Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från VolksWorld

If, like me, the first time you saw a VW Kübelwagen was in one of those old World War 2 films on TV, they were always driven by the enemy, so you didn’t really mind if they crashed, or were blown up. They were almost all, as I was to later discover, replicas too, but I wasn’t really bothered about that either. Little did I know at the time that these cars would be seriously collectable one day, and that I’d be geeking out over the finer details of Len Jones’ amazing example. Having been subjected to all the classic war movies as a kid, I was never particularly interested in the vehicles in them. I only began to understand what a Kübelwagen even was much later when I started…

’66 CAL LOOK BEETLE Der Fieser Luftkühlers VW Club (DFL) was launched in 1998 and, in the time since, has grown to become one of the premier Cal Look clubs in Europe. Roughly translated, the name means The Fierce Air-Coolers, which is a pretty apt description of the cars that belong to members of the club. Membership is by invitation only, so the club comprises only cars existing club members consider to be ‘proper’ California Lookers. That’s not being snobbish, or exclusive, it’s just making a place where fans of that particular style of VW can get together and appreciate them, and the history behind them. As a result, a typical DFL club display you might see at a VW event always represents some excellent examples of that timeless style.…

STARTER MOTOR Your RIDES! Email your rides, thoughts and opinions to volksworld.ed@kelsey.co.uk Ireland’s Glenn Williams is no stranger to VolksWorld. The radical creations he and his brother have created have always made you stop and look (check out your back issues from September 1995, Summer 2010 and July 2015 for proof) so it’s fitting that the most radical car at this year’s show should have come from the same stable. Which one are we talking about? The bizarre blue thing in the Surrey Hall that had everyone scratching their heads in wonder. Here’s where you find out what it is. Glenn: “I’m into all sorts of cars, but have a particular interest in American 1940’s and ’50’s customs and funky 1950’s kit cars. Geoff Hacker’s excellent Forgotten Fiberglass (now undiscoveredclassics.com)…

1990’s NOSTALGIA In part one of this mini series last month, we looked back at the European VW scene in the 1980s, and how parts of it were influenced by what was happening in America, California particularly. This month, we up sticks and move to America and dig out some photos of how things looked there in the early 1990s, and beyond. I had the good fortune of witnessing the colourful VWs that swarmed the streets of southern California first hand as an 18-year old, thanks to a three-week trip as an exchange student I made to The Golden State in 1985. Better yet, I landed in Tustin, in the heart of Orange County, the birthplace of Cal Look. My second trip to So Cal occurred in 1988, a year…

The daffodils are blooming, sheep are lambing and the big fireball in the sky is finally beginning to give us a bit of warmth. More importantly than all of that, across the land there’s a distant rumble of flat-four engines starting up. Many for the first time since winter descended upon us, which seems like 89 years ago. Mother Nature provides us with many signs of spring, but humans standing in t-shirts on the rooftop bar at Sandown Park, sipping drinks while admiring some of the best air-cooled VWs in the world is some of her finest work. Yes folks, the season opener we’ve all been waiting for has now been and gone. Behold The VolksWorld Plus Show. You know we always like to grab your attention as soon as…

Not many of us are lucky enough to have grown up in families with parents who drove air-cooled VWs when they were new, but Erik Thorsen was one of the chosen ones. Not only did his father buy the 1960 Double Cab pick-up you see here in 1971, but he travelled extensively around the US in it, both in the course of running an organic produce business, but also as the family car. Having been a part of the VW scene for over 35 years, I’ve lost count of the number of stories I’ve read and heard from people who are trying to track down an old family VW that was sold some time in the past. As well as the climate here in northern Europe being against us, the…

’59 356A COUPE We’ve seen numerous customer projects surface from the gates of Irv’s Resto Shop in recent years, but occasionally the talented team behind the doors finds the time to work on their own cars, too. This beautiful 1959 Porsche 356A coupé belongs to the main man behind the highly respected Cumbrian business, Paul Irving. It was over 12 years ago now that Paul decided to turn his passion for restoring classic cars into a business, and consequently Irv’s Resto Shop Ltd. was born. “I’ve lived and breathed classic cars all my life,” he says, “but I guess my obsession began at the age of seven when I started to help my dad out in the garage. Restoring cars is in my blood.” Taking the bold step of turning…

A large percentage of the Volkswagen model cars we’ve covered over the years in VW Toys have been produced in Germany in the 1950s. This is no great surprise, of course, as the Volkswagen is of German origin, and the ’50s were arguably its heyday. However, Japanese toys have also featured heavily and the market for Japanese tin plate toys was huge in the 1950s, both for sale in their home country and overseas. I’ve watched with interest as the prices commanded by Japanese tin VWs of the 1950s and ’60s has steadily risen over the years, driven by demand not just from VW model collectors but also collectors of Japanese tin cars in general. The age, size and basic quality are the main factors that determine price, as well…