dune buggies and hotVWs August 2018

Our Volkswagen community has lost another great VW man. David Orozco, widely known by his nickname “DO”, had his life sadly taken away very suddenly on May 13, 2018, following a car accident. No one could ever fathom that this great VW man would be gone so early. Dave was only 53 years old. Dave was a talented and successful architect for over 20 years. “On duty”, he was a hardworking man, putting passion and effort into architecture projects. Dave was a great mentor, leader and was respected by many coworkers. “Off duty”, Dave was also a very hardworking “VW man”. His special eye, ability and vision as an architect turned him into a very tasteful and detailed Volkswagen builder. Dave was always working on some VW projects his whole…

Frozen Clutch Cable Love your mag! Just bought a 1970 Beetle to restore and was wondering what is the best way to fix the frozen clutch cable and throttle cable? Dennis Reno, Mounds, OK It’s unusual that you have both a frozen clutch and throttle cable. It sounds like the previous owner was in the habit of pumping grease into the cable tubes, even though it’s unnecessary. For the clutch cable, get under the car near the trans, and try to cut off the clutch cable near the trans operating arm. Attach a drill motor to the cable and try to spin the cable loose with the drill motor. Of course, since it’s attached to the clutch hook in the front, it will just wind up on you. Release the…

In this article, I will explain removing and installing the cam gear and the distributor gear on the crankshaft. If I had a dollar for every crank gear that I have thrown away due to someone taking them off with a hammer and punch, I would be writing this article from a sandy beach in the Mediterranean instead of my cluttered desk. Please don’t take the gears off with a hammer and a punch. You will ruin them. Here are a couple of correct ways to take them off. The easiest way is with a VW crank gear puller. You can usually buy one from your favorite VW shop, or online. They are not cheap but work really well. This is what I use. The other way you can do…

After a particularly long and ardent winter this year, we were anxious for the show season to start – and it did with a bang! The Michigan Vintage Volkswagen Festival is the traditional kick-off around these parts, celebrating our favorite German marque for 31 amazing years. The Festival is a non-judged car show celebrating all variations of Volkswagens. This year’s theme was “Life’s a Beach, Just Bug Out”, with the spotlight on Dune Buggies and rails. Kicking off the weekend was the return of the popular slow speed slalom course. Organizers started this event four years ago, and it has become one of the highlights of the weekend. The course was set up this year in the parking lot of Ypsilanti’s historic Depot Town. The objective was not to compete…

As I type out this month’s column, I find myself less than a week away from the Bug-In here in California, and the kick-off of a whole huge week of VW overload. I don’t know how on earth this month is flying by so fast, but here we are in June, and the show season is in full swing. For many many years, I would build a new VW or two to debut at the June events. This year, I’m struggling with the fact that I’ve got pretty much nothing to show. There are a couple of slow moving projects out in the shop that I suppose I could do something with, but with all of the other stuff happening this year, I think I am just going to let…

The kick-off event for the new season in Germany is the May Show in Hanover, which is always on May 1st – because that’s a national holiday over here. However, for many hardcore enthusiasts, the real start is the evening before the big event. The DFL cruise night, named May Cruise Madness, gathers the latest projects and has been going for over 15 years now. I took a good look around at the participating cars to find out what’s hot for the 2018 show season in the Fatherland! As I told you before, it’s not simple to get our cars street legal in Germany, so it’s no wonder we see more cars modified in the way we did back in the ’50s and ’60s. These modifications are easy to get…