Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i VolksWorld

Dormobile flew the British flag for converting VW campers for many years. Along with Devon, they are the two most recognisable Camper conversion companies in the UK. The continent, on the other hand was dominated by Westfalia and with good reason. Taking the best of British and adding a pinch of Germanic charm has proved to be an absolute winner with this killer combination. We had the pleasure of welcoming Pierre Delferrière and his beautiful Camper and trailer to the VolksWorld Show at Sandown Park in ’23. Here’s the story of how he created the perfect international connection.. 18th-century connection The roots of the Dormobile brand stretch way back to the 18th century. Founded in 1773 by Martin Walter, the company originally supplied horse harnesses to carriage manufacturers. With the…

In 1939, the Volkswagen Beetle as we know it today was introduced to the German people as an affordable automobile that everyone could own. The KdF Wagen was to be the official automobile in Germany, and was available in three types: regular saloon, sunroof saloon and convertible. All were only to be available in the equally official colour of dark grey blue. Ever since that introduction to the world, toy makers have been producing their own miniature versions of the KdF Wagen. Naturally, first out of the block were the German toy companies. Names such as Märklin, Distler, JNF, Fischer and Günttermann, to name but a few. This month, however, we’re looking at the miniature KdF Wagen produced by the German toy firm Huki, which is of utmost rarity today.…

Email: VolksWorld.ed@kelsey.co.uk 3 fifty 6 5-lug alloys These nifty Porsche 356-style rims are designed to fit all pre-65 Bugs and most 5x205mm PCD VWs and Porsche models, too. The 15-inch versions are available in 4.5- and 5.5-in widths and feature an offset of 20mm. However, the larger versions measure in at 7x17 and feature a 40mm offset. We think they’d look great on a retro Outlaw project! How much? 4.5x15 £111.41, 5.5x15 £114.58, 7x17 £185.76 From: www.johnbrownwheels.com BuyVolksWorld online Don’t forget, you can buy the latest issue, or back issues, of VolksWorld at the regular cover price, with free UK delivery on orders over £25 at shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/VWW You'll also find money saving subs offers at the same address. If you're having trouble finding a copy locally, simply enter your postcode…

The life of Bruce Meyers (1926-2021) has been covered many times before, so we won’t spend too much time here on the remarkable life of the California artist, other than to list a few highlights that, as VW people, you may not be so familiar with: in 1945, he survived a kamikaze attack that claimed the lives of 389 fellow American soldiers; he collaborated with renowned surfboard maker, Dave Velzy; he crossed the Pacific Ocean by boat to reach the Cook Islands and Tahiti, and was a pioneer in building glass fibre sailboats. However, it’s for his equally pioneering work with beach buggies that he’s best remembered. Shortly after turning 38, in 1964, Meyers built Old Red, a vehicle that would transform the automotive world. To be clear, when interviewed…

I first met ‘Little Jake’ Hilling of HR Autoworks and his dad, Gary, at The VolksWorld Show a few years ago. Despite Jake being only 19 or 20 at the time, his enthusiasm for the scene and classic VWs was infectious. A few years ago, Jake partnered with Owen Eacott at Die Kafer Garage to add the Käfernation show to the VW calendar. As you’d expect from a couple of cool guys, who build cars with ‘the look’, Käfernation has in part been a success due to the number of HR Autoworks-built cars that are present. In the week running up to the show, the HR trailer is constantly busy, transporting cars to the venue, which changed to the picturesque Buckland Park Lake at Betchworth in the Surrey hills a…

I can still clearly remember my favourite car at the 1998 VolksWorld Show. It was the first time I’d made the journey to Sandown Park and one car in particular struck a chord with me – Louise Mercer’s Arctic White 1960 Beetle. It was obviously a favourite of plenty of other people too, as it won Best of Show that year. It came as no surprise to learn that Merrill Burton was the man behind the restoration, as Louise and Merrill were a couple. Merrill was already well known in the scene for his previous builds, notably a two-tone grey Split Camper and a grey Barndoor Panel Van, years before Barndoors were the thing to have. Louise and Merrill later tied the knot, necessitating their VWs be sold to buy…

THE CASTRO COLLECTION Every once in a while, team VolksWorld stumbles upon a story that seems too good to be true. Lottery winners often steal the headlines, and we’ve featured a few in the magazine over the years, but we’ve never come across anything quite like the story of Edwin G. Castro. The 31-year-old hero of our tale was raised in a family deeply connected to Volkswagens, before pursuing a career in home design. Edwin’s childhood was quintessentially American. He played football in high school, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and regularly attended church. He worked hard and his academic success led him to Woodbury University in Burbank, CA, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture design in 2016, which led to him pursuing his chosen career. However,…

Having attended the first and second Classics at the Clubhouse events, and knowing organiser, PJ Gibbons, from including his old Split Beetle in one of my Patina VWs books, I was eager to attend this year’s gathering in the sunshine of mid-June. It’s an amazing location, held at Sandford Springs hotel and golf club in north Hampshire, a beautiful part of the world. Though there are lots of high end concours events held on golf courses around the world, it’s still a surreal feeling to stand amongst all the VWs and Porsches on a fairway (and even in bunkers in some cases!), though whether isn’t embraced by all the regular members of the golf club, I’m not so sure! This year’s show didn’t disappoint, especially with the sponsorship of Porsche…

CAL LOOK CARAVAN ’24 The concept of ‘The Caravan’ began as a conversation between Russell Ritchie (Gasser Garage) and Georg Otto (DFL Cal Look Club, Germany) at the VolksWorld Show in 2023. The initial idea was to organise a cruise from Wolfsburg (Germany) to European Bug-In (Belgium) with a couple of stops along the way – essentially a few days on the road with some awesome Cal Look cars and fans hitting up some European VW highlights. Over the following months, the idea was banded around a number of like-minded Cal Look fans in a group email and, before long, the website was launched, and things quickly began to take shape. The website was initially created so that interested parties could register online and, assuming their ride met the necessary…