dune buggies and hotVWs August 2021

I’ve asked this question several times before in this column. I also keep asking the same question to many friends at VW shows and during photoshoots: “Why are you addicted to Volkswagens?” I’m quite positive most hotVWs magazine readers are somewhat addicted to Volkswagens in one way or another. I know many friends have an addiction based on the premise that one VW is not enough, hence they end up owning multiple air-cooled cars. Some of these same folks are out of control; they don’t even know how many VWs they own... One of them is collecting VW toys. He has a dedicated room where he displays his toy collection. Collecting as many air-cooled models as you want is the ultimate dream for most VW enthusiasts for sure. The problem with such…

If you have read my column for any length of time, I am sure you have heard me talking about the need to get rid of things. As a guy that is always on the hunt for new treasure, after so many years of hunting, the pile gets to be a little big if you only binge and never purge. I’ve been working on the cleanup and clear out mostly in my mind at this point, but few things have left and I’m gearing up for a major purge and downsize this summer. Yesterday though, something happened that nearly took everything away in the blink of an eye. In the dawn of the day on May 31st, while we were sleeping, a fire broke out on our neighbor’s property and…

Little Honda by The Beach Boys said it all. But in your Cal Looker, how did you get those gears? Historically, not much was used beyond the stock shifter with a different knob; sometimes it was wood or maybe leather. Often, you would use a leather covered knob with a Porsche crest. The early VW stock shifters felt like a stick in a bucket of mud – not real firm or precise. We Cal Look speed freaks wanted more than a dressed-up knob! The first thing we did was to check the bushing and the shift coupler and assure they were in good shape, but we wanted more. The first development in VW shifting was the EZ shift or slick shift kit. It used a spacer and stock shifter extension to…

S-S-Stumbling Kads We recently built a 4-seater fiberglass buggy. The engine is a 2175cc with a mild cam and heads. Compression is about 8 to 1. We installed dual Kadron carburetors on low profile Scat intake manifolds. Despite changing jet sizes and other adjustments, we can’t eliminate the stumble it has coming off of idle. Any suggestions? Ed Chenal Murrieta, CA Ed, I’ve noticed that in recent years the guys at Solex Brazil have made a change to the Kadron Solex. They have eliminated the little hole in the side of the venturi, which leads into the idle circuit. Opinions vary about its function, but since all production up until recent years had the venturi hole, I think it would be prudent to put it back into the carb. There is still a…

Buses were built from parts manufactured by outside suppliers. Volkswagen built bodies, and assembled everything. Many of these parts have date codes on them. This was done originally for warranty and inventory reasons, but it is now helpful for people who are interested in period correctness on their Type 2s. This month we will discuss and decode date codes. Date codes come in a few different styles. The easiest to read is the straight forward Year/Month inside a circle. If you ever see a circle with a number between 1 and 12 in one half, and something that looks like a year in the other half, it is almost certainly a date code. This style of date code shows up on wheel rims near the lug nut holes, and also on…

While there were no limits to creativity in the ’80s and ’90s, ingenuity steadily declined after the turn of the millennium – at least in the German VW scene. As always, there are various reasons for this. On the one hand, the values of old Volkswagens rose rapidly; on the other hand, tastes changed and new trends emerged. Resto Cal [aka Resto Custom in the U.S. – Ed.] made a comeback, because the cars remain mostly stock in terms of body modifications. The resale value, which is often very important for Germans (even if they plan on never selling their VW), suffers little from such trend, because a lowered suspension can usually be quickly swapped to a factory one. And stockers fetch the best prices, that’s a fact. In addition…