Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2022 i dune buggies and hotVWs

I am writing this Semaphore column on the aircraft, a day after July 4th, on the way home from a memorable European trip. What a VW event marathon we went through during the last six weeks! We attended 15 major events every weekend in California, Germany, and Belgium. While in Europe between shows, I also visited many Volkswagen-related places: AutoMuseum Volkswagen, Autostadt's Volkswagen theme park, Old-timer Center, Volkswagen Classic Karmann Collection, and others. In total, I was out of the office for 25 days between May 28th and July 5th. I am still overwhelmed by what I've gone through. International travel was something we all missed for a while. This European trip was my first long-distance trip since the pandemic started over two years ago. My VW event marathon started…

At the Herbie 53rd Anniversary Celebration, we spoke with Paul, who owns not one but two original screen-used Herbie the Love Bugs on the East Coast. We caught up with the lucky fellow again recently for more details! So you own two original Herbies - please tell us about them! I have a 1962 that was used in “Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo” as well as “Herbie Goes Bananas”, and also in the opening flashback scenes of “Herbie Fully Loaded”. It was in the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in Keswick, Cumbria, England from 1989 until 2011, when the museum car collection was purchased by billionaire Michael Dezer. Mr. Dezer's collection ended up in Orlando, where he created a huge classic car museum and entertainment center in an old…

“There's a wide discrepancy between the way it looks and the way it performs,” says John Reynolds about his '73 Super Beetle. “And that's the point.” Indeed, if you saw the vehicle driving on the street, you could easily confuse it with a nice stock Bug. Yet the engine's ferocious sound tells a different story, as do the meaty 275/50-15 Mickey Thompson tires squeezed in the back. Soon, you realize this humble-looking Volkswagen has a most interesting story to tell. John considers himself as part of the “VW 2.0 crowd”, meaning he had a few of them earlier in life, but put them on the backburner to pursue a career. In 1978, he built a '66 Baja Bug which ran a twin-Weber-equipped 2180cc plant and a close-ratio gearbox. He explains: “It…

To get a look at some flywheels and their machining process, we went to DPR Machine in Santa Ana, CA to take a tour of the shop. They can make pretty much any combination you can dream up! Let's go over some terminology for starters. The most common thing you hear folks say when they talk about flywheel type is: “Is it a 6-volt or a 12-volt flywheel?” In general, the “6-volt” type will have 109 teeth on the ring gear. It's usually associated with a 6-volt starter. The usual clutch disc diameter on these is 180mm. A “12-volt” flywheel will have 130 teeth on the ring gear. These will use a 12-volt starter, and usually have a clutch disc diameter of 200mm. The diameter of these flywheels is slightly…

As VW nuts, we all know just how special these cars are and what their impact on the world has been. While American cars seem to be the primary focus at most automotive museums and events in our country, there are times where our friends the VWs are celebrated amongst the best. On a recent trip to the fabulous Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, I wandered through the halls and rooms of the building and enjoyed every bit of the vehicles on display. From the wildest of modern supercars to the antiquated contraptions of the earliest days of motoring, it all truly entertained me to the core. What pleased me most however was the fact that I saw some old friends amongst the displays. Not only were there a few…

Now, I'm going to address a scenario where you have the motor in the car still. If you don't, stay tuned anyway. What you're going to do is take the fan back off the alternator, keeping track of any shimming you might have done. Place the fan back in the shroud and tilt the alternator back into the fan shroud. With it sitting there, reach around the back and line up the fan to the fan hub. Once it's in place, put on the wave washer and nut. Pay close attention to the wave washer as we want to make sure it goes onto the fan hub correctly. You won't be able to see any of this so you will have to feel your way around. Tighten the nut as…

Source: Herbie Registry, thanks to Frankie Hernandez, Dan Miller, Koen Verhaeren A new world record was set in Germany! Eight real movie Herbies gathered during the premier vintage Volkswagen treffen held in Hessisch Oldendorf, Germany. A hardcore Herbie fan from the Netherlands, Koen Verhaegen, did a fantastic job presenting these cars to spectators from 40 countries. The fleet was displayed in the city's main town square, attracting VW fans and the local audience. Herbie did it AGAIN! HERBIE 2 A 1963/1960 model, designated as car #2 from the film. It was the sole car built with a Porsche Super 90 engine, featured prominently in the film's racing scenes. Performance upgrades include Porsche finned brakes, Koni shock absorbers, Superior rear control arms (diagonal arms), and uprated front roll bar. Easily identified…

When we attended Herbie's 50th Anniversary celebration, which took place in Orlando, Florida in March 2019, we walked away from that event, telling ourselves we would never see such a gathering of the beloved Herbie community like this ever again. But wait, what about Herbie's magic number 53? From March 31 through April 3,2022, it all came together once again in Daytona Beach, Florida; this time. It was even bigger and better than ever. Daytona Beach is a home of NASCAR and the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). So, the main idea of the 53rd Herbie anniversary event was to run Herbies on the world-famous track. Gail discovered that DIS would allow participants to run the cars on the racecourse as controlled parade laps at a reasonable…

In 1991, the first Buses by the Bridge (BBB) welcomed less than 50 Buses, making it a small local camp-together event. It was created by John “VW” Howard of the London Bridge Bullis (LBB) VW club, based in Lake Havasu City. It took another five years for the second meet to be hosted, when Ronnie Feitelson (another LBB member and the owner of local VW shop Bustoration) joined the team to help organize BBB again. Since then, BBB has always been held in January, except for 2021 as the event was canceled due to the pandemic. This year, the happening finally marked its 25th event. Unlike other Bus only events, BBB is not an air-cooled-only affair. As long as you own a VW Bus, Transporter, Van, Microbus, Vanagon/Caravel, Eurovan, and…

Christian Stelzer's 1303 is an icon among German Look fans. The Super Beetle was first featured in 1996 in VW Speed, the magazine I just started to work for back then. Photographer Krishna Lahoti's spectacular action shots did the car justice and the poster included in that issue graced many bedrooms and workshops. Since then the 1973 sunroof Bug was featured in almost every VW magazine around the world and was even featured in hotVWs contributor Stephan Szantai's book “Demon Bugs”. It won the German Drift Challenge in 2003 and a Top 20 award at the famous Volks World Show in England in 2004. You can always recognize it thanks to its Marathon Blue paint and the gold-colored BBS wheels. The untrained eye may think it didn't change a bit…

Volkswagen Group will launch an all-electric pick-up and rugged SUV in the United States market. The decision of the Board of Management was confirmed in May 2022 by the Supervisory Board of the Volkswagen Group. The vehicles will be designed, engineered, and manufactured in the U.S. for American customers. To this end, a separate, independent company will be established in the U.S. this year as the Volkswagen Group moves the strong iconic U.S.-brand “Scout” into the electric vehicle space. The first prototypes are to be unveiled next year, and production is scheduled to start in 2026. The electrified Scout brand will be built upon a new technical platform concept, which brings new pickup and RUV credibility beyond the existing Volkswagen Group portfolio. Herbert Diess, CEO Volkswagen AG: “After Volkswagen's successful…

THE LOVE BUG HOOKED COUNTLESS PEOPLE INTO THE VW WORLD IN 1969. THREE YEARS AGO, WE PUBLISHED A MASSIVE COVERAGE OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HERBIE THE LOVE BUG. BUT MANY PEOPLE ASKED THE EVENT PROMOTERS AFTERWARDS: “WHY NOT ORGANIZE A 53RD ANNIVERSARY?” YOU PROBABLY KNOW WHY… “THE LOVE BUG” WAS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF MOVIES PRODUCED BY WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS THAT STARRED A L87 PEARL WHILE 1963 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE NAMED HERBIE, FEATURING THE ICONIC “53” NUMBER DECAL – LIKELY THE MOST FAMOUS AND BELOVED VW BEETLE ON THE PLANET TODAY. IN THIS ISSUE, WE ARE CELEBRATING THE 53RD ANNIVERSARY OF HERBIE THE LOVE BUG.…

“I was 15 years old when I inherited my first VW, a stock 1966 Bug. I've owned several Bugs over the years, plus a Ghia. I grew up in Southern California, I built, drove and loved VWs during the late '80s and early '90s when the scene was at its highest. We were going to some of the biggest shows like the VW Jamboree, Small Car Specialty Show, and VW Parts Unlimited Show, drooling over some of the best VWs ever built.” Raymond Beutler's 1964 Notchback As Ray got older and started his career and family, he opted to sell off his Volkswagens. However, his love for them remained steadfast. It wouldn't be long before another air-cooled would be gracing his driveway. TOO EASY “Picking a Type 1 was too…

Team hotVWs has featured its fair share of “man caves” through the years, ranging from the small to the impressively large. Located in Ohio, Ron Thomas' shrine belongs to the latter, though it should be said that not all vehicles displayed are Volkswagens. Yet there is a certain German theme within his fleet; better yet, you will discover a variety of rear-engined models historically related to VWs, in the shape of Porsches. “My grandparents had a Savanah Beige '67 Bug - they purchased it new,” remembers Ron. “They were supposed to hand it over to me. It never happened as it was stolen from our driveway two weeks before it was to be mine.'' He consequently bought a three-year-old Toyota Celica in 1979, a GT coupe he still owns today,…