dune buggies and hotVWs February 2021

I am sure many readers may know about it or may already have it… But I need to spread the word to all our VW friends again. So, here is the question: Did you know that you can obtain an official Volkswagen Certificate for your VW? Yes, it’s the car’s birth certificate. We know Porsche does it as well, but how many automakers offer this type of service for mass-produced vehicles? Volkswagen still keeps information about your ride: Production date, original body color, interior color combination, when it left factory, the original destination city/country, the list of original equipment/options that came with your vehicle, and other original specifications. How cool is that! This information can be extremely helpful, especially if you are looking for a perfect, authentic restoration of your vintage…

Well it looks like the new year is upon us and hopefully the future will hold more opportunities to get together with the VW family at shows and events come spring. But since much of the country (make that the world) is hibernating a bit, either for winter months or to avoid the nasty stuff that seems to be in the air these days, why not dig deep in the closet and bring out your photos of VWs and events from years past? My friend Derek Campbell in Vegas recently did this and has flooded Face-book pages with scanned pics of all his prints taken in the shows of the ’80s and ’90s – it is absolutely amazing to see. Past VW owners are coming out of the woodwork, seeing photos…

Daily Driver on the Shopping List Hello Jon, I have followed your magazine for a few years now. I recently started looking for a Bug to work on as a winter project – the COVID-19 Project. My question is simple: What should I look for when shopping for an old VW? I think it would make a great article, too. I have seen some outrageous prices and some VWs in really bad shape advertised for a lot of money. Are they really worth that much? I was also wondering what the price range should be for a Bug in “OK shape”, something that could become a daily driver. Any help from you professionals would be greatly appreciated. Jason Wood Yakima, WA Jason, I would say that in order to answer your question properly, you…

If you read all I just said on the Bug last month, you’re in for a treat on your Bus. It is way, way easier to change on a Bus. On early Buses (Split Window), the first thing is to jack up the Bus if you can’t get under it and get some jack stands under it. If you’re alongside the road, use anything you can to block up the Bus if you don’t fit under with it on the ground. Don’t crawl under it if you’re jacking it up without some kind of safety in case the jack slips, especially if you’re using the stock jack. Find the cable. It’s on the driver’s side of the transmission. If it’s broken at the back, cut the remaining strands if it’s…

Of course, the pandemic issue will keep us busy for a while, but there will be a life after that. And we can expect a 2021 season that is at least slightly better than last year, especially for those of us who are looking forward to Hessisch Oldendorf. For anyone living under a rock who hasn’t heard of HO, which is the short for Hessisch Oldendorf: This is where the air-cooled community meets every four years for the greatest vintage VW show on the planet. Meanwhile the event not only attracts fans of original Volkswagens, but also friends of other VW styles – Old Speed for example. Old Speed race cars happen to be the theme of the Petermax Müller Race, which was established in 2011. It leads to Bad Camberg…

The chassis number, also known as the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), is located in the engine compartment on all Buses. While the VIN is well known and documented, it is not the only number that a person can find stamped into a Transporter. On the bulkhead divider wall, behind the front seat, lives the M-code plate which we all know and love for the great information encoded onto it. The M-code plate showed up in October 1958, and before that there was a “body” number stamped into the bulkhead – the bulkhead was blank before May 1952. On ’58 Walk-through Buses, the body number was stamped onto a plate that was welded to the bulkhead. The body number gives us a tiny little bit of information at best, and just confusion…