Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2026 i VolksWorld

“The orginal Bahama Blue paint was carefully cleaned, clay barred and polished” There’s something about Bahama Blue that just hits differently. Maybe it’s the way it sits somewhere between laid-back beach vibes and understated OEM cool, or maybe it’s simply because Volkswagen absolutely nailed the colour when they first mixed it up in the mid-’60s. Either way, Nick Bruynooghe’s ’65 wears it well and, once you realise it’s still rocking its original paint, the appreciation level goes up another notch. Nick is 32, lives in Lichtervelde, Belgium, and is an electrician and plumber by trade(s). Married with two young children – Estelle (3) and Otto (2) – life is understandably busy, but this Bug has been a constant in the background for more than a decade now. Bought in 2014,…

Some builds happen fast, while others take on a life of their own, stretching across decades, through family life and changing priorities. Matt Speed’s Buggy belongs firmly in the second camp. Finished and passed through an IVA in 2025, after more than a decade of stop–start progress, this Marigold metalflake East Coast Buggiesbodied creation is the final full stop on a conversation that began on a harbour wall in Torquay over 30 years ago. “So, the year is 1990. I’m on holiday with my mates in Torquay. I’m 21 years old,” Matt recalls. “We go to a TCs party and in the nightclub is a 17-year old young lady dancing on one of the speakers under the lights. Apparently, I was the only one small enough to fit up there…

Come join us, and be part of theVolksWorld community After the astounding success of the 2025 event, we're delighted that the The VolksWorld Show is returning to the South of England Showground in West Sussex in 2026, and promises to be bigger and even better than last year. Taking place on Sunday 22 March 2026, prices start at just £10 for a display pass for any air-cooled VW, together with its driver and passenger. If you prefer to make a weekend of it and camp, a pitch costs £30, and that's for two adults and two children for two nights. As per last year, the format is still a single day event, rather than a full weekender, but we expect more people to stay over on the Saturday night to…

In the feature on Kona the Bus on p31, Mark Walker comented that some cars just fit their surroundings. Well, the same could be said of Randy Perez’ ’67 Karmann Cabriolet, which just so happens to live on the same archipelago as Kona. Where that one has a full-length sunroof, though, this Beetle goes one better. So much so, it’s hard to imagine a more perfect match for life in Hawaii, provided you’ve got plenty of sun cream on hand! As you’ve probably guessed from the pictures, this is no hastily thrown together cruiser, rather the result of patience, effort and years of careful refinement. Randy has lived in Ewa Beach on Oahu, Hawaii, for nearly three decades now and, as a day job, works in admin for a transport…

“all the stuff we all grew up on here in the UK” Some cars hit you right in the nostalgia feels the moment you see them. The OC68 is one of those. A lowered, Savannah Beige ’68 Beetle with louvres, four-tone graphics and EMPI-style eight spokes, it looks like it’s teleported straight from the pages of a 1988 edition of VW Trends, or perhaps the centrespread of the French Super VW magazine. It’s a full noise, unapologetic, riot of creativity build, the kind of car the scene used to be chock full of, only to then quietly turn its back on for some 20-odd years (though some of us never stopped loving). Until fairly recently, anything with late 1980s, or early ’90s, energy was dismissed by most people as ‘period,…

The definition of what constitutes a California Look VW will always create controversy. The fact the name of the trend was coined over 50 years ago now makes the topic even more complicated, as trends within that particular niche of the VW community have changed considerable in that time. Suffice to say, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since Hot VWs magazine introduced its readers to the white Aronson / Holmes ’63 ragtop in February 1975, backing it up with a now famous illustration (originally drawn by Barry ‘Burly’ Burlile), that detailed the typical attributes of a Cal Look Bug. Even that will start an argument /discussion. Some hardcore Cal Look buffs insist a true California Look VW must adhere to the sketch’s specifics. Yet, when you…

Laurent Lebaron’s passion for air-cooled Volkswagens goes back a long way. In 1983, he took his first tentative steps into the scene with a 1971 1200 Beetle. With the help of his brother, Jean-Christophe, and his close friend Stéphane, Laurent transformed the budget Beetle into a bright yellow California Looker, in the style that was hugely popular in France at the time. You know the deal: de-chromed, smooth decklid, Moon discs and a lowered front end, in this case achieved with an old school Select-A-Drop kit. That car took him to the very first French Bug-In event, held in Dreux in 1984. in the years that followed, Laurent cemented his commitment to VW culture, going on to own another ’71 1200 Beetle, a ’65 Westfalia Bus, a ’56 Oval and…