Are crusing abilities enherited? • Vol 3

Sience is a lengthy task. You research, you test, you make reference groups and you check for the placebo effect. In all research material there is a margin for error. What if some of my family members have read the blog and wanted to prove the fact that cruising runs in our blood? My cousin Morten (who is btw a talented musician playing in a hill billie band) surcumbed to his latent cravings and bought this awesome 49´Chevrolet Fleetline. Morten is a busy family man and even though he moved to my hometown several years ago we haven´t been able to get together nearly enough. Now I hope to see him tuesdays at the Kalø meeting and maybe once in a while hear his thunder in my driveway. You are always welcome even in allied steel :·)

40.000 hits

We just rollerskated into the 40 thousands. Keep coming back.

Bad news!

One of my alltime favourite busses has suffered this horrible accident. According to rumors it will be rebuilt. I guess i´m not the only one with the luck of Donald Duck. Goog luck rebuilding the bus, the sun will shine again!

MIB Summermeet

If you talk to vw enthusiasts outside Denmark if they know anything about the danish scene, chances are that they will answer that they do know MIB. Men In Bugs is a club based in Aalborg in the northern part of Denmark. Some of the finest examples of Volkswagen restoration seen in Europe belongs to the members of this club. You will find very few rat lookers and daily drivers in their rows of cars. Some of the members keeps emphasis on horsepower others on restocal and accesories but allways nuts and bolts restorations. When a club like this decides to put together a show you know the details will be just right. 120+ cars may not sound as much in european ears, but next year you and your friends should visit the summermeet and get the numbers rising. Among the cars were 5 type 34s, lowlight type 14s with and without roof, split and oval beetles, every possible variation of type 2s from double cab to samba. This meet was packed with quality rather than quantity. One of the finest barndoors in the world was also on display. The day was packed with narrowed beams and the night with a broad menu made by one of the members that happens to be the owner of a great catering business. Toilets was just as clean as the cars. For endless pictures check out http://vwnettet.dk/forum/topic/395474

300 posts

To celebrate your every thousand hits I have smothered you with beautifull women. To mark the 300 posts my friend Ole Sunshine and I agreed a nice piece of music would suit the occasion perfectly.

39.000 hits

Type 34 tool set

I spend saturday putting 1000 of branches through a huge grinder. Loud outbursts of "Tiiiimbbeeeer" had been heard in my neighbourhood for the past days. When you build a big garage you need to clear a equally big area. I actually loath people standing in their suburban driveway dressed like lumberjacks. There must be better things to do than having treesap on your hands, sweating like a pig. But the thought of my cars standing together in one room, 3 feet away from my livingroom could actually make me put on the gear and do real manual work. I planned ahead.. Saturday: Backbreaking, knuckle-shredding shitwork. Sunday: Helping a good freind tow a huge pile of N.O.S. type 3 parts across Denmark. Ohh and as always I brought home a little something for myself. This complete toolset originally given to all customers buying a new type 34. Being red i think it just had to live in my car. Thank you Thorkild for the most exciting storys from the old days and for letting me drive your oval to the cash-machine!

Bugs Funny #2

Please remember to register for Bugs Funny #2
www.copenhagenwings.dk/bugsfunny/

Back in black

Theres progress to find in the Guller garage. Now the hull is basicly rotfree and the plan is to assemble the undercarriage before rolling it off to the painters. Guller needs a bus transmission nose cone. Can you help?

Drag-queen or trailerqueen?

When the floorpan of Michaels "Swiss Cheese" was going to the sandblasters guess which trusted workhorse delivered the muscle?

38.000 hits

Before any great movie there is a period of great anticipation. But in the case of my movie it is a matter of me not being able to upload in a quality I can accept. I guess I just have to get the hang of you-tubing before promising you a 8 minute flick. But as you know nothing says I´m sorry like a half naked woman with her ass in the air.

Remember this?

I got a new computer! A 24" iMac extreme 3.06 with every tuning possible done to it from the shop. Its videotime.. I will post my first 8 minute video tomorrow. Until then - remember this? Those were the days. When time allows it I think I will have to visit my freinds in Angora.

Treasures

I helped Jan dismantling his engine and lend him the tools to make it easy to put it back in the car. Jan kindly payed me with some treasures from his huge pile of vw stuff. I got a set of genuine axle boots with vw logo in them. A period "tuning" part also got a new adress. Both will go in my split beetle. Soon there will be no excuse for not painting it other than lack of money. Thanks for the parts Jan.

Highlight of my week

The panel got out of hibernation wednesday. We left the fastback behind for later. Yesterday Guller called me suggesting that I came to his workshop in my bus. "We could mount your cyclops eye" he said. Driving the short distance with the huge lighthousing on the passenger seat was like driving to a job interview or a hot date. I was curious as to how it would look yet nervous about drilling the holes in the black roof. We did the dirty deed and I think it suits the workhorse look of the car perfectly. I never wanted this car to look like a samba bus with its windows welded shut. No safaris no waist belt trim - no frills. I can´t wait to hit the high beam of this baby on some boy racer.

Life and cars of... puppy

Its been ages since I added the T3d blog among my favourites. Paul Medhurst and his gang work through endless rows of buses and type 3s while they apparently are having lots of fun. Once in a while you´ll see a picture of a happy customer picking up their rides looking sweeter than ever. I wish there was a danish branch of the detectives. Then they could fix all the stuff I never get around to. Tomorrow my panelvan will go out of hibernation.

Wanted: Mirror, bits and bobs

I am looking for a few things for the razor:

• Door mirror like the one on the picture
• Passenger hold-on-strap
• The airgrill inside below the rearwindow
• Radio block off plate 67-

And of course.. the trim parts for the rear louvres.

37.000 hits

Fucking...

Sorry - no vw relevance but it cracks me up!

Pssst...First fix is free!

This is Jan. He smiles on the picture, but there is absolutely nothing to smile about. Jan is hooked on Volkswagens. Like a junkie he now needs a hit of v-dub juice in his veines now and then. Who talked such a nice guy into being a roaring addict? You guessed it. Old veteran vw-abusers with bad skin and crooked teeth told him that owning a vw would be heaven and it was not dangerous. Sadly Jan has a beautifull wife and well mannered kids that now will experience neglect from a father always in the garage or thinking about the drug. Today Jan will put on his freshly black painted engine tin, thinking that he could off course stop wrenching on that old bug anytime if he wanted to. Is that an incorrect enginepanel, there Jan? Shouldn´t that be an H-panel?

36.000 hits

Smokey the bandit

No further comment!

Good Bye Lars Vegas

Parting with an old friend is never easy. But sometimes you have just outgrown each other. Lars had to say goodbye to his old pick-up. When I saw Lars for the first time he was living in a dorm room with his fine collection of cars and scrap sitting in the campus parking lot. Our history go back more than 15 years and we both got older. Lars has a family and still a lot of metal, but now in better condition. Lars and I talked on the phone the other day, about the fact that even though I´ve known Lars for that long I never saw him actually enjoy this fine piece of machinery. Maybe we should all think about what we are keeping for later. If you never get to use a fine vintage Volkswagen maybe someone else would? Does endless rows of restoration objects make you happy? Or is it the one thing holding you back from getting started on the first one? I remember visiting a car museum once. I got talking with the manager who kindly showed me the workshops. They had dividers between the future projects and the cars actually undergoing work. "If we could se how far we have left we would loose courage", he said "and the owner keeps buying stuff". Are you building a ghost town of cars and parts at home? and are you sure they are stored properly? Not to get all philosophical on you, but the budhist has a saying: Nothing is for keeps, everything is a loan.

35.000 hits

35.000 hits - I never thought we would get that far together. The last week have been filled with cars. Lots of small stuff to fix on the razor before Hannover, a nice 16 car cruise to Mels Diner, a crazy last night at Kalø with well over 300 cars present. In Hannover the ugly "muss haben gespenst" showed its ugly head. original ribbed bumpers for the 51, SWF rearlight surroundings for the bus and a repro revcounter for the razor got in the bag. The super-mint-condition SP2 had to stay with the nice BBT man. My life cannot go on without such a beast..

What a blast!

While some of us are making final adjustments to our rides before the 1. of may cruise madness, Guller is working on something to cruise in for years to come. This weekend he got the body blasted and primed. A step I always thought of as a milestone in a project. I know small welding jobs will always occure but it looks a lot better once its all in the same color. I would like you to use the comments box to cheer on Guller as he has had a long road to this point. Good work Guller!

34.000 hits

The watch is showing horrificly early digits - 5:10! Once again I have worked through the night to be able to go to Hannover on wednesday. I hope to get a little time off later today to get the last things done on the ghia. I hope you foregive me for not posting a lot these days but work is crazy.

Know your real friends...

Soon we will be going on a road trip to Hannover. More cars than ever will surely join the pilgrimage and we have a policy that no one gets left behind in case of a breakdown that can be solved. I borrowed this flick of the T3D blog (se links) and the first 60 seconds got me wondering. Holy mother of jesus that is a lot of cars! what if one of those cars break down? I bet they just keep on truckin´. But no the answer is 1:36 min. down the line. I think its Rikki James with a cup of java on his knees and people buzz around handing tools trying to help out. So, if you never had a break down on the way to a show, remember that it is just a matter of time and you will appreciate those staying behind with you once you do. No matter how cool your car is some small part made in china can leave you on the hard shoulder with oil on your pants.

33.000 Hits

Another hidden treasure

I went to a meeting in the classic car club I recently bacame a member of, The Stray Dogs. The club is quite big and theres is still a lot of people there I have yet to meet. The guy next to me talked to another guy and my ears became as big as 1303 tailights when he talked about a vw cab that he had in his barn. When I asked him he told me tha he was living three houses down the road and he would love to show it to me. A 66 model in very good condition living in my neck of the woods and I didn´t know. I love how life comes up with new twists and turns every day. The guy, Morten, was an enthusiast in spe I think, and a very friendly man.

The blue hat blues

In danish there is a saying: Sometimes you can´t see the forest for trees. I just discovered my longtime friend and vintage part detective Peters fairly new blog. Peters blog has substance. I really like when theres actually words under the pictures and I prefer pictures that has relevance to the blogger. Peter is lucky enough to have most of the superrare accesories that most "Blue hats" only dream about. If you want to actually learn more about the early days of vw motoring you should visit his blog. Find the link in my favourites.

New vw shop in Denmark

As some of you know, my father travels frequently to tokyo, Japan and brings home parts for me. We have been planning for some time to set this practice into a bigger scale. I have decided to sell the advertising business to one of my bigger clients and follow my lifelong dream of owning my own vw shop right here in Denmark. We will await the first shipments of parts at the beginning of may and will operate out of this old Fiat dealership in my hometown. I would love to hear comments if you plan to use my shop who will off course also be internetbased. The daily phone orders will be handled by my first cousin Gatja, who is a really nice girl, and I hope this will work out fine. The name of the business is not decided yet, so ideas are also welcome.

1 month away..

God knows I´ve been a persistent advocate for the DFL cruise madness. I just found this flick that shows the vibe of what I think is one of the best events in europe. The DFL has captured the spirit of the cruise night and not letting it get out of control. I have to say that the full "god touched my soul experience" can only be felt in a vintage car. Cruising the strip in your mothers golf 3 will not get you into heaven! Just yesterday I preached the DFL gospel to a guy I just ran into. He lives 20 minutes drive from me and owns one sweet 66 cab. I also saw a 54 oval on my own turf on saturday. I cant believe how many aircoolers are in my town compared to 5 or 6 years ago. Praising the lowered really helps.

32.000 hits

Ancient history Vol. 3

On the way to Bug Run on 3 cylinders and dubious registration. I was not responsible for the paintjob! It was extremely well done though. I later primed it, slammed it and drove it for 3 years as my daily driver. It was infact one of the best cars I´ve ever owned. If any of you have pictures of my former cars please send them.

31.000 hits

To get started again I couldn´t let you down on the thousand-hit-sweeties could I?
Here´s some full bodied racers for you..

Back from Paris

Sorry for letting 1600 people watching the same butts in front of a red ghia for a week, but I just landed from 6 nice days in Paris. I will post a lot of stuff next week, as I have stockpiled pictures of things happening before my vacation.

30.000 hits • In your face!

No more swap meets

For almost as long as I remember there has been a joke among the guys I usually go to swapmeets with. The other guys are hardworking people that love to get an early start, even on weekends, and especially for swapmeets. I always ridicoule them asking whether they think the legendary hebmüller deck lid will be there in the morning fog, and it never has been! Now a guy in germany makes everything you need to build your own Hebmüller. From now on we will go after the break of dawn!

Tempo Tempo!

One of the old dreams just stuck it head out again. I just got a tip on a 1951 Tempo Matador. As long and sleak the ghia is as shortnosed this car is. I would love one in jet-black with yellow headlights and some really shiny fuchs.

Sick at home - boring...

For the last 4 days i haven´t been able to gather enough strength to put on clothes. (I know you think its because I use hours to put on my midevil outfit) But a snotty nose is the reason, fever you know the drill. Past noon an old friend called me to come by his shop to check out a cool machine. It was vw-related and I could always go back to bed afterwards. On the picture is actually the man I bought the splitbug from - he works there too. It is a huge diving compressor driven by a 1974 1600 industrial engine. Cool, huh.. Now I´m back in bed for good - I promise!

Michaels Swiss cheese

A few weeks back I told you about my friend Michael, who always wanted a light blue oval. From his childhood in Switzerland he remembered looking after passing motorists in beetles and especially the early kind. Michael waited until that light blue oval turned up. It isn´t in perfect shape, but my friend René sold it to him at a fair price. A few parts are missing but we will sort that out. To see the look on Michaels face when he got his dream car was worth the effort. If you have any of the following parts and would like to help out a new enthusiast let me know.

MISSING PARTS (1956/57):
Seats
Correct taillights
Steering wheel
quarter windows
Left heater channel
Fuel tank
Correct decklid

29.000 hits

Are cruising abilities enherited?

This night I had the strangest dream. The ghost of Baron Kruzz von Tipsmark visited me by my bedside and told me to get out of bed. Outside his carriage waited with six black horses and a headless driver. "Not to worry" the nobel Baron said, "we will never exceed cruising speeds". A girl looking very much like Marie Antoinette were washing the carriage while her maid played top cruiserhits on har chimballo. We cruised the medievil town of Ebeltoft for a good hour before the Baron told me he had to go home to his castle. The Baron wasn´t shy and let me take his picture in front of the ghia. "where do you pour in the hay and carrots?" the headless driver asked. I had to tell him that I was waiting for around 50 new horses, and until then I was going nowhere.

Going to Turkey

Old boring video with a turkish type 34. But check out the engine lid. Remember what I wanted for christmas?

Its a match!

I saw these photos on Samba. How cool is that? A stranger made the connection clear to the current owner. I would love to have period pictures of one of my cars.

28.000 Hits • Frido girl

Frido girl says: "Excuse me sir, I've got a nice package".

K.I.S.S

It took me a couple of hours to grasp what had just happend. As the everyday-car was eating away the miles of danish grey scenery there was minutes of complete silence in the car. Not awkwardness, just silence. My hands were holding the steeringwheel with a minimum of effort. My mind was elsewhere. Suddenly it dawned on me, why I hate enginebuilding so much. It is like buying an old horse shoe in a flea market, only to realise that you have to build the rest of the horse from spareparts that only god can tell if will fit together.

Torben the engine guy took the longblock apart and...
I bought a header the other day, which I now realise is slightly (a lot) bigger than the 1600 engine will need. Not to worry.. Build a bigger engine.. When torn down the ghia engine was a cruel mistress. Purring like a pussy when in the car, it bit my ass like a dog, going for my wallet, when removed. The fools that originally "rebuild" the engine put the pistons in the wrong way. Don´t worry - piston kits are cheap as dirt! The cylinder heads were cracked like a five dollar hooker. The flywheel mounted with the shims of another year causing endplay and the headstuds were overtightened to the point of the threads being destroyed. The polish geniuses solved that with a blow of a big mallet causing the studs to sit firmly and never to be removed from the block again. The block itself were fine but not easy to machine with the forever-studs in place. What started out as a cheap check up to inspect and cure pistons, sleeves and rings probably turns into a 1745 ccm. with a longer stroke and the original bore. All i need now is the rest of the horse!

K.I.S.S - Keep • It • Simple • Stupid

Visit Jurgen

But be carefull! Jurgen is possibly the most type34virus infected man i´ve come across. He owns and drives no less than four razor edge ghias. A electric sunroof model, a cabriolet, a white one and his famous police car dragster. Sadly there is no remedy against type 34 virus and Jurgen will probably eventually buy even more of these cars.
http://vwtype34.blogspot.com/

A change of heart

I was never really an engine-kinda-guy. I used to have a type 4 engine in my bug and I used to hate changing parts all the time. Adjusting carbs and generally trying to reinvent what an army of german engineers had thought long and hard about before building and letting evolve over 60 years. But it tought me one thing. To pull engines and to put them back in faster than your average sexual debut. My house project and the fact that I'm without a real workshop have made my engine-pullling days stop. But sunday we had a lot of friends over for brunch (a couple of them vw people) and the itch to pull a nice dirty engine got me. Looking at my finger nails, they were just to damn clean. The ghia is sitting in my one car garage together with the splitbeetle. It is looking perfect but one thing has to be fixed before hitting the roads again. Sitting for years in a museum in Poland the cylinderrings are a bit stuck causing oil to blow by. The exhaust was destroyed somewhere between Mantorp and my home. So I decided to find a cure. I pulled the engine and realized just how sweet and sound this car actually is. Everything is like new on the engine. Nice powder-black tin all over and no oilhaze in the bay. Next weekend my friend Torben will inspect the compression and hopefully put on the "Turbothomas" sidewinder type 3 exhaust I just found second hand. If I had the money maybe a nice torquey +2 liter type 1 with a horizontal Porsche cooling system would cause a change of heart?

27.000 Hits