Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2022 i dune buggies and hotVWs

As I am writing this column, 2021 is about to wrap up. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and will have a happy new year. By the time subscribers receive this issue of hotVWs magazine, we are assuming (and wishing) that some of you had a wonderful time in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, while attending Buses by the Bridge. We will also be in the middle of the Grand National Roadster Show craziness in Pomona, California. We wish all of you to stay safe and have a great year 2022. I just cannot believe that it’s been almost two years since the beginning of an uncertain situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I understand that some major events in Europe have been canceled this year. On…

EMPI Stock Ball Joint Front Axle Beams The EMPI Stock Ball Joint Front Axle Beams are designed as a factory replacement for maintaining the stock ride height. The perfect starting point when building an all-new front end. OEM-style outer needle bearing with Micarta inner bushings for a smooth transition during suspension travel. For more information, visit empius.com. New OEM H4 Headlight Assembly with Running Light H4 headlight conversion is an excellent improvement over sealed beams. Unlike sealed beam headlights (reflector and lens are hermetically sealed together with the filament in a single unit), you can use (and replace) various H4 bulbs, including the latest LEDs. Plug and play, and no wire harness changes are necessary. For more information, visit www.cbperformance.com. Pro Shift for Hardcore Drag Racers It was developed and…

I am sure many have dreamed about this kind of story. But who in the world expects to actually find the car he owned or were heavily involved with decades ago? We have featured several “VW reunion stories” in past hotVWs issues, including a feature currently running, “The Revival of Darrell Vittone’s A/ MC race car” by Dean Kirsten. In this Cal Look Special Issue, we have something possibly even more surprising – almost a fairy tale. What would you do if your prom date suddenly showed up in front of you after 40 years, not having even aged since last seeing her, and says she wants to date you again? This is Dave’s story. 3 YEARS AND $7K INVESTED IN ‘78 A VW and classic car enthusiast for over…

BUMPERS Stock VW bumpers or T-bars. Occasionally Buggy bars, Nerf bars or no bumpers EMBLEM Stock VW, or shaved, or one-off club emblem INTERIOR Stock, or custom seats and dash. Stock gauge and/or aftermarket gauges. Tasteful upholstery. “Sport” steering wheel EXTERIOR COLOR Tasteful one-color paint job. No metalflake CLUB DECALS Typically on quarter windows, less often on the doors’ vent wings WINDOWS Often tinted in the past, rarely tinted nowadays DECKLID Often stock, occasionally ’70s-style fiberglass. Sometimes opened at the bottom to improve cooling SUSPENSION Lowered in the front (occasionally with a narrowed beam due to drop spindles), stock height in the back (occasionally slightly lowered in the back) WHEELS Vintage-style, moderately wide 15-inch “sport” models. Big-n-little tires. No low-profile rubber CHROME TRIM Stock moldings, or dechromed body including hood…

JOSE JOINED DKP BACK IN THE ‘90S The 1980s witnessed the explosion of the VW scene, with plenty of pastel colors – occasionally complemented with graphics – and loud stereos. In the meantime, Cal Look cars filled with horsepower lost the favor of the public. Yet the following decade saw the slow return of a new breed of Cal Lookers, many adorned with factory paint colors and upholsteries. By the end of the ’90s, the internet and the website Cal-look.com in particular fueled that interest, but also helped enthusiasts connect worldwide. Intimately tied with the California Look and its history, So-Cal’s Der Kleiner Panzers club (DKP) experienced ups and downs through the ’90s, with membership dwindling to a mere 11 members in 1998 – the club almost disappeared into oblivion.…

Last month, I wrote about the upcoming auction of a portion of my massive assemblage of “stuff”. After so many years of gathering and collecting, I reached the breaking point and decided it was time for a change and time to let go of a lot of long held treasures (and some trash). Realizing that it could take as long to sell everything piece by piece as it did to collect it, I chose to go with an estate auction to get rid of a ton of stuff at once, and I must say now that the dust has settled, I am very happy with the results. I contracted with a local estate sale company that has a strong track record of online auctions and through their platform listed just…

There were three models of Transporters that Volkswagen introduced in 1950. We have already discussed the commercial model Panel (model 21) and the passenger model Standard (model 22). Now it is time for the Kombi, which is a combination of those two models. The Kombi is both a commercial and a passenger model. It is truly the most utilitarian of all Transporters. It is also sometimes spelled Combi, but we will stick with the German spelling of Kombi. Some people describe it as a panel van with windows. It has the same glass arrangement as a Standard Microbus with 11 windows (except the earliest versions which had no rear window.) It falls into the commercial model line, with a simple single-tone paint scheme like the panel. At first, most Kombis…

For pistons, I run 90.5mm most of the time; 94s are okay, too, but you will need to keep an eye on the head torque. When you bore cylinder heads to 94mm it cuts into the head stud holes, and I’m not big on that unless referring to a drag car motor that gets torn apart frequently. Another way I have gone is by using the thick wall 92s. This barrel has the same outside diameter as the 94 but has a 92 piston. Not a bad way to go if you’re using a case and heads that are already cut for 94s. There isn’t anything wrong with straight 92s, but I have found that the walls are too thin for my liking. On the rings, I am not a…

“CALIFORNIA LOOK” HAS BEEN A POPULAR STYLE FOR NEARLY 60 YEARS! George Moreira grew up just a few minutes away from Sacramento Raceway Park, California, home of America’s longest running VW event – the Bugorama. He has therefore been a regular at the twice-yearly event. His love for Vee Dubs also came from cruising in his father’s ’66 Bug and 15-window Bus. In the early ’90s, he purchased his first Volkswagen, while in high school and delivering newspapers for the Sacramento Bee. VWs have always been – and will always be – a part of George’s life somehow, someway. The history and simplicity of the car has always appealed to him. Plus, it has always being considered the underdog. Blowing the doors off muscle cars and hearing those Weber 48IDA…

IT WAS TIME TO ‘GET BACK IN THE GAME’ “We were a group of long-haired guys and a few girls, that all shared a love of customizing VWs,” says Roland McNew about his early involvement with DKK. Now living in Arizona, he had lost contact with many of the club members over time. That is, until May of 2011 when a trip to SoCal for a family wedding would reignite the VW spark once again. “An early member of the club, Lisa Maxwell, got a few of the guys together and we all met for breakfast at Polly’s Pies in Laguna Beach. Within minutes it was like the old days! We hadn’t seen each other for decades, but almost immediately we were raising hell and almost got kicked out for…

The Rose City Volksters went to great lengths to ensure the safety of both their club members and show attendees. This year’s show had online ticket sales as well as no classifications, which meant no in-person registration. There was no participant judging, which eliminated pens and paper being passed around. Instead, the club handed out 35 “Show Winner” awards in honor of the show’s 35th anniversary. The show begins on Friday evening as participants and swappers are encouraged to campout. Higher numbers than normal took advantage of the pre-show campout making the weekend more of an outing and a welcomed escape. The mood Friday evening was magical as old friends reunited for the first time in nearly two years, their laughter could be heard well into the morning hours. We…

In the early days of the Panzers and for that matter the early days of building VW engines, there was not the abundance of VW parts companies that exist today! Oh sure there was Empi, Scat and Autohaus, but their focus was more on accessories and wheels. I’m talking hard parts cranks, big pistons and well, you know, HOT ROD stuff! Now Empi and Scat were in early stages of “good parts” development, but we Panzers wanted it all now! These were the days of welded strokers and Corvair pistons being used to build bigger motors, and using Solex P11-4 carbs off of Porsches. Many people used 356 or 912 Porsche engines in their Bugs to increase performance – these provided 90 to 100 horsepower. Cool, but on the horizon…

In one of my latest columns, I wrote about the roots of DFL (Der Fieser Luftkühlers) VW club – basically about the interest group from which members split up to found DFL. An American friend recently asked me if I could tell you something about the origins of DFL – quite appropriate considering this hotVWs issue’s Cal Look theme. Well, then let’s have a history lesson on the California Look in Germany. When I got interested in old Volkswagens in the late 1980s, the term California Look in Germany was associated with bright colors, graphics, lowering all around and chromed wheels and no – or only little – increase in performance. And, icing on the cake, a little chromed Cal Look script on the engine lid… We just had no…

The ’70s were an era defined by bell-bottoms, disco music, revolutionary movements, and a craze for small vehicles that could go anywhere over land – and sometimes water too. The first “all-terrain vehicle” was dreamed up by a Canadian inventor in 1959, using two chainsaw engines for power. To conquer every type of terrain, the ATV used six wheels with low-pressure balloon tires that provided flotation as well as traction. Though unprofitable, the design proved quite popular, and sparked decades of ATV innovation and enthusiasm. During the ’60s and early ’70s, builders and inventors from across the country began to follow suit and build their own 6x6 ATVs. The U.S. saw the creation of its first ATV racetrack known as Pine Lake Raceway, while ATVs grew in popularity for racing…

The air-cooled VW scene encompasses a wide range of genres and subgenres, some being deeply rooted in European motorsports. The German Look has traits in common with road racing held on closed circuits, while the Old Speed trend (aka Vintage Performance) is inspired in great part by 1950s-’60s rally racing. Yet, when building performance-oriented project cars, many American-based VW enthusiasts have looked elsewhere for decades – drag racing. Drag racing truly blossomed in the United States in the 1950s-’60s, even though it mostly remained under the radar in the rest of the world. Owners of street-driven cars (V8-powered and not) eager to try their luck at their local dragstrips often joined the “Gas” classes, which evolved to welcome track-only vehicles. VWs joined the fun as well during the ’60s, becoming…

The Bug was purchased in March of 2017. We found her in the LA area, and the little car was affectionately dubbed Sheldon. It was a Baja Bug that had been sinking into the ground in a backyard for 30 years. With several different body panels from donor cars, the Beetle was pieced back together. In 17 months, it was on the road. I drove Sheldon to school every day, and most of the time that was as far as we ventured together, besides the occasional trip to the Pomona swap meet. Sheldon was a garage queen for the first year, getting pampered with frequent washing and waxing. Since then, I have taken the Old Speed route. I built a 36hp Okrasa kit, added a V-Dub Hub rally hood strap,…

Now that the bottom end of our Bus engine is assembled, it’s time for installation of head studs, piston preparation, and figuring out our compression ratio using cylinder spacers and some math. Let’s get ready! Our engine case was outfitted in the past for 8mm head studs. It’s not that this is unusual, but in our particular case, we found “open ended” 8mm case savers. Factory VW case savers are always sealed at the back end of the insert so that no leaks can occur due to seepage through the threads. Our open ended case savers will work fine, it’s just a matter of using sealant of the right type and quantity to get the job done. We used Dirko high-temperature silicone seal to install all the studs. On the…