Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2023 i dune buggies and hotVWs

I believe most of you know by now that hotVWs magazine is now operated under new ownership, TK Motorsports – we made the official announcement two months ago. The new owner Tom Kinney (and his family) is working hard to set up the company without interruption of our publishing service. Again, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for the unwavering support of our loyal subscribers, readers, and fantastic advertisers. It has been a joy to see Dune Buggies and hotVWs being part of the incredible Volkswagen community for the past 56 years. Without your support, we would never be here today – producing Dune Buggies and hotVWs magazine. We are very pleased to continue this tradition. The past two months have been a rollercoaster ride for me, marking…

The Silverado event is organized by Periscope Enterprises, the same team behind the Bug-In, HotVWs Drag Day, and Vintage VW Treffen. Since its inaugural event in 2018, which was a resounding success, it has swiftly become the favored gathering for numerous VW fans. The event takes place at Oak Canyon Park, nestled right next to Irvine Lake in Orange County, California. Despite its convenient proximity to major cities in Southern California, the park offers an isolated experience reminiscent of being in a national park and disconnected from the real world. This is one of the best aspects of the event – we had almost zero cellular reception throughout the entire venue. Once you step into the venue, you enter a secluded sanctuary separated from the busy real world. Your small…

A VW SHOW WITH A UNIQUE, EXOTIC TWIST Brazilians are often perceived as shy and humble, seeing themselves as underdogs who are never quite satisfied and seeking genuine empathy. Whenever I inquired about VW shows, I never received direct answers until I met Jean and Barba at the Armazém Santos bar in Curitiba. A couple of years ago, they extended an invitation for me to join one of their (wild) Sunday afternoons for a meet and greet. I was truly impressed! There were numerous cars, a bustling crowd, BBQ, beer, and an unbelievably energetic live rock music performance. A promise was made to attend their VW show, but then Covid-19 emerged, and our plans were postponed until this year. This time, I was incredibly excited because I had the opporunity…

This is an exciting year in the VW racing world – it's the 60th anniversary of the Volkswagen-powered Formula Vee, and there's going to be a huge celebration at the world-class Road America track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Formula Vee traces its history back to 1963, the first SCCA racing season, when it was started at the request of Volkswagen dealers. These mid-engine cars are limited to a 1200cc or 1300cc engine, 4-speed transmission and suspension from early 1960s Beetles. The body is made of fiberglass over a tube frame. The chassis are known for their low cost, easy repair, and structural integrity. Some of the more renowned producers of these historic racers are Zink, Autodynamics, Lynx, and the granddaddy of them all, the original Formcar. Then, in 1970, Volkswagen…

The split Buses we all love were produced for 18 years in Germany and another 8 after that in Brazil. Our beloved Bay Windows were made for 12 years in Germany, and decades after that in Brazil. Like pretty much every other car, the taillights got progressively bigger over the production run. This month, we will discuss the Bus taillights. The first Buses had tiny flat glass lenses with single filament bulbs and no reflective buckets behind them to amplify the light. They are difficult to see at night, and for the first couple years there was only one glass reflector to help with visibility at night. Volkswagen put a second reflector back there in early 1952, but it was little help. In mid-1951, they went to flat plastic lenses.…

DONNIE HOWARD'S 1950 BEETLE Every new show season brings its load of freshly completed project cars. Team hotVWs consequently stays on the lookout for specific VW builders and clubs in particular, since they can be certain to produce top-level vehicles. One of these respected entities, the German Folks Klub (GFK) founded in 1983, has unveiled its share of notable slammed – and rare – Vee Dubs in recent years, hence our duty to occasionally photograph the best of them. You'll get the point when looking at Donnie Howard's mega-detailed 1950 sunroof model. “I got my first VW when I was 15-years old,” said the Fontana, California resident. “I've had more of them since, including a ’51 Split with crotch cooler when I was 17 – I traded it for a…

The February 1970 cover of Dune Buggies The Fun Car Journal, hotVWs magazine's predecessor, had plenty to entice the readers. It mixed a wild-looking dune buggy, a fat-tired Beetle ready for Baja competition, and a picture shot at Carlsbad Raceway, where Der Kleiner Panzers club had hosted its VW Drag event a few months prior. It gathered the dragstrip's Who's Who, including Dean Lowry, the Schley Brothers and Lee Leighton. The aforementioned orange buggy, dubbed Bugs Buggy, only garnered a 2-page black and white article at the time. Fifty three years later, it finally receives some warranted attention in this issue of hotVWs – in color! The lines of the vehicle's sides, beautifully flowing, had more than a hint of Meyers Manx buggy. Yet the rest of the body proved…

Two decades since the last one. On July 30, 2003, the final Beetle rolled off the production line at Volkswagen de Mexico in Puebla. This last production was named Última Edición, and it came in special colors: Aquarius Blue (LB5B) or Harvest Moon Beige (LB1M). The Última Edición featured various classic elements, including chrome bumpers, headlight rings, hubcaps, trim, whitewall tires, and a special interior. Volkswagen even added a long-absent feature from the 1960 model – the Wolfsburg crest on the hood. Mexican traditional Mariachi musicians serenaded the last Beetle as it gracefully rolled off the Puebla assembly line, marking the conclusion of 58 years of uninterrupted production since the conclusion of World War II and nearly 70 years since its inception. This moment signified the conclusion of an era,…

Everything finally seemed to come together nicely for Mike Russell, after 30 plus years in and out of the PNW Volkswagen scene. You see, after having owned many VWs over the years including a 1961 23-window Bus, and a ’54 Ragtop Beetle, the fit was still never quite right. In Mike's dream, he always saw the clean lines, shape, and rarity of an early Notchback done in a classic colors with no unnecessary frills to cloud the already classic European styling, yet with modern touches. In early 2019, Mike set out to find the perfect donor vehicle to bring his dream to life. Day after day, he spent searching the online classifieds like the movie “Groundhog Day” seeing the same things with no real change. He had distinct guidelines as…

THE GOLDEN GATE CHAPTER OF THE VINTAGE VOLKSWAGEN CLUB OF AMERICA The Kelley Park Show and two appealing pre-events have joined forces to create the biggest VW event weekend for decades in California's Bay Area. The meet has always been hosted by the GGCVWCA. Furthermore, the Kelley Park Show is held at one of the most beautiful car show venues in the USA, the San Jose History Park. Through the years, it has attracted local Volkswagen enthusiasts but attendees from other states and countries too. The President of the GGCVWCA, Rick Spohn, is not only a genuine vintage VW enthusiast but also a central figure in the vintage Volkswagen scene based in California's Bay Area. The GGCVWCA hosts two premier vintage events: the Kelley Park Show every year in April…

While many companies offer imported forged cranks at similar prices to a welded stroker crank, there are many reasons that you might want to consider using a custom-made unit. To get the full story on how one is made, we visited Jose Alvarez at DPR Machine in Santa Ana, California to see some samples and view the manufacturing process. A quote from the DPR website pretty much says it all about their motto and mission: “The original VW German OEM crankshaft is the finest crank ever produced for the VW air-cooled engine. The alloy and manufacturing process is superior to all other cranks produced in Brazil, Mexico or China. For this reason it is the base crank used on all DPR-produced crankshafts.” The process starts with selecting good, genuine VW…