Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från VolksWorld

STARTER MOTOR Email: VolksWorld.ed@kelsey.co.uk If you’re looking to backdate your four-bolt VW steels, Deanos’ aluminium trim rings are for you. They simply clip beneath the stock hubcap and instantly transform the look of your wheels into early-style smoothies. Can also be used on early five-bolt wheels to change the colour of the centres, or for a custom aluminium appearance. The trims are available in satin, fully polished or can be powder coated in practically any colour of your choosing. How much? $119.49 - $179.49 (email deano@deanosvw.com for a shipping quote to the UK)From: www.deanosvw.com…

If it’s in California and a Type 3, chances are high that Paul Davis from San Bernadino has either sat in it or owned it. His total count is almost 40 now, with no sign of slowing, and he’s deeply involved in the So Cal Type 3 scene. Although it wasn’t what he was looking for at the time, Paul’s first love (when it comes to cars) was a 1969 Squareback. “I was big into BMX back then,” says the now 48-year-old. “and I was trying to find a VW Bus to carry my bike around. I guess I was 18 at the time, and there was nothing around in my budget that I liked. That’s when I found the Squareback and thought, hey, my bike can fit in the…

The man behind this exercise in style, taste and restraint hails from Tilburg in The Netherlands. Eric has been a VW fan for more than 35 years and, in that time, has honed his preferred style down to the subtle, ‘less is more’ school of thought. It could have gone a different way entirely, though, as he explains: “My friend had a Bug with Testarossa-style strakes and rear wings. That was the car that started it all off for me.” Over the years since, he’s owned a string of cool Bugs, Buses, Type 3s and a Porsche 356, but this is his first Karmann Ghia project. Incidentally, if Eric’s name sounds familiar, it may be because he’s built some killer vehicles, including a particularly special hi-top Split and a fabulous…

“It was November 2014 when I went to pick up the lathe I had bought from Viljakkala,” recalls Finn, Timo Viitanen. “There was this ’65 Beetle sitting there too, which the seller said I could have cheap. I wasn’t looking for a new project, but when he said I could have it for just a couple of hundred euros, I couldn’t resist. “I use to build model cars as a child, and I always modified every one. I would take tips from Swedish hot rod magazines, until one day in the early ’80s I saw a Finnish mag called V8-Magazine. That instantly became my main source of inspiration, and really made me fall in love with old American cars.” Timo began building full-size cars at the age of 16, starting…

VW books. We’re sure you’ve all got loads of them, so do you really need another one? Well, yes, you do. This new book by regular VolksWorld contributor, Stephan Szantai, covers vintage VW accessories from 1945 to around 1980. As the name and the cover suggests, Beetles are the main centre of attention, but parts for other air-cooled models are included, too. Vintage Volkswagen Beetle Accessories encompasses accessories for vintage / stock models, Cal Lookers, Resto Cals and more. Some you will be familiar with, others maybe not so much. Ever seen a VW coffee maker before? Neither had we. As well as the parts themselves, you will discover the story behind the companies that created them, making it a fascinating dive into the history of personalising your Volkswagen. The…

Email your news, thoughts, opinions and products to VolksWorld.ed@kelsey.co.uk Another book for your library, Million Dollar Middleman by Myles Kornblatt charts the career of Max Hoffman, the US car dealer who introduced Volkswagen, Porsche and many other European car brands to the American market during the decades following WWII. Hoffman built a reputation as the consummate middleman but, when the car companies he initially represented became more successful, he showed another side, issuing everything from lawsuits against his suppliers to allegedly threatening executives with a Mob hit. Sometimes the hero, sometimes the villain, Hoffman was the puppet master behind countless European import car deals, and played a significant part in Volkswagen conquering the North American market. How much? £30From:veloce.co.uk and other good booksellers ISBN: 978-1-787115-03-3…

We’re stepping into the VolksWorld time machine this month and heading back three decades to December 1992, the year that saw Uncle Keith lift the Modified class crown in the VWDRC, Peter Bailey launch the Chesil Speedster, the German Car Company move to Southend Airport and Welsh “madcap fund raiser”, Barry Kirk, change his name to Captain Beany (don’t ask…). Car features were a little on the stock side, starting with Karl Metcalfe’s Pastel Green ’53 Zwitter cover car, which he pulled out of a barn in Wales (back before every car was a barn find) and cost just one thousand pounds. It must have been a shocker you say. Nope. No rust repair needed, just a repaint, a set of Dylan Cheasley’s carpets, a new headliner and a freshen…

It’s almost a universal truth amongst VW Bus people that Split Screen Buses are the pinnacle of ownership. That can soon change, though, when people drive one! Likewise, it’s a well-known fact that when people get into something, pretty much anything except technology, the desire to buy an earlier model with each subsequent purchase takes hold. Yet what many fail to realise is that while VWs of the 1950s are undeniably very pretty, they don’t always drive as well as later versions, which is an important consideration if you’re the sort of person who loves to put a ton of miles on your VW each year. I’ve been as guilty as the next person of the ‘earlier is better’ mantra in the past, though I’ve never lost my love of…

I have mentioned before how I came to own my 1949 Hebmüller, bought while stationed in Germany with the US army in 1970. I shipped that car back to San Diego, California, when I left the army and eventually restored it. Around the same time, I started collecting small vintage VW toys as well and, in 1985, met a fellow VW toy collector from Japan called Akihiro (Aki) Arai. He spoke English very well and we remain good friends to this day. The internet has certainly made it easier to keep in touch! Making memories In September 2004, my wife, Rekina, and I took a vacation trip to Japan, and had a great guide in Aki, who helped us no end during our time there. One place on our agenda…

BORDER PATROL Writing about the ’79 Riviera this month got me thinking about what feels like a lifetime of Bay Window ownership. It began when, at age five or six (around 1980) my neighbour, Malcolm, had a Chianti Red ’72 Panel Van. He was a painter and decorator and one incident that sticks in my mind saw my best mate running across the cul-de-sac we lived in for ice cream, causing Malcolm to skid-stop the van and leave a trail of house paint in the road! We, on the other hand, had a caravan, and I always remember being on campsites as a kid and seeing Bay Window Campers, wishing we had one of those instead. I went on a school residential to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire and…