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January 2010 | AirMighty.com | €14,50
Show Reports
Drag racing from Bitburg! The best vintage cars of H.O. DKP Cruise Night in So-Cal
Lookers and Scrapers from the Low Lands | So-Cal 356 | Spa | EBI#3 | Hessisch Oldendorf | DDD#7
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Features
Discover the best aircooled cars from Europe and the rest of the world! < Check out this beautiful 11 window from Holland!
Roy’s ’56 Ragtop
Mark’s Automatic T2B
European Bug-In #3
Body-off restored Resto Cal Oval on Fuchs
US-Spec Bay window with serious cruising potential
Gassers, celebrities, show cars, Chimay! Feel the nostalgia vibe
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Up-To-Date Beauty and the Beast
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.
This edition The Cars 10 | The NOSback Read all about this black-beauty, it’s loaded with NOS bits and pieces!
32 | Better ‘late’ than never... Check out this very clean Resto Look late model Bay.
46 | 356 Hardtop Coupe California dreaming... cruising on Pacific Coast Highway.
54 | LayLow Light This is what we are all hoping to find in the US, a perfect patina ride.
72 | Old Speed Oval Sweet oval that doesn’t need much more than some vintage speed.
90 | Beauty and the Beast Bertjan's awesome busses. One Concours- and the other Rat Look.
112 | Roy’s Ragtop This is one fine Resto Cal oval that's been brought back to life.
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The NOSback
The Shows 24 | DKP Pre-Classic Cruise Night Great start of an even better VW Classic Weekend!
64 | Hessisch Oldendorf The not to miss event for vintage VW fans held every 4 years.
78 | Splits at the Lake 87 Splitbusses parked at a nice and cosy campingground in Nuenen (NL).
82 | VW Bug Show Back at Spa Francorchamps with the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Big Paradeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and the great atmosphere!
106 | European Bug-In #3 16550 aircooled VWs, 8.000+ visitors, 178 drag race cars... what a blast!
120| Das Drag Day #7
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Burnouts, wheelies and much more drag race action in Bitburg.
So-Cal sunburn Lowlight
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...and more!
Resto-Cal Baywindow
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Das Drag Day #7 January 2010 | AirMighty Megascene |
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Dub Specs BODY 1964 type 3 notchback, Black L41, NOS fenders, bumpers, trim, doorhandles, Hirschmann antenna, vent trim front and rear, mud flaps, Empi jacking point covers, curb feelers, white Hella indicators, flat, all red Hella taillights INTERIOR Original seats and door panels, TMI headliner, full circle horn ring, Empi glove box pull, rare type 3 radio frame, period Blaupunkt radio, chrome indicator switch cover, luggage bars, under dashboard tray TECH Lowering through turned torsion bars front and rear, KYB shocks front, stock rear, stock drum brakes, 5x15 chromed Mooneyes Speedmaster, 145/45 front, 165/60 rear Typ 3 engine, 1641cc, 69 mm crank, 77 mm Mahle pistons/ cylinders, 40 IDF carbs, 123 ignition, mod. type 4 exhaust, 65 hp
1641cc type 3 engine topped off with 40 IDF Weber carbs
THANKS TO Henny van Kranen and all Undutchables
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Tons of NOS parts went into the restoration of this beautiful notchback
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OS, three magic letters that are very common in the aircooled scene. No, this isn’t Nitrous Oxide Systems that we all know from the drag racing, here we’re talking about New Old Stock. Forgotten original brand new parts for you old vintage car that have been left over in the parts warehouses from Volkswagen dealers, rare parts that are very hard to get especially for your aircooled Wolfsburg built cars.
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> This notchback was originally black, a color that wasn’t very common in the 60s! < Their advantage over reproduction parts is that they will fit and their build quality is always the same. However this doesn’t mean that there’s never any problem with NOS parts. Some have been badly stored or have been moved around in warehouses time and time again resulting in rust, scratches or dings, not all NOS stuff is perfect and it should always be thoroughly checked before you buy it. And this is just what our NOS-hunter Clemens van Velzen from Berkel in Holland did, in 2004 he bought his 1500S project and got started. “I checked out the car, and took it home, it was only once I had removed the seat covers that I discovered a close to perfect original
No trailer queen - Clemens drives his type 3 whenever possible
interior that I decided that there was only one way to go with this Type 3... I was going to restore it using as many NOS parts as I could possibly lay my hands on.” The base car went through a 3 year step by step restoration, it was delivered by the VW factory in gorgeous L41 Black and Clemens was determined to bring his Notch back on the streets featuring a lovely deep black paintjob. First the body needed to be taken care of, there were many dents and deep scratches on the car and with the vision of a perfect show car he knew that the base had to be turned into something straight before it could be painted again. He pulled the body off the pan and had it all sandblasted. “The insides of the rockers and the rear quarters were infected with the brown plague, and soon we discovered more holes that needed to be fixed in all the usual areas that can get affected by rust on these cars.” The 41 year old Clemence had no other choice than to spend most of his evenings locked up inside his garage with the welding gear and get it all patched up. “The outside rockers especially made me sweat.” says the Undutchables VW Club member. “I wanted the panel fit and gaps to be perfect, just like how it left the factory. It took me a long time before I was happy with how the doors, rockers and fenders all aligned.” All the time and patience he put
in to the project for sure paid off, after many hours of shrinking and stretching the steel on the doors by means of heating and cooling it off he was able to save them, but for the fenders he had to go out and get some NOS replacement panels. “Most of the 200+ NOS parts that I have used on this car have been found locally in private ads, from people who had saved parts in their basements and in attics. The rest came from Ebay and swap meets. Sometimes I had to pay a lot and other times it was very cheap, especially compared to today’s prices.” All these NOS parts came in handy and made the assembly of the car very enjoyable. Once the bodywork was completed the NOS side trim, side marker indicators, air vent trim, rear lights and reflectors, headlight rings, complete bumpers with brackets and guards as well as the body badges were all removed from their original period blue VW boxes and wrappers and fitted to the freshly black painted body. That’s not all, the list of NOS parts is a very long one and also included; door handles, scuff guards, windshield wipers, rear view mirror, window rubber, front indicators, mud flaps, fender beading and almost all other rubber parts that were fitted to the notch! And that doesn’t even come close to summing it all up, we haven’t even mentioned the floor pan, the interior or the mechanics here in
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Better â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;lateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; than never... Words: Kobus Cantraine Translation: Georg Otto | Yves Maertens Pictures: Niels Timmerman
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Mark knows how to style a VW and that's what he did with this 1977 late model bus. It took him 3 years to finish his automatic bay window with a distinct Resto Cal feeling.
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Words / Pictures: Kobus Cantraine Car: The 6th 1962 t6 Karmann hardtop Year: 1962 Owner: Glenn Bornhoff
Ingredients: - Correct ’62 356S engine from Alex Bivens. 1600cc fitted with Delorto carbs - Stock Exhaust with chrome tips, no heaterboxes - 5.5” x 15” Crestline wheels - CSP Front Disk Brakes, Stock 356 Drums in the Rear - Les Leston steering wheel found at Karmann Konnection - Period Rollcage - Vintage Corbeau seats - Diest Racing Belts - Noid mascot from Domino’s Pizza - Hoodstraps made from a belt found at a swapmeet - Vintage California Look Nerfbars - 356 Carrera Rear Exhaust skirt - Lowered 1 spline in rear, front adjusted down
Glenn enjoys the car at its full, just driving it!
5.5” x 15” Crestline wheels fit the car perfectly
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Wim Preuschoft’s Ghia rides very low on 17” Radars, no bags, no juice!
The rare early Karmann Ghia badge is still there
he car was imported by Peter Melisen for Wim a few years ago. Once the car got to Belgium Wim lifted the sun baked body off the pan and, together with his buddies from the VW Lay Low Club, they moved on to turn the Ghia in a true Low Light Lay Low VW! They fitted a 6” narrowed beam and some CB-Performance Spindles, no air ride here, a real hardcore slamjob! They narrowed the front so much that there was no room left to fit shocks! And in the rear a pair of KYB Gas shocks was used. To make sure the Ghia would stop on a dime, a set of CSP Disc Brakes was ordered in Germany.
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Since Wim wanted to be able to do the occasional burn out, he fitted a Hurst Line Lock (this is a device that goes in between the master cylinder and the front brake lines and allows to lock the front wheels when you have to heat up the tires before a drag race). And to make sure the back wheels would spin and the rear tires would smoke he called up his friend Leslie Aerts at Les is More Engine Service. Leslie took a brand new aluminium engine case, fitted it with a 82mm crank and a set of 94mm Mahle cylinders and pistons. BBT (who are just around the corner from Wim and Leslie) provided 44X37,5 Max Flow Heads and Scat delivered a C45 camshaft and a set of I-Beam Rods! To keep it cool there’s the Full Flow oil system with HP1 Fram Filter and a Bugpack external oil cooler. Leslie finished the longblock off
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147HP at 6300rpm! More than enough to do the occasional burnout!
A Californian suntan, Mother Nature did a great job!
with a 10 to 1 compression rate and for the top end he picked out a pair of dual 48mm Weber IDF carburettors. A Mallory distributor provides the sparks. The completed package developed a healthy 147HP at 6300rpm and 203Nm of torque on the dyno! More than enough to do the occasional burnout! Wim fitted the whole car back together but the original steering wheel and the interior were so burned by the sunshine that they couldn’t be re-used, so he found a wheel from an oval beetle and a good used interior from a later model Karmann Ghia. A pair of Simpson seat belts was bolted to the freshly restored floorpan and a full set of Autometer gauges was installed to keep an eye on the precious engine. Another trip to BBT provided a Bugpack 4 into 1 exhaust header and an EMPI FatBoy Muffler!
> They fitted a 6” narrowed beam and some CB-Performance Spindles, no air ride here, a real hardcore slamjob! < Wim was happy with the ultra low stance, his engine and the ride quality! He ran the car for a while on Chromed Sprintstar wheels and drove the car to many events all over Europe. We even saw his car at the vintage show of Hessisch Oldendorf where many were surprised at just how close to the ground this Ghia sits, all this like we said before with no airbags or hydraulics. When he showed up at the last
Autometer gauges and Bugpack shifter
DAS Drag Day in Bitburg, Germany (where this feature was shot), we were all amazed by the stance of his car and how Wim was able to fit those big 17” wheels and still be able to drive the car over long distances! Leslie, the engine builder, had just become the European dealer for the Air-Evo wheels and he immediately hooked Wim up with a set of these cool 17” Ascara Radar Replicas! uf den ersten Blick sieht Wim Preuschofts Karmann nur aus wie ein tiefergelegter, früher Ghia mit glänzenden Rädern, aber dieser Wagen hat viel mehr, als nur verblichene Farbe und verchromte 17 Zoll-Alus.
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Vor ein paar Jahren importierte Peter Melisen den Wagen für Wim aus Kalifornien und als der Ghia dann endlich in Belgien angelangt war, trennte unser Mann gleich mal Karosserie und Bodengruppe voneinander. Zusammen mit seinen Freunden vom VW Lay Low Club verwandelte er den 59er in einen echten Lowlight Lay Low VW. Frontseitig montierten sie eine um 15 Zentimeter gekürzte und verstellbare Achse sowie Tieferlegungsachsschenkel von CB Performance. Hier gibt’s kein Air Ride, das ist Tieferlegen nach alter Schule. Durch die extrem gekürzte Achse blieb kein Platz mehr für Stoßdämpfer, hinten kamen dafür KYB-Derivate zum Einsatz. Um sicheres Bremsen zu gewährleisten, bestellte die Truppe bei CSP in Deutschland Scheiben für die Vorderachse.
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Up in smoke! Wim putting down some rubber for this sweet AirMighty photo shoot! Burn Baby Burn! Yeah!
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The recently found VW 38 awaits itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full restoration and was displayed in the St. Marien church
Show | Hessisch Oldendorf 2009 Typ 34 gesellten sich dazu, darunter das Werks-Cabriolet von Jörg Fischer. Weiter ging es in die Lange Straße. Nach rechts hin konnte man Ovalis begutachten, nach links Brezel-Käfer. Und zwar in solchen Massen, daß man unweigerlich im Laufe des Wochenendes abstumpfte. Selbst einem der 13 anwesenden Schwimmwagen schaute man nicht mehr hinterher. Deren großer Auftritt fand bei der traditionellen Ausfahrt am Samstag statt. Während die Mehrzahl der Teilnehmer die Fähre über die Weser benutzten mussten, stürzten sich zwölf Wehrmachts-Fahrzeuge wagemutig in die Fluten. Ein unbeschreibliches Schauspiel, das man nicht verpassen durfte. Zurück zum Rundgang. Folgte man der Langen Straße nach links, hörte es irgendwann auf mit Brezel-Käfern und man bog wieder links ein in Richtung Teilemarkt. Dieser Straßenzug bot hauptsächlich Fans von Bussen bis Baujahr ‘67 einen fantastischen Eindruck, dann stieß man unter anderem auf die Clubstände von DFL (Der Fieser Luftkühlers), DRF (Der Resto Fahrers) und Brezelfenstervereinigung (BFV). Ein paar hundert Meter Richtung Ortsausgang zog dann ein alter Bauernhof-Komplex die Besucher in seinen Bann. Unzählige Händler und Privatleute hielten hier ihre Waren feil, darunter die seltensten Teile auf diesem Erdenrund. Fand man das Gesuchte nicht, ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit groß, daß es nicht existiert.
> If it’s rare, it’s there – Schwimmers, Rometsches, Hebs – you name it < Darüber und über die vielen Erfahrungen und
Bekanntschaften des Tages konnte man am Abend beim großen Buffet in der Stadthalle sprechen. Wie üblich war für die ersten rund 870 Teilnehmer das Abendessen mit in der Meldegebühr inbegriffen. Alle, die sich später für Hessisch Oldendorf entschieden, kamen nicht in den Genuß, mussten aber auch weniger bezahlen. Für deren Unterhaltung sorgten Livebands und Verpflegungsstände in der Altstadt und man hörte, daß die Party dort noch besser als in der Stadthalle gewesen sein soll. Ganz egal, wo man nun mehr Spaß hatte, das 5. internationale Volkswagen Veteranentreffen gehörte mit Sicherheit zu einer der besten und denkwürdigsten Veranstaltungen in der VW-Gemeinde weltweit. Hier stimmt nicht nur die Organisation - ein 30-köpfiges Team plante alles mit zwei Jahren Vorlaufzeit sondern auch das Flair, die Stimmung und der Mix aus hauptsächlich originalen Wagen vermischt mit tiefergelegten, patinierten und erstarkten VWs. Die Qualität passt in jeder Hinsicht in Hessisch Oldendorf.
Axel’s barndoor on display at Hessisch in 2005
And is the same bus all restored 4 years later!
From ’05 to ’09
> It’s not only the cars that make a show like this, it’s also the people < our tout passionné de Volkswagen – surtout vintage – il y avait une date à ne pas rater en 2009 : le Week-end du 26 au 28 juin, date du meeting d’Hessisch Oldendorf.
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Fief de la famille Grundmann, cette petite ville située 70km à l’ouest d’Hanovre accueille tous les quatre ans le VW Veteranentreffen. Chaque année attire de plus en plus de participants, et pour sa cinquième édition
The „Dapferle“ beetle from the Strähle family
Two of the 29 Hebmüller beetles on show
Pål Rui’s gorgeous 1950 356 Porsche came all the way from Norway
1952 Rometsch Beeskow, now owned by the Autostadt
The barndoor busses started production in march 1950, this one is from November ’50 and has the Vin# 20-06751, only about 8000 were built and just 35 are known to remain from this first year of the production without a back window. “I bought this bus in 2004 and displayed it at the ‘05 Hessisch meet in as found condition. It was only after sandblasting that the amount of restoration work and how much new sheet metal was going to be needed became clear. At the same time I started looking for parts all over the world, hard to find items like the aluminium front and rear vw logos, and specific tail lights for 1950. I even changed the windows out with very rare NOS Glass.” A new wiring loom was handmade by a friend in Poland, taking great care to respect the original colour codes and the cloth wrapping of all the wires. The whole mechanics were rebuilt using as many NOS and correct good used parts, “I made sure everything had the specific early barndoor 29- part numbers”, later bus part numbers changed into the more common 211 numbers. “Tonny Larsen helped me with much of the details and research work”. Finished just in time for the 2009 Hessisch Oldendorf meeting it was parked in the same spot now in concourse condition. “Today my bus is on display at VW’s Autostadt where can be seen until the end of February.” Axel Struwe
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Words: Georg Otto Translation: Kobus Cantraine | Yves Maertens Pictures: Niels Timmerman
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AirMighty features two beautiful VW buses, both owned by Bertjan Heerze from Hengelo, the Netherlands. One is his freshly restored â&#x20AC;&#x2122;65 split, the other his rough daily driver â&#x20AC;&#x2122;69 panel still in original paint.
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European Bug In #3 Words: Elmer Jonathan Translation: Georg Otto | Yves Maertens Pictures: Julian Hunt | Niels Timmerman
On 3-4-5 July 2009 Chimay International Raceway hosted the 3rd CSP European Bug In. Visitors and cars drove from all over Europe to join the European Bug In party, and those who couldn’t drive their car flew in from all over the world! The event is a copy of the original 60’s Southern California bug in transported to this quiet countryside town in the Southern half of Belgium close to the French border > he streets of Chimay are closed off for the weekend and what’s normally a road for tractors and other farm equipment gets converted into a full quarter mile drag strip. Now something like this doesn’t happen in any town, Chimay is home to the oldest race track of Belgium! In 1926 they closed 21Km to host the first “Grand Prix des Frontieres”, due to it’s great track and central location in the middle of Europe it was an event where
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Sven Goffaux’s Gemini Pro Street Beetle
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petrolheads of the 1920’s from all countries united to drive their fast sportscars and enjoy a tasty local brew! Today the small town hosts a few events each year, vintage motorcycle racing, rally cross, super motard and the European Bug In! Like back in the days on the original bug ins the main attraction at EBI is the Drag Racing! And what a show people got this year! The Gasser Garage took some cars over out of
Turtle Racer got a new paint job just before EBI
their museum in Aberdeen Scotland to play! Russell loaded up the just finished Underdog II tribute, Blue Obsession, The WedWocket (Ex-DKPIII), Lee Leighton’s old race oval, the EBI Oval Now Turbocharged and the Stutt Bee! The last was reunited with the Schley Bros, who drove the car back in the days, they flew in from California to re-live the original bug in vibe for the last 2 years! And it has been inspiring, many new built race cars were at the
Otto Bros brought out Dangerine to play again
Shows | European Bug-In #3
startline! We must say that there was much more to see than just the Gassers, those just add to the originality of the event, it’s like you are being transported back in time and you’re sitting in the grandstand at Orange County Intl Raceway, seeing and hearing those period cars with the original MC Dyno Don in the background going “BaBaBABAP BA BAAAAAA”!!! It is just amazing! On these countless runs over the 3 days we saw Europe’s best! Super clean all out race cars, subtle looking quick cal lookers, mental burnouts, a very fast V8 powered type3 fastback pulling sky high wheelies, plenty of turbocharged bugs and some very quick buses! Many cars that we saw on the drag strip were also entered into the show and shine! And it
must have been a very hard job to pick out the 40some winners out of over 1000 cars on display in the show and shine! Equally packed was the Trader Village where CSP presented a Limited Edition EBI Fat Performance T-Bar Kit and they displayed the range from Flat4, Jpm and Rancho! Further up in the trader field we spotted EMPI, Kieft en Klok (those guys with the small banner at the dragstrip), T3D/T2D showed off the Kerbsnake Brasilia, Slide Performance found time to have his tradestand and race his drag buggy to a Personal Best! Prowagen Per4Mance had the VW Speed product range from Thailand! BBT had the inflatable bounce limo-bus to entertain the kids and presented
their new Chromed Steel Sprintstars to the parents! And much more, over 500m of traders with souvenirs and vw related items! EBI has quickly become the most international event of Europe and maybe in the world! It’s got it all; drag racing, slalom, offroad, show and Shine, traders and cars from all over…
> Saturday Night Dj’s and bands entertained the masses until early in the morning! < We saw countless people who had the best VW event of their life in Chimay and they are ready for more! So bring on the next Bug In! See you in Southern California or in Chimay during the summer of 2011!
The Inch Pincher Too Tribute Oval from Japan!
The Stutt Bee got reunited with the Schley Bros
The Otto Bros transport their “Mosquito” in style
High wheelies by this V8 powered type3 fastback
The (just finished) Underdog and the European Bug-In Oval (now turbocharged) smokin’ it up!
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Words: Georg Otto Translation: Kobus Cantraine | Yves Maertens Pictures: Niels Timmerman
Resto Cal Look is an established style in the aircooled scene. Since the late 80s this look evolved from lowered Volkswagens decked out with accessories to slammed V-dubs equipped with narrowed beams and just a few period extras. Roy van Wijngeeren shows how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done today. 112
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Show | Das Drag Day #7
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Facts: - 3000+ Visitors - 500+ VWs - 287 Race Cars - 1600 Single Runs - Fastest time 10.1 by Rudy Olivenรงa and his New Beetle
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