Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i VolksWorld

Winning ways We are delighted to announce that The VolksWorld Show will be happening in 2022, and tickets are on sale now! The world’s leading car care specialist, Meguiar’s, has announced its continued sponsorship of The VolksWorld Show and will be giving all the Top 20 trophy winners a gift pack of cleaning products to keep their cars looking spectacular throughout next year’s show season. The show car exhibits we have lined up so far, including a number of overseas entries, have been of an extremely high standard, and we already know our international panel of judges are really going to have their work cut out making the final selection. The last VolksWorld Best in Show winner, won in 2019, was Craig Shaw’s ’49 Beetle (as pictured below). But who…

Sometimes you have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. It isn’t always easy, as often the trees obscure the forest. Here’s a relevant example: you own a matching numbers 1969 Convertible Ghia in Chrome Blue and a 1968 coupé version of the same car in Lotus White. I know, dreamland, right? Bear with us. Ultimately, though, you’d like a nice Split Screen Bus to take your daughters away for trips at the weekends. What do you do? 41-year-old Fabien Wulleput from northern France, near the border with Belgium, had a clear vision of what he needed to do. Sell both the Ghias to fund the purchase of a Split. Initially, his daughters were unimpressed. They adored the Ghias, and loved a road trip whenever the…

I clearly recall Neil Melliard saying to me several years ago now that I should keep an eye on Danny Pike, as he’s one of the most committed VW drag racers he’d ever come across. While Neil is well known for his pinstriping, flame jobs, gold leafing and paintwork par excellence, he’s also deeply ingrained in UK drag racing, so doesn’t say something like that lightly. And so I dutifully kept an eye out for Danny and his Li’l Lizzy Beetle. It was featured on the cover of Ultra VW in March 2015, and was running in the 10s at that point with the Outlaw Flat Four (OFF) gang. Prior to that, the car had been Chris Emmens’ Hembug, competing in the VWDRC, but when Chris came to the end…

When one of our European photographers, Sander, called to say he’d spotted a cool Ghia coupé he thought would look great on the pages of VolksWorld, of course we were keen to see what he had found. His description was along the lines of, “It’s metallic brown and low – like reeaally, low,” so we couldn’t wait to see the photos. As you can see, Sander had indeed found a cool Ghia, and it does look great on these pages. His explanation regarding the stance was spot on, too. The car in questions is a ’68 coupé, belonging to Kristof Droogmans, a 37-year-old mechanic from Diepenbeek in Belgium. When asked about his VW back catalogue, Kristof perhaps surprised us a little, but only because we’re more used to people starting…

This vintage German Distler Split Window VW toy was produced between 1949 and ’50 (identified by the D-3070 number plate and no chassis markings) and has seen a lot of fun time, play wear and neglect over the years. The 70-year-old, patina-laden, in need of repair toy was bought recently from an online auction for 50 euros, in the knowledge it was too far gone to be a collector piece, but could make a great project to bring back to life. It was missing two of the original hubcaps, but was otherwise complete, a perfect candidate for a transformation. Here I will detail the process I went through to turn this ‘diamond in the rough’ into a one-of-a-kind toy. You’ll note I decided to use the glass top of my…

This is how we’ll roll… Driven by a desire to re-imagine some of the finest motorsport wheels to a more exacting modern specification, Group 4 Wheels came into being in 2009. Initially, the company focussed on Porsche wheels, but we’re excited to announce that a range of VWfitment wheels are now currently under development. We’ll keep you posted on the VW wheels in due course but, in the meantime, here’s the Group 4 TT rim (left), which has proved a big hit with VW fans running Porsche pattern (5 x 130mm PCD) hubs. The TT range replicates the famous American Racing Equipment (ARE) Torq Thrust wheel, arguably the most popular (and copied) aftermarket wheel in history. Original magnesium Porsche fitment versions are now highly sought after, and command big money.…

Your SHOUT! Westy wishes Hi Paul and team VolksWorld, We got married on the 21st of October at Norwich Castle. As we are friends of Jim and Andrea Dix, Jim kindly offered his services as chauffeur on the day, taking my wife, Roz,›and her sister, Holly, to the venue in his ’65 SO42 Westfalia. I, meanwhile, turned up for the festivities in our ’66 Bug. By way of a thank you, it would be great if you could surprise Jim by printing a picture or two in our favourite VW magazine. Darryn Everett via email Auto’ union Dear VolksWorld, I wondered if you might be interested in sharing some pictures of my recently restored Automatic Beetle, as I’m led to believe she is quite rare. I am lucky enough to…

To most people in the UK, finding an un-messed with, restorable, pre-’65 Beetle these days would be a bit of a coup. But what about finding an original, early, UK-market car with a Golde fabric sunroof? Well, that would be akin to finding the mythical needle in a haystack. Although these days the UK leads the northern European table in terms of the number of convertible cars on its roads, that wasn’t always the case. Far from it in fact. Consequently, finding a Beetle with a factory sunroof wasn’t easy 30 years ago, but is much harder today. Chris Godding’s experience with the VW scene is undoubtedly similar to many reading this magazine. He first got into air-cooled cars in the late ’80s, his first car was a Beetle, and…

I think we’ve all got that one mate. You’ll know the one. The person that always finds the perfect deal before anyone else. It’s as though they have a sixth sense. Or maybe they just have all the luck? Lee Morris is one of those guys. He’ll tell you it’s nothing to do with luck, or any numbered sense, the secret to success is simply knowing where to look, and then spending countless hours looking there. “You can easily lose entire evenings trawling the ’net looking for a deal,” he admits. “That’s the price you pay.” Having sold his very cool, very early ’67 Bay that was previously featured in our sister magazine, Camper & Bus, Lee was deep in just one of these trawling sessions when he stumbled upon…

Part of the obsession for vintage car fans of any make is seated in nostalgia. Whether it be the direct longing for times previously enjoyed, or just the sorry fact that you were ‘born too late’ to have enjoyed something the first time round. I’d swap being a young adult in the late ’90s for the ’60s in a heartbeat. The cars define that era, and none more so than a classic Volkswagen. The heritage and rocky beginnings of the marque itself is entwined in cultural history, and that’s before you start with the story behind each and every one of the 21 million Beetles produced. That said, there can be very few to rival the Hollywood-worthy tale of romance and adversity that goes some way to explaining the incredible,…

MARCH The VolksWorld Show Date: 19-20 March 2022 Location: Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher, Surrey KT10 9AJ Contact: www.volksworld. MAY Stanford Hall Date: 1 May Location: Stanford Hall, Lutterworth, Leicestershire LE17 6DH Contact: www.stanfordhallvw.com JUNE Hessisch Oldendorf (vintage meet) Date: 24-26 June Location: 31840 Hessisch Oldendorf, Germany Contact: www.uraltkaefer.de JULY European Bug-In #9 Date: 1-3 July Location: Rue du Grand Prix des Frontieres, B6460 Chimay, Belgium Contact: www.europeanbugin.com NB: Please be aware all dates and venues are subject to change, so always check the website and / or contact the organiser before leaving home.…

“1/100th of a second off the world record for a Type 3” Danny Pike is no stranger to the world of drag racing, having campaigned his 2332cc, nitrous-equipped Bug, Li’l Lizzy, for a decade. You can read more about that car in Old gold on p46. It was while photographing that car in 2015 that Danny first mentioned he was planning to build a whole new car, in order to take things to the next level. I’ve watched closely over the past seven years as he methodically assembled, tested, improved (and crashed!) the replacement Notchback, so I’m honoured to now be able to cover the next part of the story of one of the most dedicated VW drag racers in the UK. At the time of that previous feature in…

Not to be confused with Dogtown skateboards, which also features a Dogtown Wheels logo amongst its branding, Dogtown Wheels is the name Chris has chosen to market the wheels shown in this feature. They’re a 17-inch, three-piece split rim based around a billet aluminium centre in the style of the popular Porsche Fuchs wheel. Available in VW 5 x 205 and Porsche 5 x 130 PCD, and currently only in 17-inch diameter, the real beauty of these wheels is their versatility. Bespoke offsets and widths can easily be created by mixing and matching outer barrel sections, so you can order exactly the fitment you require. And there is no limit to the type of finish that can be applied to the centre section. It could be painted, polished, powder coated,…

As Germany’s economy improved in the 1950s, so did the country’s demand for larger and more comfortable cars. Volkswagen was very much aware of this fact, which is why the Type 3 line of cars was developed to complement the smaller, and still very successful, Beetle. The public had its first opportunity to discover a group of these newfangled Type 3s during Frankfurt, Germany’s Internationale Automobil-Austellung (International Automobile Exhibition) in September 1961. The ‘three-box’ Notchback and the estate / station wagon Squareback (remember, the sportier Fastback didn’t join the group until the ’66 model year) were pretty sedate looking affairs, but all eyes were on the new Type 34 Karmann Ghia. Designed by Carrozzeria Ghia, the Type 34 had bold, distinctive lines compared to the rest of the Type 3…

If you talk to the charmingly polite and charismatic John Spong – which, by the way, is something I can’t recommend enough if you’re ever honoured with the chance – he will disarmingly point out its minimal flaws. The rear wings received a blow over many moons ago due to some minor damage incurred whilst parked, and there’s a couple of spots on the front quarter from prolonged storage in a unit that had a leaking roof he was unaware of. But these are the reviews only a person with 57 years’ ownership of a vehicle could possibly make. Hard wax In reality, these things only add to the captivating beauty and history of the car. Unlike those Morris products of the 1950s, the condition of the paint is not…