dune buggies and hotVWs July 2020

Dear Readers, Advertisers, and Fans of hotVWs Magazine from all over the world, Here is the July 2020 issue – we truly hope the Coronavirus situation will be better by the time you receive this copy of hotVWs Magazine. We also hope you and your family stay safe and healthy. Thankfully, we are OK! HotVWs Magazine is still operating during regular business hours and keeps shipping your online orders on a daily basis from our headquarters in Santa Ana, CA. Our printing and subscription fulfillment facilities are also operating without interruption or delay. However, some subscribers have reported that they experienced mailing/ delivery delays in several areas (mostly Southern California). We apologize for the inconvenience, but we really appreciate your patience. If you missed an issue, do not hesitate; just…

We are finally in Mexico City. It was a long strange trip to borrow a famous song line! But we are here and hooked up with our competition, Poncho and his Pink Panther VW. Soon we are checked into the hotel and are meeting everyone involved. Let the bench racing begin! Poncho is a great host and gives us the shop tour and a trip to the racetrack, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The track is very impressive and was the site of the Mexican Grand Prix for many years. So, it seems there were other drag racers invited: A couple of Funny Cars and Fuel Altereds and a jet dragster! Most of these were from the southern USA and AHRA cars, so they were relatively unknown to us. The jet dragster…

Drum brake conversion Hi Jon, Could you tell me the advantages and disadvantages of converting from disc brakes to drum brakes? Yes, from discs to drums! I own a 1967 Beetle with disc brakes. I believe the previous owner converted from drums to discs. I want to bring my ’67 back to stock; but some friends told me I shouldn’t do it. Steve Johnson Downey, CA Steve, I’m sure that you’re not the only one who wants to bring his car back to “original” specifications. Most folks that do this are going to let their car sit in a museum, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You’re going to lose quite a bit in braking performance by getting rid of the disc brakes. Subjectively, maybe 20% or so. You’ll also…

As many of you know, I own a Herbie the Love Bug, a tribute to the famous Disney star. We first spotted him for sale on Craigslist back in 2011. It seems the owner restored him for his wife, she hated him (huh!?), so he sat, forlorn and unloved, in a barn for over five years! We found him out in the middle of nowhere at the end of a dirt road. The owner opened the huge barn door and turned on the lights. There sat a beautifully restored 1965 Herbie replica, complete with the famous 53 gumball and stripe, covered in dust and cat paw prints. It was love at first sight! Unfortunately, time had taken its toll. His bumpers and wheels were rusty from sitting, one of his…

Have you ever thought about the origin of your VW knowledge, and whether you might have a lot of it? I still remember my early days of air-cooled Volkswagen ownership. I had helped my schoolmate Christoph make the decision against buying a Fiat Spyder, choosing a Ghia instead, so I was also “invited” to participate when his transmission gave up. We didn't know anyone who had ever changed a gearbox and followed the old saying “learning by doing”. We decided to fill the replacement gearbox with oil after the installation, which saved weight while mounting it. Mistake. After filling it up with fluid, it immediately started dripping. So, we took the gearbox out again, sealed it and installed it again. Lesson learned. Next: the overhaul of my first 1776cc engine.…

Since there are no shows happening currently, I have not been taking road trips. I did saunter into my office and look through some old boxes of photos for a trip down memory lane. I found a bunch of photos from a trip across the country back in 2005 with a ’57 Standard Microbus. Please join me for an epic American road trip. I had bought the Bus a few years earlier from the estate of the original owner. It had around 70,000 miles on it, had always been garaged and was in phenomenal condition. I did some mechanical service to it, and it ran well with the original 36hp engine. My time with the Bus was almost done, as I had sold it to my friend Gibbs Connors, in…