dune buggies and hotVWs February 2023

Almost one year… This might have been the longest period I have not been able to drive a Volkswagen. But, finally, I got my car back last month. I realized again that driving my own VW is such a pleasure and truly makes me smile. As I mentioned in a past Semaphore column, I broke the original split case transmission of my beloved 1958 Bug again a few days before Thanksgiving in 2021. By that time, many things were going on, especially trying to be ready for “A Gathering of Hot VWs" at the Grand National Roadster Show, held on January 2022. So, I couldn’t start working on my '58 Bug right away - it consequently sat in the garage for two months. Finally, we pulled the engine and transaxle…

Autumn in the Midwest is one of our favorite times of the year. Scenic drives and trips to a local cider mill are the last-blast to drive our vintage Volkswagens before settling them down for a long winter’s nap. Our Michigan Vintage Volkswagen Club always has a wonderful fall color tour each October and, this year, we decided to step up to the plate and plan the tour. Planning a fall color tour is quite a process. There are a few givens. The date should be as close to peak colors as possible, taking in every weatherman’s prediction. We also find Sundays work better than Saturdays, to accommodate those who work on Saturday, as well as less traffic on the roads. The route should be entirely paved if possible. Most…

I know it sounds strange but the lyrics of that Yardbirds song from the 1960s describe my racecar crash perfectly. Especially the chorus, “when will it end”. We set out for Sacramento, all excited as we had won Phoenix’s round and were ready to race! It’s sad to say but the Super Street class has declined to three cars: Joe Maestas, Doug Gonzales, and myself. We arrived in Sacramento to find that only Joe and I were racing. We set up our pit and waited for qualifying, as is our norm. When they announced, we went to the lanes and were the first in line. There was a crosswind, but we had run under similar conditions without any problems. We ran against Joe, the only other car in our class,…

ASAP Restoration Part of my family lives in Sacramento, California and we own a ’59 convertible Bug. It’s my father’s first car. He is 92 now, and I know I am running out of time in his life. I’d like to get it restored ASAP. Where can I take it to get restored properly? I need help and need it fast. Gilberto Maurtua New York, NY Gilberto, the words “fast”, “ASAP”, and “restoration” are not very compatible! A good restoration shop will typically have your car for at least a year, and it really depends on what is necessary in your particular case. Convertibles are also more time consuming and expensive. Prepare to wait. You just missed a big car show in your area (the Sacramento Bugorama) and shows are…

Although we might think of Buses as being perfect in every way, there were some things that Volkswagenwerk didn't get quite right at first. Some of them are fixable, some not. This month we will discuss some design flaws in Split Buses. On most Westfalia campers, and many other makes of campers, there is a cabinet located in the cargo area right next to the forward cargo door. This means that when you open the forward cargo door, you can't just get into the camping area; instead, you have to open both cargo doors to get into the Bus. On right-hand drive models, the cargo doors are on the left side, so the rearward cargo door is the first to open, so they don't have that problem. Sliding door models…

When I started tinkering with air-cooled VWs many moons ago, this hobby was a whole new universe to me. An unexplored universe. Back in the late 1980s, we had a few books about Volkswagen’s history but no magazines or anything else covering aftermarket parts. That’s why I first learned about EMPI’s Sprint Star wheels while reading a British VW magazine - which we had to buy at the airport or railway station for ridiculous money. They called these wide-five steel wheels “Sprint Stars". I had never seen them before or heard of them. And then, one day in my hometown Karlsruhe, my friend Gregor and I spotted an Indigo Blue ’59 Beetle on you guessed it - 5×205 Sprint Stars. We stopped and checked out the car, which seemed to…