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Issue 01 | April 2010 | AirMighty.com
Show Reports
Swapmeets To Start The VW Season Californian Road Trip The VolksWorld Show 2010
Features
Danish Rat-Racing Splitwindow DFL Cal-Look Oval < Outlaw Pre-A Porsche 356 A Turbocharged Mountain Racer €14,50 | £12.95 | $21.95 | ¥2400
Cal Look Hebmüller
The FreddyFiles
The Heb-Rod
Cruising the streets of Tokyo in a rare Hebmüller
575 Volkswagens invade the small town of Ninove
We hit the desert in an custom built Hot Rod
ISSN 1879-6508
9 771879 650009
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Up-To-Date Hebmüller from Japan
There’s a lot going on in the scene, be sure to catch the latest news, stories, events and photos on our website: www.AirMighty.com.
Featured cars
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’51 10 window “PRNDR”
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Resto
12 | The Ultra Rat This patinated splitwindow is hiding some serious mechanical upgrades.
42 | The Heb-Rod We had the Heb-Rod taken to the desert for a photo shoot with Ed Fox!
62 | Flat4 HebmĂźller
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A drive around Tokyo in Mr. Komori's Heb, Customised only for a few days then set back to stock.
Pre A Porsche 356
76 | DFL Cal-Look Oval Discover Olaf's 1955 oval beetle, California style, made in Germany.
107 | The PRNDR Johnny Danger's '51 10 window Barndoor bus made it just in time to the VolksWorld Show.
124| Twice the fun!
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Barryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got a sweet fresh single cab for show and a standard oval Cal Look to go (fast)!
138| Outlaw Turbo Porsche 356
The Ultra Rat
An amazing no expenses spared Custom 356 Pre-A, we go for a test drive in the Colorado mountains.
132 42 Look Single Cab
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This is one mean machine from Denmark. Søren Rasmussen’s 1950 racing splitwindow, he’s a member of Team Angora Racing. As we all know by now these Scandinavian’s really know how to race their cars... hard! 12
Words: Georg Otto Translation: Kobus Cantraine | Yves Maertens Pictures: Niels Timmerman
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Camping in Windso r Beach Park
Buses by the Bridge #14 Surfwagons on San-O-Beach 36
1250 KM roadtrip from California to Arizona and back... Words: Kobus Cantraine Translation: Yves Maertens | Georg Otto Pictures: Monica Aguirre | Kobus Cantraine
Southern California, the Pacific Coast Highway, Route 66, surfing and old aircooled Volkswagens, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what many people here in Europe dream of seeing once in their life... We have decided to check it out for you and made this road trip report. From San Onofre Surfing Beach to Lake Havasu and back to Huntington Beach California driving over the old Rice Road and the Route 66!
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Words: Kobus Cantraine Translation: Georg Otto | Yves Maertens Pictures: T-Fab | Ed Fox
One of the best aircooled customs ever built! Nothing more, nothing less...
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Mooneyes’ 2009 Annual Hot Rod Custom Show Words: Kobus Cantraine Translation: Georg Otto | Yves Maertens Pictures: Kobus Cantraine
Japan, the land of the rising sun, samurai’s, sushi and sake. Hot Rods are probably not the first thing that comes to your mind... Unless you are on your way to the Mooneyes HCS show! > ooneyes offer hop up and speed parts since 1950! The Moondiscs quickly became hot rodder’s hubcap of choice to reduce drag on the salt flats when competing in speed trials. Dean Moon eventually ended up selling the company to Mr. Shige Suganuma in the 80’s, who has made the brand into what it is today.
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Most people know about the Mooneyes shop in Santa Fe Springs, California, but its Japanese counterpart and the Moon-Cafe in Yokohama really are a place you must visit
at least once in your life. Passion is in the air and the quality of everything there is just amazing. There is no better time to visit Japan than in early December, because that’s when you can go visit Mooneyes’ Annual Hot Rod Custom Show at the Pacifico exhibition centre in Yokohama. This isn’t your average custom car show, this is the biggest indoor hot rod and custom car show in the world. Now in its 18th year, the show has kept growing and today you can see over 250 of the world’s
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This area of the show is called rat-island and features nostalgia hot rods and pinstripers
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best customs, over 650 motorcycles, 220 vendors and 35 pinstripers from all over the globe! 13.000people attended the show on Sunday 6th of December 2009. The Pacifico was totally packed. The stars of this year’s show were the Milner Deuce Coupe and its rival, the Falfa Street Machine, both original cars from George Lucas’ 1973 film “American Graffiti”! The cars were accompanied by Candy Clark who played Debbie in the movie. The other major guest of honour, or “Hero Guest” as they are called in Japan, was ZZ-Top’s Billy Gibbons, who brought his
The Japanese Kustom Kulture is very well tied in with the local VW scene. Many rodders of today owned a custom VW a few decades ago...
Show | Mooneyes Hot Rod Show
‘30s display, on the left a Matsuzaki 1932 Ford 5W Coupe that won ‘Best 30s’
So-Cal Speedshop built “Mexican Blackbird” 1958 Ford Thunderbird to the show. The Japanese custom motorcycle scene is huge and the bikes on display ranged from ez-rider choppers to madly customized Honda monkeys. The quality of everything on display there is way way up there, and there is so much to see that it’s almost impossible to cover it all in one day. Forunately, we were lucky to be able to check out the cars during the set up day. That’s how we found out that the DicE-Magazine guys were going to throw
‘72 Honda CB500 “Freakin’ Four”and the “Moon Buggy” on the Mooneyes display
a mad party somewhere in Yokohama... but that’s another story... The VW section is what we were there for. As usual, the quality of the cars is second to none. Flat4 had their Heb (See page 62) and the “BERM’S” drag race car on display. Redhot, the famous cartoonist who does the Streetvw’s magazine covers, showed off his type 913 Porsche/VW hybrid. An amazing custom creation that he designed many years ago and that was coach built for him in Japan based on a Porsche 912 morphed with a Type3 Fastback. We checked out as many cars as possible but before you
Above right: The ‘Best Rat Rod’ winner, Arts Body Deguchi 1929 Ford Model A
know it, the awards have been handed out, the bands have stopped playing rockabilly tunes and everyone is going home, and you find yourself waiting a whole year for the next edition... ooneyes wurde 1950 gegründet und machte sich einen Namen durch die Moondiscs, die sich als äußerst wirkungsvoll bei Salzsee-Rennen erwiesen. Durch die nun geschlossene Felge erreichte man einen geringeren Luftwiederstand und damit höhere Geschwindigkeiten. In den 80ern verkaufte
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In the front is the great looking Cal-Look ‘56 oval owned by Toshi Nakano
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Words: Georg Otto Translation: Kobus Cantraine | Yves Maertens Pictures: Mike Ishiko
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Flat4 HebmĂźller Mr. Takashi Komori, the boss of the Flat4 Corporation, is the lucky owner of this one since the mid-1990s, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of only 139 cars that have surpassed the test of time.
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Semaphores are typical for european Beetles until 1959
T-bars give the Oval an more aggressive look
he streets are dimly lit and you can hear dogs barking in the distance, strange people are hiding in dark corners... It’s just before 22.00h and Olaf Albers is on his way to check up on his Oval. We are in the worst part of town. “Oh why did I talk myself into this, there must be a better place to get my beetle welded and painted. No, this is not a good idea.” Bad thoughts are going through the young student’s mind. The only guy Olaf could afford to do the bodywork on his oval was “LB”, a man who generally works on high end luxury cars blinged to death for the shady people of Düsseldorf. You get the picture. It’s been over six months and the last time Olaf was here, they still hadn’t done anything to it! This time, when he opens the workshop door, he can see blue light flashes from someone welding. Finally! They have started on it.
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“From that moment it will take another year before I get my oval back with new quarter panels, rear valance and a bunch of other rust repairs” says Olaf. “LB” also filled in all the holes from the factory trim and painted the car L31 Dove Blue. “It wasn’t until the ‘55 was back in my garage that I finally found out what “LB” stands for. It’s “Lügen-Baron,” German for “baron of lies”... I would prefer to forget everything about this part of the restoration" admits the 31-year-old.
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Modern A1 stainless steel muffler under the valance
Original Oval licence plate light
Let’s go back in time. In 2006, Tobias Pleines, a fellow DFL-Club member, spots a stripped oval beetle for sale on www.Bugnet.de. Björn Schewe had discovered the early oval in a barn and had put it up for sale. Tobi confirms that it’s a good base for a restoration project and a deal is struck. It is only once they actually see the beetle in Wolfsburg that they realise just how stripped it was. They bolt the doors and lids back on the car, put the interior and all the boxes with spares inside, tie it down to the trailer and drive back home. Back in Düsseldorf they realise that the body wasn’t actually bolted to the chassis and that the engine was held in place with just one bolt… Anyway, they made it home in one piece and the car turns out to be very complete. Only the rare heart taillights are missing. Before the major rebuild even starts, Olaf locates some necessary sheet metal, preferably NOS parts. His oval was to become a Cal Looker, one in true seventies style. He buys an early Gene Berg shifter, some VDO gauges and an original EMPI GT steering wheel “This one is still in my display cabinet, I have to get a hub machined for it soon.” He orders some tan TMI seat covers, new carpets and a headliner, so he can start the assembly immediately after his Volkswagen comes back all painted.
The heart taillights were the only part missing
The chassis is fitted with an adjustable link pin front axle, the rear end stays stock. The front end sports “Zero Offset” CSP drilled disc brakes, which only widen the track by 3,5mm on each side. The rear brakes are stock drums re-drilled to Porsche pattern that Olaf fitted with 19 mm wheel brake cylinders. He finds a set of rare Porsche 914/6 magnesium Mahle wheels (aka “Gasbuners”), and wraps them in 145R15 Michelin XZX at the front and 205/70R15 Semperit at the rear. The gearbox is built by Rancho and the engine comes out of Olaf’s old 1963 beetle. It’s a 1776cc that delivers 109hp on the dyno. Enough for now, but the IDF carbs will soon be swapped for a set of bigger 48IDAs! As time progresses, Olaf ends up with a deadline. He wants to debut his Oval at the 2008 DFL May Cruise Madness. With a big smile on his face, he says: “That day couldn’t have been better for me and my oval. We made it on time, and that same night I was accepted into the club.“ traßenlaternen werfen schummriges Licht, irgendwo bellt ein Hund. Merkwürdige Gestalten lungern in dunklen Ecken herum. Es ist kurz vor 22 Uhr und OlafAlbers ist auf dem Weg zu seinem Ovali . Er hat kein gutes Gefühl, auch wenn er nur ein paar Meter vom Wagen zum Tor der Werkstatt hat. Dieser Teil Düsseldorfs gehört sicher nicht
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The interior is almost stock, with the exception of the TMI seat covers, a VDO rev counter, an early Gene Berg Shifer and Simpson lap belts.
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Shasta Snow Trip 2010 “An acceptably dangerous event” – Brian Piercy Some have come on the trip thinking it is a race, but find in the end that it is not, and the only person you really race on the trip is yourself. February 5th - 7th, 2010. > 96
Show | Shasta Snow Trip 2010
Words: Richard Kimbrough Translation: Yves Maertens | Georg Otto Pictures: Richard Kimbrough
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Pictures: Niels Timmerman Text: Benjamin Rummel Car: 23A, VW Barndoor, Kombi Ch.number: 20-08851 Year: January 16, 1951 Owner: Benjamin Rummel
Ingredients: - Type I engine, 2110cc, Scat C25 Cam, Mahle 90.5 pistons and cylinders, Empi 82mm crank, full flow, Kennedy Stage 1 clutch pressure plate, stock 34pict 3 carburettor, 35mm single quiet pack exhaust - Front Porsche 944 brakes and Powerdisks and in the rear og late bug drums re-drilled to 5x130mm - Gearbox got a complete overhaul with a longer 4th gear - 4,5” and deep 6” fake chromed Fuchs, OG Porsche centre caps, chromed and detailed by Al Reed in California (with the help of Rich50, GFK) 165/45/15 tires in the front and 195/60 in the rear - Lowered with a1966 bus beam, narrowed 4,5inches, custom shock towers, centre steering, build to fit on the barndoor frame, dropped spindles and a steering box from a post 1955 bus, raised 4,5cm and KYB shocks all-round, adjustable springplates from T2D in the rear - Creative Engineering Safari windows, six pop out windows with long spoon latches - Autometer Monster Tach, oil pressure and temp gauges - The 'pink' details: “Kai, the guy who did my complete new electrics, first wanted to do the wiring all original, but then he found out that this would make it very expensive. So he asked me for some other colours and the first one which came in my mind was pink. I thought nobody would do this... so that works fine for me!” - Vintage pinup's on the sealing
As it was found in Portugal back in 1993
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The first â&#x20AC;&#x153;testâ&#x20AC;? drive was from Germany to the United Kingdom, 1600km to enter the VolksWorld Show at the end of March 2010, this went without any problems at all!
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Brown against Grey We really didn’t know where to look first on this cold day in the month of March. At the right there’s a gray Cal Look oval beetle, to our left we have a brown Resto Cal pickup and above our heads there’s Tyson, Barry’s son, performing breath taking tricks on his BMX bike.
Words: Georg Otto Translation: Kobus Cantraine | Yves Maertens Pictures: Niels Timmerman
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Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re deep into the Colorado Mountains, its 2002 Fred Veitch is the man with a plan. He drives a brand new 996GT2, a great car, but he loves the pure lines of the early 356 Porsches... 138
Words: Kobus Cantraine Translation: Yves Maertens | Georg Otto Pictures: Zach Mayne | Frederick A. Veitch
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VolksWorld Show
Words: Georg Otto Translation: Kobus Cantraine | Yves Maertens Pictures: Niels Timmerman | Tom Wheatley
Ingo Neuhaus' Looker (r) was debuted 20 years ago
Richard Clarke’s black Cal Look split window
Standard Beetles are a rare sight at any Show
Hard to believe but the VolksWorld Show has already been around for 16 years. Every year it seems to attract more visitors. On the 27th and 28th of March 2010 over 25.000 people headed to Esher, close to London, U.K. > andown park was bursting at its seams, not only inside the exhibition area but also outside in the racecourse’s parking lots. Spectators definitely got to see a massive amount of aircooled VW’s. Showcars were driven to the event from all over Europe - never have so many nationalities competed for the prestigious trophies. People travelled from Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Holland, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland plus of course England, Ireland and Scotland. The longest distance was covered by Tero Virta, who came all the way from Finland with his 1960 convertible bug, and Italian Aurelio Pappy, who showed off his new Gasser “Made in Italy”. Both went home with a well deserved Top 20 award. The Bug Box, from Southern Germany, debuted their “Sand Scorcher”, while the DAS VW Club’s line-up included Francois “Shrek” Delvaux’s mighty 57 Oval. Norwegian Oystein Asphjell brought
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his ”Wigger Coupe”, and Barry Krul had his just finished 1960 Pick Up on display too. The battle for the trophies was a tough one, with the judges choosing between a Belgian, a German and a Swiss entry. Eventually, Thomas Koch’s “Hammered inc.” custom bug was announced as the winner of the “Best of Show” trophy. He also got to take Kinky Mick’s velvet lined Fuchs crown back to Switzerland. Another special award went to Bavaria, as the “Sand Scorcher” Baja got the European Bug In Choice award. Aside from the cars, parts dealers and manufacturers were showing their latest products. On the CSP trade stand, you could discover the new Python exhausts for Type 3 and late model Type 2. Midland Wheel Supplies had a new line of alloy wheels available in semi gloss black paint. For those of us into older parts, Karmann Konnection was hosting its Swap Meet
upstairs. And if that was too crowded for you, you could always catch a breath of fresh air outside while checking the British VW club stands or the “Bug Stuff”.
> The most important indoor VW show worldwide < All in all, we can say that the VolksWorld Show is simply a must visit event for any air cooled Volkswagen fan. It’s the largest indoor show for vintage VW’s in the world, with an unbelievable amount of amazing cars on display. If you plan to take home a trophy at next year’s VoWoShow you better be prepared to face some very strong competition, and as a visitor you will be blown away for sure by the quality of everything that’s there. We will certainly be there again next year! Thanks to VW Nutzfahrzeuge for their support.
Show | VolksWorld Show 2010 Top 20 Stéphane Dendievel - 1957 Cabriolet, Iris Blue, Belgium Steve Collins - Orange Metalflake Buggy, Mark Dryden Grégory van Hullebusch - Brown Squareback, Belgium Shaun Knight - Champagne Edition Bus Eric Roja - 1967 Cal Look Ben Coates - 1969 Resto Cal Ghia Christian Grundmann - 1949 Hebmuller, Germany
Visitors Choice
Barry Krul - Brown single cab, Holland
Tom Varkala - Marathon Beetle
Bob Burrows - 13 window bus Xavier Adam - Orange raised Brasilia, Belgium
Prosign Choice
Matt Balls - Aircooled Mk3 Golf
Tom Varkala - Marathon Beetle
Rudy Olivencia&Eric Thon - New Beetle, France Dave Harries - Rover V8 mid engined split bus
Kinky Mick's Crown
Tero Virta - RestoCal cab, Finland
Thomas Koch, Hammered Inc roof chopped Beetle
Walter Jellinek - Sand Scorcher Beetle, Bavaria Richard Clark - Resto Split
Footman James Best Club Stand
Shrek - Das Oval, Beligium
New Waves Club
Aurelio Papi - Made in Italy gasser, Rome
’69 Ghia of Ben Coates with 5” narrowed beam
Matt Keene - Drag Beetle
Best of Show
The Williams Brothers - 1950 split Beetle custom
Thomas Koch, Hammered Inc roof chopped Beetle
Der Autobahn Scrapers Cal Look display downstairs
Scale 1:1 toy, the “Sand Scorcher” by the Bug Box
The Barndoor line-up: Benjamin Rummel’s ‘51 (10 window) Kombi, Tim Sykes’s ‘54 Panel, Alan Scott’s ‘52 Kombi, Rikki James’ ‘54 Samba Deluxe, Bryan Smith’s ‘54 Kombi, Paul Wisk’s ‘54 Samba Deluxe
aum zu glauben, aber die Volksworld Show gibt es jetzt schon seit 16 Jahren - und zieht von Jahr zu Jahr mehr Menschen an. Am 27. und 28. März 2010 kamen über 25.000 Besucher nach Esher bei London, England. Das Sandown Park-Gelände platzte aus allen Nähten, denn nicht nur in den Hallen warteten luftgekühlte VW auf die staunenden Zuschauer, auch draußen auf dem Freigelände und dem Besucher-Parkplatz fand man jede Menge sehenswerte Käfer, Karmänner und Busse. Gerade bezüglich der Show-Cars versammelten sich selten zuvor so viele Nationalitäten, um die schönsten Volkswagen ganz Europas zu präsentieren. Teilnehmer reisten 2010 aus Belgien, Deutschland, Finnland, Frankreich,
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Holland, Italien, Norwegen, der Schweiz und natürlich aus England, Irland und Schottland an. Die weitesten Anreisen hatten sicher der Finne Tero Virta mit seinem 60er Käfer Cabrio und Aurelio Papy, der aus Italien seinen Gasser “Made in Italy” mitbrachte. Beide Autos bekamen einen verdienten Platz in den Top 20. Doch auch die anderen Länder lieferten Fahrzeuge an, die eine der begehrten Top 20Trophäen mit nach Hause nahmen. Der “Sand Scorcher” der Bug Box aus Deutschland war dabei, genauso wie Francois Delvauxs 57er Ovali vom belgischen DAS VW Club, der Norweger Oystein Asphjell und sein Wiger Coupé sowie die herrliche 60er Pritsche des Holländers Barry Krul. Im Kampf um die Krone
Tero Virta’s 1960 convertible bug from Finland
mischten laut Aussagen der Jury die Länder Belgien, Deutschland und die Schweiz mit. Als Sieger ging daraus der Eidgenosse Thomas Koch hervor. Überglücklich nahm er den “Best of Show”-Award entgegen, den sein “Hammered Inc”-Käfer auch zu Recht verdient hat. Zusätzlich bekam er von Mick Tattersall noch dessen neuen Wanderpokal verliehen, eine aus einer 5,5er Fuchs-Felge hergestellte Krone. Cool! Ein weiterer Extra-Pokal, verliehen von den Organisatoren des European Bug-In, ging an Walter Jelinek und dessen “Sand Scorcher” Baja-Käfer. Doch nicht nur die Autos zogen die Massen an, auch die Händler hatten genügend Neuigkeiten parat, um die Augen zum Glänzen zu bringen.
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