dune buggies and hotVWs June 2019

William Mortimer, ESL Teacher, Firefighter/EMS, Pilot, VW Diagnostic Technician, Rocket Scientist, Boy Scout, VW kid, photographer, N6OED, passed away on May 26, 2019, following a battle with cancer. Bill was 72-years-old. He was the most beautiful VW person I’ve ever met in my Volkswagen life. He always brought big smiles and joys to the VW community. Bill’s Volkswagen life was influenced by his father, Harry. He served our country during WWII, and was in Normandy on D-Day in 1944, with his company specializing in electrical equipment. Harry was soon heading to Northern France and Belgium to accomplish his duty, capturing any advanced electrical objects that couldn’t be recognized and send them back to the U.S. While sweeping through one of the bases in Belgium, Harry found a Kübelwagen and was…

Fuel Gauge I have a ’72 Beetle and the fuel gauge stopped working. I replaced the gauge and, well, nothing. So, I replaced the sending unit. Nothing. I replaced the vibrator. Nothing. I replaced the sending unit again and the gauge would barely get out of the red. I did notice that the sending unit was delivered with nylon washers, but the old unit had a metal washer. On the second attempt, I used the metal washer. Since none of that worked, I went with an aftermarket VDO gauge that was compatible to my new sending unit and now it seems to work. I would rather have used the stock one. What am I doing wrong, or what can I do? Thanks! Joel Rodgers Desdemona, TX 76445 Joel, it’s important…

Here in Michigan during the dead of winter, our excuse for summer dreaming has always been Autorama, held in February at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Now in its 67th year, Autorama attracts some of the best rods and rodders in the country. Autorama began in 1953 as a simple fundraiser for the Michigan Hot Rod Association. It is now one of the biggest and most respected shows on the planet, known simply as America’s Greatest Hot Rod Show. Thanks to their current promoter, there are now 14 Autorama/World of Wheels/ Cavalcade of Customs shows across the United States and Canada each year. But the granddaddy of them all is here in Detroit, for one reason and one reason alone: the Ridler Award. The prestigious Ridler Award is given each year…

I think we have all heard the term: “You are not getting older, you are getting better”. I recently looked up this quote to find the source and it dates back to the 1960s and to a hair product advertisement. The “truth in advertising” myth is nothing new, but yet we hold on to these glimpses of hope deep in our subconscious and they do guide us in our daily lives a bit. In the case of this life affirming statement though, I struggle with finding any proof at all in it. I find as I get older, instead of getting “better” I feel as if I am getting “bitter”. I’m not yet at the point of shoving broom handles through bicycle spokes of kids that ride across my lawn,…

From the start of Bus production in 1950 through 1954, the model year corresponded directly with the calendar year. Then in August 1955, VW introduced the model year system which was already popular with American car manufacturers. A Volkswagen built on August 1st, 1955 was a new ‘56 model. After VW introduced the model year with much fanfare in 1955, they didn’t mention much about it in technical literature until the early ‘60s. So, this left an unclear area in the mid to late ’50s, where there really wasn’t much that explicitly stated model year cutoffs. This can be a problem since cars aren’t always titled with the correct year. And since there is not an easy place in Volkswagen literature to find the model year cutoffs, there is some…

Isn’t it strange? Nowadays everybody in our scene wants to be an individual. Everybody wants to have a car that stands out from the crowd. We invest money in perfect paint jobs, spending hours going through old color charts to find that 1959 Porsche hue, that has been used only for three months, something nobody knows today. We are searching swap meets in real life and virtual swap meets just to find that rare accessory, which nobody has, making our car special. And we lower our Vee Dubs to the extreme, with the wildest air ride suspension around. Just to finally put detailed Porsche Fuchs wheels on it! Really? I mean isn’t there any other choice? Yes, the Fuchs wheel is one of the most beautiful alloys ever made. It…