Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i VolksWorld

Ever bought a ‘lemon’? Reading through Paul Lang’s account of how he went into buying his ’70 Bug virtually blind (pages 20-26 this issue), only realising later that he’d acquired a shed, got me thinking about my own air-cooled car buying catastrophes. When the heart is allowed to rule the head, there’s seldom a happy ending. “ It wasn’t a good look being towed in a Porsche ” Possibly my worst car-buying blunder was a white, Europa bumper Karmann Ghia. I went to view it in the railway station carpark at Sevenoaks one dark November evening, in four inches of snow. The interior was good, as was the 1600 engine, but the body was made of cheese and structurally, well, let me just say it had less integrity than a…

Indoor shows have played a crucial role in helping shape the custom car scene worldwide. As The VolksWorld Show has demonstrated since 1992, they allow the crowd to admire the very best, cherrypicked vehicles because everything’s undercover. UK custom car spectaculars started a little earlier, one of the most popular being Manchester’s immensely popular Rod & Custom Show. Held at Belle Vue between 1976 and ‘83, it drew over 70,000 visitors at its height. Its success allowed promoters to invite some major American players in the scene, all expenses paid, including Ed Papac and his ’64 Beetle (then painted yellow) in 1981. It went down a storm and even landed on the cover of UK’s Street Machine magazine in August that same year. And yes, you’ve got it, the trend-setting…

When you’re still in your teens, a classic Beetle as a daily driver isn’t usually the first choice that springs to mind. For Callum Goddard, it was those unmistakable cool looks along with an enticingly low insurance quote that lured him towards classic Bug ownership. “I’d already started modifying my first car which was a Peugeot 206 Quicksilver,” Callum remembers, “I’d fitted a tuned exhaust and forked out on different wheels but I stopped wasting money on the Pug as soon as I saw the Beetle I wanted.” It would be this 1974 1300 Beetle that caught Callum’s eye, advertised for £3500 and located many miles away on the South coast. “I liked what the previous owner had done to the car,” Callum explains, “the 1300 engine had been swapped…

I’ve unearthed yet another nugget concerning the Beetle’s past. It’s a little red book kept by Ken, its first owner, noting every fuel stop he’s made since he took delivery in October 1967. The first entry on October 23 records that the tank was three-quarters full and the odometer reading was 28 miles. That must have been the distance it was test-driven prior to being sold. More fascinating still, Ken’s sat down, added everything up and created a potted summary. Between October ‘67 and July 2017 – 50 years – he’s performed 800 fill ups, used 3,200 gallons and covered 121,000 miles, which equates to approximately 37mpg. Not bad, eh? And guess what, when he handed me the book, he gave me the original Staedtler HB pencil that had been…

I always find on looking through past editions that the many and varied stories published can always surprise and fascinate on renewed acquaintance, and are often invaluable for giving a unique picture of the way things were at the time. One such feature, titled ‘Busman’s Holiday’ in the July 1966 issue of Safer Motoring, concerned a visit made, unannounced, to Volkswagenwerk in Wolfsburg by a Beetle owner who also happened to be a journalist. Like so many enthusiasts, Ray Miller had been keen for some time to see the cars being made and witness the ‘German miracle’ – remember, this was just 20 years after that country’s crushing defeat had left the VW factory largely in ruins. (And only four years after Safer Motoring was first published!) When Ray announced…

March Ultimate Dubs Date: 08 March 2020 Location: Telford International Centre Contact: www.ultimate-dubs.co.uk UK Cruise to Ninove Date: 14 March 2020 Location: Folkestone to Ninove in Belgium Contact: see Facebook Freddy Files Date: 15 March 2020 Location: Ninove, Belgium Contact: see Facebook April Dubshed Date: 4-5 April 2020 Location: Eikon Exhibition Centre, Belfast BT27 5RF Contact: www.dubshed.com Elsecar Date: 19 April 2020 Location: Doncaster Racecourse Contact: www.elsecarattheraces.com May Stanford Hall Date: 03 May 2020 Location: Stanford-on-Avon, LE17 6DH Contact: www.stanfordhallvw.com Vanwest Date: 8-10 May 2020 Location: Taunton Racecourse Contact: www.vanwest.co.uk Big Bang Date: 15-17 May 2020 Location: Santa Pod Raceway Contact: www.big-bang.co.uk Stonor VW 2020 Date: 31 May 2020 Location: Stonor Park, nr Henley on Thames RG9 6HF Contact: www.abvwc.com Run a show? Why not tell us about it? email…

Putting on the show The Volksworld Show at Sandown Park has become something of an institution and is regarded by many to be the premier event at which to debut a fresh new show car. This year is certainly no exception as there are more than a dozen vehicles, which have been built specifically to be debuted in 2020 not to mention a large number of vehicles that have never been seen before at a UK event. Quite exciting stuff, eh? On a similar note, I’ve been talking with a renowned overseas VW enthusiast who is building a car, which will make its first appearance at Sandown Park in 2021. Best of all, this one is being kept completely under wraps – no social media hype or spy shots online……

Newry-based Matt Donnelly is no stranger to classic cars and admits he’s always fancied a Ghia. Traditionally, the most common route to Karmann ownership is from first owning a Beetle and then working your way up. But Matt didn’t feel the need for the softly, softly approach and instead threw himself straight in. “It’s the car’s exotic shape that’s always attracted me,” he explains. “It’s as simple as that and from the first time I saw an example in the metal I was hooked. However, I never had the opportunity to make a purchase, so when I saw this one I knew I had to have it.” And that was in the summer of 2013. Matt was doing something we all find difficult to resist, looking at cars on online…

Our air-cooled VWs have always enjoyed a healthy reputation for bulletproof reliability and will often keep going, despite mechanical problems that would see most cars on a one-way street to their local garage. That’s why it’s easy to simply ignore rough running issues or put off opening the engine lid on a car that’s a pig to drive. Disgraceful as it sounds, that’s just what happens sometimes. Of course, even the best maintained and serviced cars can have their issues, with cutting out, flat spots, loss of power and backfiring all traits most of us are all too aware of. But why put up with this when there’s simple steps you can take to get your pride and joy running sweetly again before the show season kicks off? Here’s a…

WELCOME The VolksWorld Show’s been going for over three decades now, attracting the very best air-cooled cars to the classy Sandown Park location for what has to be one of the most talked about and eagerly anticipated events of the season. And looking down the list of cars on display, this year promises to be one of the best for a long time. Highlights are too numerous to mention, but suffice to say the immediate post-war Type 28 built by the British Army in 1945 shouldn’t be missed. There’s not another one like it anywhere, and having just been restored by German collector, Christian Grundmann, it’s being unveiled for the first time at Sandown. The 20+ car Cal Look display in the Brasserie promises to be pretty special, too. Especially…

I’m not 100% sure where my love for VWs originated. Most likely it came as a nine-year-old, enjoying Herbie films, drawing pictures of Bugs and watching trash on telly. After all, even Libby from Neighbours drove a Bug for a while! One thing’s for sure, one of my oldest friends, Grant Tatum (of GT Restorations), played a big hand in fuelling my enthusiasm. Having met at school, Grant and I would talk VWs; we liked the same stuff, and spent hours drooling over magazine features. However, despite my love of the aesthetics, I had this underlying impression that old VWs were, well, just a bit rubbish. Sure, they looked cool (and I ‘got’ that), but they just didn’t seem to be quite as practical or reliable in daily use as…

Raoul Verbeeman is a well-respected Belgian vintage VW guru who has restored (and owns) some of the rarest VWs in Europe. In fact, his obsession has almost become a way of life as he shares his home with his collection. Yes, it may look like a cool museum – and in many ways, that’s exactly what it is – however, with a bedroom and a small kitchenette attached, this is also a cool home! Sure, there’s a great fire truck, a rare VW Bug pick-up and a ’50s Karmann cabriolet plus a Tempo Matador (both of which Raoul is currently working on), but there’s also an impressive collection of rare parts (not to mention the occasional scooter and motorcycle). But, it’s this cute, coachbuilt ice cream truck which caught our…

You’ve probably figured by now that I like to keep my vehicles pretty stock. It’s not out of choice, necessarily, it’s just that I haven’t got the imagination, the cash or the technical nous to pull off radical modifications. That’s why I’d decided not to do too much to the ’67 1300 Beetle I was lucky enough to buy last summer. After all, it had been with the same first owner (Ken) for 52 years and it just didn’t seem right to interfere with or diminish in any way all those years of history. Hence why I had resisted the urge to polish any of its faded Delta green paintwork. Until now, that is. You see, the shiny finish on both rear wings didn’t match the rest of the paintwork.…

Beutler was one of the more intriguing coachbuilders with a nifty sideline in air-cooled Volkswagens. Well, we say VWs, but air-cooled German cars might be a more accurate statement, since this Swiss company also produced some lovely Porsche-based machines as well. The deft touch it exhibited in transforming Porsches also manifested itself in the firm’s VWs, resulting in some stunning-looking creations. But such was Beutler’s flexibility that it also produced some very utilitarian designs as well, including Beetle-based estates, vans and pick-up trucks. However, even these demonstrated a certain flair that marked them out from similar efforts by other coachbuilders. Safe haven The company was founded by two brothers, Ernst and Fritz Beutler, who had learnt their trade at the wonderfully-named Worblaufen, Tuscher and Graber in Switzerland before WW2. Unusually,…