Tabla de contenidos para March 2021 en VolksWorld

“If I’d have known how difficult, expensive and time consuming the [spindle mounts] would become, I would never have done it” "If you want to be the best. If you want to beat the rest. Dedication’s what you need.” God bless you, Roy Castle. For those involved in Roy’s show, the measurement of dedication was simple. You either beat a world record, or you didn’t. James Russell might not have broken any world records, as far as we know at least, but he could be in the running for longest project from purchase (1996) to completion (2018). How does 22 years grab you? If you’re a fan of traditional Cal Look, your path may have crossed with James before now. His car collection is a veritable museum of everything good…

“We did absolutely everything ourselves… sanding, preparation, painting, re-assembly, the engine, interior…” lternatively, if, like mine, your grasp of French is almost non-existent, the headline translates as Like father like son, and the reason for that will soon become clear. Fortunately, none of us need Google’s help when it comes to understanding what the accompanying pictures are telling us. On a personal level, I’m taking some massive inspiration from this car. Not only are we looking at a textbook tribute to Der Kleiner Panzers-style Cal Look style, but a joint project between Gregory Cnudde and his son, Florian. As a VW-loving dad myself, it doesn’t get any better than that, does it? It also goes to show the far reach of California Look around the world, as these guys are…

When you think about Volkswagens and performance, most folks (in America at least) envision the era in VW history beginning around 1967, about the same time as dune buggies and hot VWs magazine was launched. You might think of Dean Lowry and Darrell Vittone, Gerhard Oettinger (Okrasa-Oettinger), Gene Berg and perhaps Joe Horvath of Revmaster as the formative VW high performance gurus. And, by the mid to late ’60s, these folks were certainly well on their way to establishing the high performance street and competition VW parts industry that continues to this day. And, in case you were thinking VW drag racing began with the Inch Pincher in ’64 and ’65 in southern California, history shows the first VW drag racer was in fact a fellow named Dick Katayanagi from…

Gary’s Westfalia has continued to improve since we caught up with him to snap these photographs, and during the recent lockdowns he has been further cleaning and freshening up the interior, as well as adding a little flash of colour to the outside. “Under the faded covers, the original rear bench foam was falling apart, so I ordered some fresh foam, a roll of reproduction Westy plaid material and an industrial staple gun and had a crack at freshening things up myself. “I also fitted a new birch cab headliner with new white perforated vinyl and refreshed some of the cabinet woodwork, which was looking a little tired.” Our favourite recent addition, however, has to be those retro-themed stripes, which Gary had cut in vinyl to his own design. Sticking…

Show down As if the 2020 show season wasn’t disappointing enough, we now have a new strain of Covid to thank for further VW event cancellations throughout 2021, too. Consequently, we can now confirm that we are cancelling The VolksWorld Show 2021, and will instead focus our efforts on 2022, dates for which have now been set as 19-20 March 2022. Ticket bookings already made will simply be transferred to 2022 but, if anyone wishes to discuss a refund of their booking, please email volksworld.show@kelsey. co.uk or contact customer services on 01959 543730. The good news is that we now have time to focus on making the ’22 event something to look forward to… and then some! Be sure to save the date and watch this space for show updates…

James has been actively involved in the VW scene since the late ’80s, and in recent years has been running Custom Motor Bodies in Birmingham, displaying a penchant for metalflake, which has found its way onto all sorts of personal and customer projects. It’s the VWs, though, and James’ collection of vintage speed parts that really gets us hot under the collar. We’ve featured the Kid Dean Squareback before, and will come back to his two original Gas class racers in the future. Yep, James has got the bug bad.…

“I think I bought the worst one I could find!” Let’s be honest, when it comes to building old VWs, most owners know exactly what they want, and how they want it to turn out before they start. They already have the model, colour, wheels, stance and interior in their mind’s eye before the first spanner is turned in anger. But then there are the others, the odd ones out if you like, the owners who are not really fussed about what car they’re using as the starting point, and care even less about what direction they are going in. All they care about is ending up with something cool that they like the look of and want to drive. Which is fair enough. It takes all sorts to make…

“I made it clear I didn’t want to dig too deep… just keep things simple” Phil Jarvis is no stranger to these pages, as we’ve featured his Aussie-import Split Camper and ’50’s Bug, both of which he still owns. And then there’s his stock ’52 Split Beetle, which not only has he owned twice, but has been featured twice (1990 and 2010), too. And, in case you were wondering just how much of an air-cooled addict Phil really is, we should perhaps mention he’s previously owned a Schwimmwagen, Kübelwagen, Porsche 912 and another 356, while his current stable includes a ’77 911 Targa, a rare 930 Turbo and his well known Split Screen Fire Bus that is capable of covering the quarter mile in an astonishing 11 seconds! Quite a…

Japanese toy company, Bandai, was founded in 1950, when Naoharu Yamashina took over a former textile wholesale company in Asakusa, Tokyo that he had re-structured into a toy distributor. The name was derived from the Chinese phrase for ‘things that are eternal.’ To begin with, the firm mainly re-sold celluloid and tin toys, along with rubber swimming rings, in China, but in March 1951 began to export inexpensive tin metal car and aeroplane toys to the United States and other foreign markets. In early 1955, Bandai established a manufacturing facility named the Waraku Works and started making toys itself, as well as continuing to distribute those from other manufacturers. By the early 1960s, Bandai expanded into direct overseas sales, and opened an office in New York to facilitate this in…

All-weather driver I thought I’d share a few pics on my ’72 Bug, which I bought in 2010 and soon after lowered over red steels fitted with whitewall tyres. But last year the engine failed and, as I had an inspection looming, I decided it was time to overhaul the car with a fresh look. I was tired of driving a very low car and, as I am a fan of Cal look and Old Speed, I decided to have the red steel wheels powder coated in black and fitted some 145 and 205/70 tyres. I also swapped the bumpers for T-bars and put some new running boards on without the trim. The guys at De Garaasj took care of the engine overhaul and the car now runs great again…

We’re heading into both the VolksWorld and Ultra VW archives again this month, as well as into everyone of a certain age’s favourite custom VW book to remember the chopped Type 3 that always has, and always will be, known as the Kid Dean Squareback. It’s ironic really, as most people into VWs in the UK in 1986, when Colin Burnham’s Air-Cooled Volkswagens book came out, had no idea who Dick Dean was, let alone his son, Keith Dean, yet this car seared both those names into our collective memories forever. More ironic yet is the fact both Dick and Keith’s surname isn’t Dean at all, but Sawitskas, though Dick chose to drop that somewhere along the line and use his middle name, Dean, in its place. An accomplished pilot,…

From the outside looking in, Marcel Galima has it all. He lives in Lakewood, southern California, he gets to play stay at home dad daily and, perhaps more importantly for us VW guys and girls, he has a choice of three air-cooled VWs to drive. That choice is between the ’62 Type 34 Karmann Ghia shown here, an insanely detailed ’63 Karmann Ghia convertible show car that was featured in VolksWorld a few months ago and a cool, lowered ’71 Bay Camper that’s perfect for taking the whole family out in when he’s playing daddy day care. Whilst I don’t envy him having to choose between the three cars, I’ll admit to being a tiny bit jealous of his life situation. Marcel is certainly no newcomer to Volkswagens, his dad…

The Beetle engine bay is best described as compact and, even when servicing a stock, single carb engine, access to the spark plugs is difficult, even with the right tools. If your car is totally standard you’ll probably just put up with this but, if you are modifying the engine, it make sense to make your life a bit easier here by making some inspection holes in your rear inner wings. We’ve seen untold solutions, from hand-formed aluminium cover plates to open holes with no protection at all. This is a bad idea as it allows road dirt in and defeats the object of the VW’s sealed engine bay, which can result in overheating. A better solution is sealed, removable panels, and that’s why Steve Hook at Hooky’s Panel Shop…