Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i VolksWorld

FROM THE TOP The hot news this month is that we’re ready to start checking out your builds and show cars in preparation for the VolksWorld Plus event in March next year! Every year we look forward to receiving show car entries, and I have to say the quality of cars has gone through the roof in recent years. And now that we’ve added a whole display hall of air-cooled Porsches, we can’t wait to see some of the cool 356s, 914s, 911s, 912s and more that are going to start coming in. It’s all very exciting. But, before we dive into the show car application process, let’s clarify how things are going to work at VolksWorld Plus ’24. First up, the main upstairs show area, the Surrey Hall, will,…

OVAL WINDOW DRAG BUG Crashing a racecar is a harrowing experience, regardless of the circumstances. It’s not like having a prang on the road when you go through your insurance company and (hopefully) they give you the money to have the car repaired. It’s a start from scratch again deal, with you footing the bill. So, when Phil sat down and contemplated his next move, he knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. He probably didn’t imagine it would take six years to build the replacement, but what a car it’s turned out to be! If you didn’t catch it on display at this year’s VolksWorld Show, you may have by now had a chance to see it in action on the strip. Either way, here’s your chance to read…

When you own a company turning out top-flight restorations, some of the customers’ ideas are undoubtedly going to rub off on you. Dean Jones of Classic Car Revivals in Hertfordshire (classiccarrevivals. co.uk) has been behind several high-quality cars featured in VolksWorld and displayed at The VolksWorld Show in recent years, and this is his most recent personal project. Yep, it’s a little bit out of the ordinary for this magazine… Let’s face it, though, since a certain point in the mid 1970s in the USA, and maybe a decade later in Europe, VW owners have been taking cues from the marque’s more expensive cousin – Porsche – when it comes to building cars that look cool. When you look back at cars like Keith Goss’ chop top DKP car (owned…

This superb and original Manx Buggy is the work of Philippe Perez, a VW enthusiast of long standing who is particularly keen on early Beach Buggies. Having already completed several projects, he set himself the task of creating a perfect replica of the famous Manx Buggy no. 10, which not only took part in, but won the first ever Baja 1000 in Mexico, in 1967. Building any faithful replica quickly becomes a labour of love, but all the more so when the car in question is an old race car as, by their very nature, these were constantly evolving beasts. The only way to do it is to pick a particular point in a car’s history, a single race even, and then to do a deep dive into every available…

’61 SUNROOF BEETLE “I wanted to build an early big window ragtop with my three sons, so they could learn to work on cars” Lance Evenson from Cedar Hills, Utah thought he was buying a 1960 Beetle but, once he got his new purchase home, some further research determined it was actually an early ’61 model instead. That initial case of mistaken identity has since blossomed into a love that has lasted more than 15 years, and will continue to live on for a lifetime. “I wanted to build an early big window ragtop with my three sons, so they could learn to work on cars, and then drive it to and from high school once it was finished,” explains Lance. “I’m partial to 36hp [that’s 30 horse to us…

This month we turn the spotlight on a toy tunnel that was produced by German toy company Schuco between 1945 and ’49. We know that because the underside of the tunnel is stamped Schuco Varianto 3010/31 Made in the U.S. Zone Germany. This dates it to the post-war period when the allied powers divided the country into four occupation zones. With Nürnberg, the major toy producing area, falling into the American zone, all toys produced in that period were labelled such, before the U.S., British and French zones were combined to become West Germany (the remaining Russian zone became the former East Germany). This particular tunnel shown here is a very special, one-of-a-kind, Magic Tunnel! It appears that when an old, beat up, toy Volkswagen is driven through, it comes…

’60 KARMANN CABRIOLET Restoration. It’s a word I suspect all readers of VolksWorld are familiar with, even if some of you have never done a full ‘nut and bolt’ job on a car. Truth is, there are varying degrees of restoration work involved with old Volkswagens and, for some, the restoration work they do – be it cars or even antiques, old tools, you name it – focusses not on renewal, but instead on the fastidious preservation and general improvement of a worn device. This 1960 Karmann Cabriolet is one of those cars. I recently had the pleasure of hitting the amazing swap meet at Le Bug Show in Spa with a buddy of mine, Pete Marshall. Pete is a self-confessed novice when it comes to restoring cars. He’s always…

Southern California has been the birthplace of a number of Volkswagen trends, from Baja Bugs and dune buggies to the California Look and Resto Cal. The latter has spread all over the world, thanks in part to the relentless efforts of the German Folks Klub (GFK). Most, if not all, VolksWorld readers will be familiar with the group as we’ve been covering their cars since the early ’90s. Between the many members in So Cal, as well as ‘chapters’ around the world, the club has unveiled a tremendous number of cars over its 40 years in existence. You can’t miss their rides at shows either, characterised by slammed suspension, narrowed beams, gleaming wheels and large ‘The Original German Folks Klub’ logos on the back windows. Yet it should be said…

Le Bug Show, held at the magnificent Spa Francorchamps F1 circuit in Belgium, is one of the biggest VW shows in Europe, if not the world, attracting visitors from all over the globe. This year participants arrived from more than 30 countries. While the show officially starts on Friday (18 August this year), the campsite begins to fill up from as early as Tuesday and, by Friday, queues to enter the show are long, but good natured. Once you have your tickets and have set up camp, it’s time to relax and meet your international neighbours before the fun begins on Saturday morning. This year, we decided to make the show part of a larger holiday to Belgium, taking the opportunity to explore some of the surrounding towns and villages,…

The Weber 48IDA has long been regarded king of the hill in the world of VW drag racing and motorsport but, with some clever modifications, it’s still possible to teach an old dog some new tricks. Paul Bate at Flat Four Performance is no stranger to the world of high-performance VWs, and the modifications you see here are exactly the kind of tricks he’s used on his 10-second street Beetle. Paul explains: “I’m a big fan of JPMotorsports products, all of which are race and dyno proven, which is why so many of the engines I build feature these top quality components. “I thought you might like to see what goes into modifying aftermarket 48IDAs to turn them into not only a more serious performance option, but also driveable, street-friendly…