Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i dune buggies and hotVWs

The annual Volkswagen and Porsche L.A. Lit & Toy Show took place this past March, and as usual the LAX Hilton was packed to the gills with enthusiasts. Now in its 37th year, the event which is hosted by Stoddard still manages to attract people from all over the world. As you walk through the rows of tables, it’s likely you’ll hear various languages being spoken and get to interact with multiple people from different countries. With the 356 Club hosting an event the following day in Anaheim, and multiple Open Houses the week earlier, it has really turned into a full week of activities. When I first went to this event as a teenager with my father, it was a good mix of both Porsche and Volkswagen toys and…

After developing a love for the ocean as a little girl spending time with her Grandfather in San Diego, plus having strong family ties to the Pacific Islands, Patrisha Wyatt channeled her aquatic affections into her restoration with perhaps unequalled intensity! The Wyatt family, of Saratoga Springs, Utah, stable of VWs currently includes a ’59 seamed-gate Double Cab, ’63 “TikiBug”, and a ’71 Westfalia (their very first Volkswagen), but the time had come for Patrisha to have one to call her very own. “My husband Scott has owned and loved VWs for years, and he pulled me in. I wanted a shared interest, so we built a Bus for me!” This 1966 21-window Deluxe Sunroof walk-through was purchased from friend Cecil Read in Highland, Utah. It was a great candidate…

The State of Oklahoma, aka “The Sooner State”, is the home of the Sonic Drive-In, Farmtruck and AZN (from the Street Outlaws TV show) and the world’s first parking meter (interesting, huh?). Oklahoma is also one of the eight states which welcomes “The Mother Road”, Route 66. The Main Street of America brought Oklahoma a rich automobile culture and the air-cooled Volkswagen scene is no exception. If you visit the annual “The Old Volks Show”, the largest VW meet in OKC, you will realize that Oklahoma has a diverse, unique and heartwarming VW culture. One reason for the dedicated local VW scene is the involvement of a very active VW club. It provides enjoyable activities, welcoming an increasing number of friends into the Volkswagen lifestyle. Indeed, the VW Club of…

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…

IF TRUTH BE TOLD, Volkswagen had no reason to add any frills to its Split Window trucks, due to their commercial and often grimy purposes. Customers showed very little interest in paying extra money for a chrome VW nose emblem or aluminum body moldings for instance, hence these models remained stark by nature. Decades later, some VW enthusiasts prefer their Type 2s with more comfort, style and personality. Adding Deluxe trim to a Single Cab or Double Cab would appear to be a step in the right direction. Mark Angus certainly had Volkswagen’s Deluxe version in mind, when he began envisioning the perfect Crew Cab. A comfortable interior and a more powerful engine were definitely on his list, too. The Vancouver, British Columbia resident has owned countless interesting cars over…

The Society Of Transporter Owners (SOTO) held their fall meet at Ancil Hoffman Park in Carmichael, California. SOTO, which celebrates 1967 and earlier split-screen Volkswagen Buses and has been around since the 1980s. In recent years, the group hasn’t been as active as it once was, so I was really excited when this meet was announced. Relying heavily on social media and word of mouth among the Northern California VW community, event promoters Mike Gleckler and David Heard were expecting about 20 to 25 early Buses to show up. When I noticed that the get-together was set for the original location that the traditional day-before-Bugorama SOTO meets were held 30 plus years ago, I knew people were definitely going to be breaking out the early Transporters for this one. I…

One of the most error prone areas of engine assembly is getting the main bearings installed correctly. Failure to get the bearing located properly on its dowel pin can mean disaster for your fresh engine. Let’s take a look at what’s needed for success. First and foremost is making sure that you have the correct main bearings to suit your crank and engine case. As this can be quite complicated, we’re going to leave these numbers to another article. If you’re a novice and don’t have the measuring tools to check the crank size and case bore, it’s best to leave this to the machine shop. Just buy your bearings at the shop that does the machine work, and you should be good to go. You should at least familiarize…

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…

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…

Building VWs while building a better world: That’s the idea behind a two-year contest that the Foul Air VW Klub is about to launch; transforming their members’ passions into a tangible difference. The Foul Air Build-Off will benefit two charities: the legendary St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and the very deserving Lone Survivor Foundation, serving wounded service members, veterans and their families through health, wellness, and therapeutic support. Upon registering, participants provide a photo of the car they will be building. The project car must start out as just that, a project, so completed cars need not apply. All photos will be reviewed by three administrators for approval. For the remaining two years, builders will submit photos to contest administrators every six months. A really fun aspect of the “build…

EVERY AUGUST HERE IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, WE look forward to Norcal Bus Fest. This year’s was the 14th edition of the show that originally began in Vallejo in 2004. Eventually, the promoter, Really Big Shows, was priced out of that venue and the show found a new home starting with #9 at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds in Antioch. Really Big Shows, led by David Heard, also holds California Bug Bash at the fairgrounds each summer as well. While David loves all VWs, his passion is clearly for those of the Type 2 variety. He can be seen at the majority of local events in his Palm Green and Sand Green 1957 Bus. David has been heavily involved in the Bus community since the early 1980s with groups like the…

FROM WORKING ON CLASSIC CARS TO OWNING OLD THE 2.5” DROP SPINDLES GIVE THIS BUG THE PERFECT LOWERED STANCE Skool Barber shop, Jaime Borjon lives and breathes the styling of yesteryear. His love for classic cars was limited to the Chevy brand until 1995, when his Camaro left him stranded. A buddy of his offered to let him borrow a ’63 Ragtop until he could get his Camaro fixed and, from that day, he knew he had to own one. Coincidentally, his friend was trying to sell that Bug, but Jaime was just about to get married and didn’t have the money to buy it. He could never shake the feeling that he had to own one, and not long after getting married he began searching for one. He found…

MIKE HAS THREE ’50S BEETLE CONVERTIBLES TO CHOOSE FROM, THE OLDEST BEING A ’52 ON THE FAR RIGHT Nothing truly prepares the visitor for the shock he or she might experience, when discovering Mike Malamut’s collection, set in a discreet Southern Californian building. About 125 vehicles fill the place although, by his own account, the tally is closer to 200 when counting the other cars (some waiting to be restored) sprinkled in other nearby warehouses. While his taste extends beyond Volkswagens, the latter represent a sizable portion of the chunk. But the size of the building isn’t the only surprise… You see, Mike also made the conscient effort of displaying his fleet in a beautiful, period-correct setting. Neon and enamel signs, vintage memorabilia, toys, automotive-related products such as gas pumps,…