Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i dune buggies and hotVWs

TWO major VW events and one big swap meet and vendors’ areas are big, This is going to be huge. In fact, it will be the biggest VW week in the world... Again. Last year, the amazing Blackstar & El Prado Show & Shine held in Southern California gathered 2,200 Volkswagens and 11,000 enthusiasts from all over the world. Unbelievably, promoters raised 20,000 dollars, which was twice the amount compared to the previous year – profits were donated to the Ronald McDonald House. Such a win-win situation! We love the fact that, in a way, “we play VW harder”, thereby affecting some people’s life in a positive way. Other major events were lined up prior to the show, too: Bug-In, OCTO Meet, the Rare Vintage Air show, as well as…

Here in Southern California, we are blessed with VW weather year-round. The winters are often the best times for driving as the summers just get too hot and the comforts of air conditioning tend to guide my decision as to what car to take. I know that we are the outcasts here when it comes to that and the rest of the country is often held hostage by mother nature and our beloved air-cooled friends sit dormant in the garage until the sun breaks out again and the roads are clear. I’ve never lived through such an experience personally, but have countless friends that do, year after year. I’ve always just kind of giggled at it and have been thankful that it’s not me that has to give up driving…

This past weekend marked the 54th year of the Big 3 Parts Exchange Automotive Swap Meet in San Diego, CA. I first heard about this event years ago, but had been unable to attend because it seemed to always fall on the same weekend as the OCTO Winter Bus Meet. Two years ago, I was finally able to check it out as a spectator and then the following year as a vendor. To my surprise, many people I talked to had never heard about this event and those who had, still had yet to go. What I was expecting was a San Diego version of the Pomona Swap Meet, but in fact it ended up being so much more. From what I gathered, the event was originally started by a…

Using 400,000 LEGO bricks, two experienced LEGO model makers have built what is probably the world’s biggest camper made out of LEGO bricks. The full-size Bay Window Westy was unveiled at the f.re.e leisure and travel fair in Munich, Germany. Are we going to manage it – or are we going to run out of bricks or time? This anxious question posed by Rene Hoffmeister, one of only twelve officially certified LEGO model makers in the world, was definitely justified. For, together with colleague Pascal Lenhard, he had a period of only six weeks for the ambitious world record attempt to make a Bay Window Westy camper van, inclusive of pop-up roof, out of LEGO bricks by the start of the f.re.e trade fair in Munich. Using 3D programs, the…

Many of us can blame certain individuals for our interest in the Volkswagen scene. If you ask Anaheim Hills, California’s Casey Viscioni, he will be quick to point out to Larry Kelley, a legendary VW drag racer still active today who began racing at the early Bug-Ins in the 1960s. Larry also happened to be a Firefighter Paramedic (now retired), Viscioni’s chosen career path incidentally – he works for the Chino Valley Fire District. “My mom worked with Larry’s wife and he invited me to go to PRA races with him – I was 10”, comments Casey about his hero. Back in the late ’80s, Casey became heavily involved with BMXs; but his newfound love for Vee Dubs thanks to Mister Kelley led him to sell his bikes and parts…

OWNER/ Gary Cook, Escondido, CA EXTERIOR BODY COLOR/ L50B Diamond Blue BODYWORK/ Escondido Auto Recon PAINT BY/ Escondido Auto Recon INTERIOR Classic BY Restorations / Lenny Copp , Fullerton at West , Coast CA STEERING WHEEL/ Stock SHIFTER/ Berg 6710 5-speed shifter OTHER es, MODIFICATIONS glass work by Reggies / Stewart Window Warner Tint gaug- CHASSIS FRONT drop SUSPENSION spindles and / 2 EMPI ” narrowed Adjustable with 2” FRONT SHOCKS/ Bilstein REAR SUSPENSION/ Stock REAR SHOCKS/ Stock WHEELS/ FLAT4 Fuchs 15x5.5 TIRES/ Continental 165/60 front and 205/65 rear BRAKES/ EMPI four-wheel discs OTHER pump MODIFICATIONS , Redline regulator / Holley , 1 to 7 4 Lbs Lbs . . fuel stainless with AN-8 steel Teflon 1/2 hoses ” center , Holley section pre fuel -filter Line , carb Fab…

Shaka Weekend has been The Aloha Islands’ largest VW show weekend for nearly 20 years. This series of events, held on the island of Oahu, traditionally takes place on Labor Day Weekend; it welcomes Volkswagen fans from the various Hawaiian Islands, mainland United States and the rest of the world. Shaka Weekend has also helped those in need. Since 2002, the organizers led by the VW Club of Hawaii have donated nearly $12,000 and over 12,000 meals to the Hawaii Food Bank. Hawaii is a rather small state and the only one entirely made up of islands. These eight small islands (yes, I know, one is called “The Big Island”) located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean became the 50th state in 1959, as well as a popular tourist…

And unfortunately most of them are lost to time. Many Buses have traveled far and wide but nobody bothered to take pictures or write of their adventures. I do have random people tell me snippets of their adventures about every time I pull into a gas station. Sometimes, it seems like everybody has a Bus story. Some special Transporters had their travels well documented and even if the vehicle is lost to time, we have the pictures to see what once was. One particular Bus which I have been following is a Westfalia camper – many people call it the “South Africa Today” Bus. We will start with the scant facts known about it and then move on to my theories and ideas about it. There was a book written…

After more than 50 years, the iconic “Light” Bus—a Volkswagen Type 2 van made world famous after its appearance at the legendary 1969 Woodstock Art and Music Fair—rides again, thanks to help from Volkswagen of America and the greater Volkswagen community. Artist Dr. Bob, who painted the original Light Bus, unveiled a recreation of the legendary Bus at the Orange Country Transporter Organization (OCTO) Winter Meet, held on February 16 at Long Beach Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Long Beach, California. This was the public unveiling of the replica of the Woodstock icon and the first stop of its scheduled cross-country tour leading up to the music festival’s 50th anniversary. The eye-popping van is the result of a three-year endeavor with Dr. Bob and Canadian documentarian John Wesley Chisholm to recover…

GROWING UP IN CALIFORNIA, BENJAMIN (BEN) DE GROOT HAD THE BENEFIT OF NOT ONLY BEING IN THE middle of the most prominent car culture in the world, he also had the encouragement of his supportive dad, Marten. They began attending car shows when he was 12 and Ben eventually bought a cool 1966 Euro-market factory sunroof Fastback. Unfortunately, that car was nearly totaled a few years later, after which Ben bought his current VW — a ’67 Fasty in need of restoration. Soon after, Ben was accepted into the U.S. Army flight-training program, and the Fastback went into his parent’s California backyard where it sat covered for seven years. During that time, Ben obtained the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3, flying CH-47 Chinook helicopters in both Iraq and Afghanistan.…

Think of Southern California and images of the Pacific Ocean, palm trees and fine sand might come to mind. However, few Vee Dub shows take place along the coastline for a simple reason: Finding a beachfront piece of real estate large enough to accommodate a car show happens to be challenging. Most cities also want to avoid dealing with the potential mayhem created by such event. But there is hope, as demonstrated by the annual VW Beach Bash. It is the brainchild of Eddie Gomez, the owner of an excellent looking ’67 convertible, unveiled in hotVWs’ March 2014 issue. The laidback, family-friendly affair has been happening in San Pedro – about 25 miles south of L.A. – since 2012, mostly at the scenic Royal Palms State Beach. While offering a…

I suppose every new generation are a breed of narcissists; mostly focused on what directly affects their own young lives. Looking back over the years since the late 1960s, our father has owned dozens of VWs, but somehow his four children never recognized it as his devoted hobby until later years. He characterizes this activity as “VW rescue”; mechanically restoring each to a daily driver. Each had a “where I found it” unique story, each offered an opportunity to develop new skills, all of them were a pain in the butt one way or the other, but all were special. Once a VW was mechanically complete, our father would use it as his daily driver while looking for his next rescue. Growing Up Reluctant VW Owners Growing up, all of…

We just finished a particularly grueling winter in these parts. The Polar Vortex reared its bitter cold shoulder this year, and gave us record snowfalls and subzero temps, making it feel more like the Great White North than the Great Lakes. Whatever the reason, we’ve been more than a little anxious to get our babies back on the road. So it’s no wonder we look forward to May, the unofficial end of winter and the beginning of classic car season here in the Midwest. One of the first shows in the area is the Michigan Vintage Volkswagen Festival, to be held on Sunday, May 19th in Ypsilanti’s beautiful Riverside Park, hosted by the Michigan Vintage Volkswagen Club (MVVC). Now in its 32nd fabulous year, the Festival has been very successful,…

I guess you have heard of Brexit, Britain leaving the European Union. This may seem far away for you guys over in the USA and it probably isn’t affecting you much, but it is totally different for air-cooled VW people in Germany and Europe. What I like about the air-cooled Volkswagen scene is its global reach. Through my hobby, I made friends in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, UK, Poland, France, Switzerland and Austria. And also in faraway places like Australia, Japan, Mexico, the USA and Canada. We all have the same passion for the old Vee Dubs, but we also talk about our families and lives. The little car from Wolfsburg brings people together, no matter what color, religion or nationality. A great thing in my…

Of course, the first step was the Bus. Instead of having to search out one for sale, this 1971 Deluxe found Mat! “I was driving my Square-back home, and this guy followed me for several miles, into my downtown neighborhood. He wanted to know if I wanted to buy his Bus. He showed me pictures, and it looked very clean, but was out of my price range. He let me save money for two months before he would list it for sale; on the final day, I handed him cash and brought it home.” The vehicle needed engine work, but that didn’t dissuade Mat from pulling the trigger. “I saw infinite potential in having a Bus. It fit perfectly in my plan for my BMX quarter pipe idea, and it…

LINE UP OF JUST A FEW OF THE CARS READY FOR EXTRACTION FROM THE BARN. Normally after a long work day, I head home, but this call was from my buddy Loren Soltes. Loren has been around Volkswagens since Clinton’s first term and knows a thing or two. He had acquired two VW Buses before he got his high school diploma and has an uncanny knack for finding hidden gems in remote locations. So instead of heading back home to San Diego, I agreed to meet him. We met at Loren’s family business in Sonoma County. I followed his Sprinter van down the Redwood Highway to a smaller road where we finally ended up on a long, narrow dirt road where cows were lazily posing for Gary Larson cartoons. Eventually,…