Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i VolksWorld

As I type this, the UK has started to open up and, whilst I enjoy a pub as much as the next guy, it’s the prospect of getting out in my Camper that appeals most right now. In fact, as soon as this is finished, I’ll be packing my Van and heading off for my first weekend away in seven months. In previous years, I’ve spent literally every weekend from April to October travelling around the UK and Europe, living in either the big ol’ Karmann Gipsy luxo-’Wagen at the larger, family weekenders or, if I’m on my own, in the smaller, faster (much faster!) T5 tin top. As a result, I clock up around 10-15,000 miles a year behind the wheels of them. To put that into some kind…

When you think of Mexico, what springs to mind? Tequila, mariachis and Volkswagens for a start, right? Growing up in Guadalajara, Jalisco these things just represent normal life for Adrián Plascencia, owner and builder of this ’57 Oval. “I wasn’t actually interested in VWs much until I travelled to Mexico City, where the vocho is a common taxi used all over the city,” says Adrián. Vocho being Mexican slang for the Beetle, in case you didn’t know. Consequently, when he turned 17, he bought his own vocho, whilst working hard and saving to get the car fixed up. Unfortunately, he was later forced to sell it to release some funds and it wasn’t until a few years later, after relocating to San Francisco, that he was back in the market…

Everybody has a time threshold when it comes to projects. For some, if it isn’t on the road within a matter of months, they’re bored and the car is sold. Others are quite happy to have a project hanging around for years, the build being as much part of the enjoyment as the drive at the end of it. And sometimes, life just gets in the way and, as a result, cars sit in garages for decades, though the desire to still own and finish them one day remains. Paul Henshall is one of those who has really gone the distance. And after 20 years of ownership, he’s still pushing forward with his race car dream. Paul is fortunate in that he has his own workshop. His company, B and…

Re-makes are all the rage these days, from Annie to EMPI. Sometimes, they can be as good, if not better, than the original, but that’s always a matter of opinion. Re-booting a movie, a bar of chocolate, or even a flavour of crisps, is one thing, but what about building a new version of a coachbuilt car of which only around 100 (and that in itself is only a vague estimate) were ever produced? For this, we have to call on the Metal Master. For the last 10 years or so, Edwin Jesper (50) has been restoring the bodywork of mostly vintage VWs and Porsches from what we should really call his ‘studio’ in Antwerp, Belgium. He spent the 10 years before that doing similar for Bob van Heyst at…

OCTO stands for Orange County Transporter Organization and, in late January 2021, its annual winter meet was given the green light to take place in early February. Welcome news, but it gave the club precious little time to promote and advertise the gathering, hence numbers were down on the 342 Splits that registered for the October 2020 meet. Still, 234 pre-’68 Buses is one place is still an impressive achievement, especially as the quality of vehicles in attendance was so high. Perhaps more importantly, though, the social aspect was something to cherish and enjoy after such a long and painful break. This one-day event is unlike the typical UK or European meet as there is no camping and, consequently, people start queuing at the gates to the Long Beach Veteran’s…

Email your news, thoughts, opinions and products to VolksWorld.ed@kelsey.co.uk Dizzy rascal Here’s a neat item for those keen on fine tuning their VW engines. Fresh from Dutch company, 123 Ignition, is the programmable Tune+ -4-R-V distributor, which features Bluetooth connectivity, allowing you to hook up to a laptop or mobile device (via a dedicated app) and adjust the ignition curve remotely. The electronic dashboard app includes a digital rev counter, soft rev limiter, advance curve mapping, boost retard and even an anti-theft system via a PIN code. Find out more at www.123ignition.com For those interested in the features available via the app, there’s a downloadable manual here: https://123ignition.com/manuals/123manual_TUNEPLUS.pdf Show down While there is definitely now light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel, the ongoing Covid…

Very few people will ever be in a position to become intimate with a Dannenhauer & Stauss (D&S for short) coachbuilt of their own so, as we have Edwin Jesper’s magnificent recreation over on p62 of this issue, we thought it timely to take a look back at a stock one that was featured in the October 2011 issue of Ultra VW. The 1953 model belongs to VW coachbuilt aficionado, Siegbert Holtermüller of Germany, and was found at the turn of the century in a rusty, accident damaged state. For those who may be unaware, the big difference between a D&S and most of the other VW-based coachbuilts of the 1950s is they were steel bodied, not made from aluminium. To complicate matters further, the main D&S body structures comprise…

I guess, in some respects, getting married with a classic VW as transport has become a bit of a cliché. Sure, it’s better than a white, 1977 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, the archetypal UK wedding car for multiple decades. The thing is, though, many of the companies who set out to do VW wedding car hire use vehicles that are a bit, well, sub-par. Personally, I can’t imagine anything worse than hiring a classic VW for your wedding and then being disappointed when what turns up is poorly restored, or lacking attention to detail. If you’re a bit anal like me, and have considered renting a Volkswagen for your big day, there are really only three options: convince a friend with a car you know to help, check out any potential…

It was during the 1950s that Volkswagens really started to spread across the globe, first to the European nations surrounding Germany and then slowly, but surely further afield. One of Wolfsburg’s biggest challenges was to crack Australia, a country capable of testing even the Volkswagen’s legendary resilience and robustness. This was a place at the other end of the earth to Europe, and one that could be notoriously difficult for those who lived there, and the vehicles they drove. At least outside of the civilised cities. With one third of its 2,974,581-square mile land mass classified as harsh, or semi-desert, where 10 inches of rain per year is unusual (by comparison, Manchester gets over 40 inches a year, and isn’t even Britain’s rainiest city), few might have given the VW…

Half-century Ghia I’ve enclosed a few pics of my ’71 Ghia, a Californian import with a lot of original paint, which was supplied by Pete Morley at Californian Classics. It came complete with its original US licence plate, full service history and a rare, dealer-fitted air conditioning kit (although I have removed some of the kit recently in order to fit twin carbs). The coupe is now lowered ’n’ narrowed and fitted with a set of staggered four-lug Sprint Stars, while the original motor has been updated with a pair of Weber 40IDF carburettors and an NOS Kadron dual quiet pack exhaust. The interior is original, albeit upgraded with a Formula steering wheel, an 8-track player and a handfull of original EMPI accessories. It may not be the fastest, or…

I am delighted to be able to report that the Durachrome Bug is safe and well, now in the hands of Dru Jaxon in Bend, Oregon. As stated in Old gold in our April issue, the car did indeed end up in The Beaver State, initially fitted with a 383ci small block Chevy, painted light blue and re-named ‘The mouse that roared’. The tale of it being used on the street also appears to be true as the car’s next owner, Kenny Clouse, told Phil Burgess, NHRA National Dragster Editor in 2017 that he installed a blown small block, lights and registered it as a Volkswagen-based buggy, racing it “at the midnight drags” (slang for on the street). Clouse later sold it, and it remained in Oregon, but he bought…

Before we dive into the story behind this high-rise Type 181, I’ll start by letting Stéphane explain his ‘flan’ nickname: “Many years ago I was a student at the faculty of Lille, and was known for my love of one particular desert at the University restaurant. “One day my friends and I arrived a little late and were distraught to find our favourite flan had sold out, so we staged a sit-in, chanting ‘we want flan in the canteen’, which resulted in some 50-odd people joining in!” Following this flan-tastic display of student solidarity, Stéphane went on to form the Flan à La Cantine club, which then led to his ‘Le flan’ nickname. Now you know Flan chat Okay, with the flan chat out the way, let’s take a look…

It’s nice to be nice, but nobody ever actually wants to be called that, do they? It’s just a bit, meh. You know what I mean? But that’s not the case when you’re talking about old Volkswagens. Hearing someone say, “That’s nice,” or “So and so builds a nice car,” is one of the most glowing endorsements you’ll hear in the world of classic VWs. Want proof? When we asked Type 2 Detectives’ Mark Fulton about this cool Cabriolet, he simply said: “Luke Theochari at Terry’s Beetle Services built it. You know Luke, he builds a nice car.” And so he does. This Karmann Cabriolet rolled off the line in 1969 (maybe even the summer, who knows?) and was shipped straight to the USA where it spent most of its…

“these little tin plate VWs are commanding prices comparable to the real thing” There are rare Kdf Wagen tin model cars in collections around the world, and then there is the one shown here. I have been interested in vintage Volkswagen model cars for 45 years now and, in that time, have only seen two or three examples of this model. Fortunately, when I last saw one I had my camera ready and went to work taking a few close-up photos. From the little information that was available from the owner, this is an example of a KdF Wagen produced by German toy manufacturer, Siegfried Günthermann Blechspielwarrenfabrik, in Nüremberg around 1939. It is a large scale (approximately 1/15th) toy measures 270mm (9.5in) in length. The body consists of several pieces,…