-cooled engine is core to the character of our classic Volkswagens. So why would you want to block it out? Well, dialing down the volume a little of that distinctive soundtrack is not the sole aim of soundproofing because it’s also effective in blocking and reducing a whole host of unwanted din such as road and tyre noise, air leaks through glass seals, panel rattles, vibration and even distorted amplification of noise from a stereo. It’s often surprising to discover how much noise is generated inside a vehicle, but by controlling it, the noises that you want to hear, such as the engine, can be all the more appreciated.…

In case you didn’t already know, VW Heritage has changed its name to Heritage Parts Centre, allowing the Shoreham-based firm to supply parts to owners of VW and Porsche vehicles under a single company name. Founded in 1986, the company was appointed UK Partner for Volkswagen Classic Parts in 2011, giving them direct access to all obsolete VW stock. Located in a modern 45,000sq ft warehouse in West Sussex, they employ over 80 staff and last year shipped to 115 different countries. They regularly throw open the doors for their monthly Heretics meets, which run on the 3rd Thursday of each month until September. Said MD Barney Dines: “For me and the team at Heritage it’s all about the cars; we own them, we drive them, we work on them…

“I knew it had to be a classic as my dad, Mick, was always tinkering with old motorbikes and cars on the driveway” Until recently, it seemed every young driver wanted to be behind the wheel of a hot hatch or fast saloon with a lairy bodykit, bling wheels and silly exhaust. Lambo doors, smoked lenses and stretched rubber were the norm and that twin engine conversion was also a real possibility one day, maybe. Back in the late ‘90s, the thought of running a standard 1300cc VW Beetle as your first car and actually spending money on it would have been unthinkable. But, now all those big winged Saxos and Corsas have thankfully all but disappeared from our streets there’s been a rise in popularity of ‘70s and ‘80s…

If you’ve ever organised a shindig, be it a birthday bash, wedding do or surprise family reunion, you’ll know what a nerve wracking experience it can be. Especially when you’ve got people coming from all over the globe to be there. Well, despite having done it 25 times previously, we still had a touch of the toilet two-step in the weeks leading up to The VolksWorldShow weekend. And that wasn’t surprising, given that we’d had a few dozen cars pull out unexpectedly at the very last minute. I was especially nervous, given that I was about to embark on an adventure of my own, piloting my ’68 Beetle on its first cross-channel trip from my home in Brittany to Esher. As it happened, like the event in general, it all…

“the exhaust had an annoying tendency of gassing any occupants at slow speeds or in a headwind” one of the more famous Volkswagen adverts, from 1964, ponders the eternal question “Have you ever wondered how the man who drives the snowplough, drives to the snowplough?” Well, funnily enough, what with it being a VW commercial, he uses a Beetle. But what if the snow is really deep and drifting? In that case, he (or she) would probably be better off using a Snow-Trac instead. And there would still be a certain familiarity because, despite the rather funky appearance, these Swedish-built, caterpillar-tracked winter warriors were pretty much Volkswagens under the skin, comprehensively pilfering the Wolfsburg parts bin. Around 2300 were made between 1957 and 1981, which might not sound like too…