Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2018 i dune buggies and hotVWs

We love our cars. We love driving them, we love showing them, we love collecting them. And some enterprising artists even love turning them into works of art. Of course, this isn’t new. Way back in 1968, artist Bob Hieronimus painted Bob Grimm’s 1963 VW Kombi Bus, who named it Light after his band and took it to Woodstock, where it became synonymous with the music festival. Images of it appeared in publications all over the world, and it’s still used in retrospective articles, CDs and DVDs about Woodstock to this day. The esoteric symbols Bob painted on the Bus were very much in harmony with the theme of the festival. While most people enjoyed the Light Bus as a piece of psychedelic art, it actually carried the message of…

The size of the motor is the combination of bore and stroke. So, what is a good size to have? Let’s talk about the two. BORE: There is stock for a 1600. 85.5mm. Great bore size. 87mm slip-in. Not my favorite. The ID of the bore is 87mm, yet the OD is the same size as the 85.5 so as you can see the thickness of the cylinder wall is thinner. Here in Redding where it’s hot as hell in the summer, what you gain in horsepower is not worth what you lose in reliability. What does thinner cylinder walls have to do with reliability? We can all agree that the thinner a piece of metal is, the easier it is to warp. If your cylinder warps, then you have…

The Beetle has more wins in the Baja 1000 than any other model of vehicle! Last November, hundreds of racers and thousands of motorsport fans gathered in Mexico for the running of the 50th BF Goodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000, one of the most grueling and demanding races on the planet. As always, the race will feature “Baja Bugs”—modified Volkswagen Beetle vehicles—as well as Spartan racers using Beetle running gear that have shown their mettle across the deserts for five decades and counting in both Mexico and the U.S. The first race, known then as the Mexican 1000, was held on Oct. 31, 1967, running between Tijuana and La Paz. Of the 68 vehicles that started in the first race, only 31 completed the 950-mile trek, with the winning drivers…

What do you do when dreaming of owning a Porsche 911, but your three kids and wife are against it? You make everybody happy with a very special VW Bus… As Otto Richelmann steps on the gas pedal, the 6-cylinder Porsche engine in the back screams and pushes the car forward. In third gear, you can watch the tachometer needle pass the 6000rpm mark in no time, as the driver engages fourth gear of the 915/44 Porsche gearbox. This thing pulls like a train, while you enjoy the comfort of typical Porsche high-back seats. Everything is typical of a 911! Yet, the difference is that you sit two stories higher compared to your usual Zuffenhausen sports car – because all of this happens in a 1976 VW Bus! A what?…

A big Congratulations to Patrick Downs of CB Performance for setting the East Coast PRA Pro Stock ET record and taking a trophy home, after winning the Fast Times at Farmington #28 race in North Carolina. Pat and his greatest supporter/crew chief, Mike Herbert of Rancho Performance Trans-axles, towed Pat’s Pro Stock race Bug and drove coast-to-coast, making it to Farmington Dragway in Mocksville, NC to participate in the South Eastern VW Association drag race event. At the end of race day, Pat was still busy competing. In the final round, he met Ollie Frey from Virginia and set a new ECPRA Pro Stock 1/8-mile record: 5.901 ET at 117.25mph top speed (1/8th mile race). Now, Pat’s next goal is to reset the 1/4-mile ECPRA record! VW race fans can’t…

The inaugural "The Art of the Classic Ride" Vintage Air-cooled VWs and Vintage Scooters show at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA welcomed nearly 1,000 people, resulting in the biggest show the Museum ever had. That's VW power! “Preserving automotive history by interpreting the historical significance and providing visitors with the opportunity to take a ride in one of the museum’s historic, classic and antique automobiles”: Such is the vision of The Automobile Driving Museum, one of the premier automobile museums in Southern California. The museum is located in the coastal city of El Segundo, in the South Bay area; it offers a unique venue for small car shows. Also, the museum is conveniently located just five minutes south of LAX (L.A.’s international airport), right off the 405…

Several coachbuilders had close ties with Volkswagen during the 1950s, from Dannenhauer & Stauss and Denzel, to Beutler and the subject of our story, Rometsch. These European companies used engines, gearboxes, floor pans and other VW components, to create vehicles with daring lines, such as the Rometsch Beeskow. The 1957 example seen here belongs to Scott R. Bosés, whose love for Vee Dubs and Porsches can be traced back to the ’60s, thanks in part to a 1958 Porsche Speedster purchased for 2,000 dollars – that’s about the price of two decent original 356 bumpers today. Yet, he truly honed his skills as a mechanic with Nicholas Von Rosenberg Co. (NVR), an independent distributor based in Hollywood, California. Back to California After a successful 3-year enterprise overseas, which involved multiple…

Our VW family of enthusiasts is aging right along with our cars. I know that is a very obvious statement, but if you are anything like I am, you really don’t pay much attention to the passage of time until one day you kinda wake up and realize that things are different. I joined the VW scene in the mid-’80s and have been hard at it ever since. It doesn’t seem that long ago to me inside my twisted brain, but looking at the calendar, that is well over 30 years since I attended my first VW event. I’m seeing a lot more grey hair on my head and the heads of others at the shows, and more than once I have had conversations with friends about where the hobby…

A fun thing to collect is VW literature. There is a wide variety of literature, from VW sales brochures to magazine ads to books, to period photographs. Old photos are great to look at. This month I will share some of my favorite places to find period pictures of Buses. A couple of years back, my friend and local antique and historical enthusiast, Justinian, bought the archives of a sign shop which included photos of Buses, featuring painted logos. Our eye-candy for this month is one of those Buses. It is a late 1957 or 1958 Double Door panel. It is adorned with a special paint, postal yellow, along with black bumpers, black wheels and chrome hubcaps. The sign painter expanded the yellow and black scheme by painting the beltline…

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As our beloved air-cooled Volkswagens continue to age, so do their original owners. And as we continue to lose many of the original VW purchasers, it begs the question: Who will continue the VW culture we have all grown to love? The answer lies in kids like Caleb Hurst. Caleb is now 16 years of age and a junior in high school. Unfortunately, Caleb’s high school does not offer a dedicated “Auto Shop” class, but he is able to get some hands on mechanical experience through the Ag & Welding class they offer. He grew up liking air-cooled Beetles, but never had the chance to ride in one. That was until his neighbor gave him a ride in his white '67. Caleb knew from that point on that he had…

The official start of the cruise begins in Grass Valley, a small mining town in the heart of California’s Gold Country, a special place to visit in its own right. The group of about 90 air- and water-cooled VWs headed out, traveling on mostly backroads, with only one super slap transition. The group meandered their way up in altitude along the beautiful South Yuba river. Average cruising speed about 40 mph, no one in a hurry because around every corner brings another scenic “Ahhhhhh”. After reaching the summit, it is at this point, off in the distance, just a glimpse… a VW flag waving in the summit breeze. Donner Lake Overlook is the meeting place for the East side of the Sierras group to meet up. The overlook parking lot…