The dream is alive!

Sadly it is in another mans garage!
http://thebusbarn.skynetblogs.be

Winters gone..

Winter is over!The days are longer and your insurance is on again! So a few rainy days and the salt is gone from the roads. Before you know it you are cruising to a friends house to see if he is in front of the garage washing his ride. The summer is magic..

New workshop • Walls 3

A bit longer in the wall process now. Snow has made me stop working, so maybe there is a few days before the next update. Next week i think I´ll go get my fastback from Johns new storage unit. Again thanks a lot John. I owe you one..

Garage journal

I am looking through the web for cool garages. This link popped up.. www.garagejournal.com/ man- those americans build big!

My name is Gustav and I am addicted to yellow...

I have a weird attraction to yellow lights. I love watching old french movies, where all the european cars are fitted with yellow lights. Today I fitted 3 yellow bulbs on my panelvan. Its really hard to get on film but in real life these are really yellow. I would really like a set of h4 lights for my fastback with yellow glass in them. Or the special lenses you put in front of the light fixtures. I´m also still searching for the last 4" lucas yellow fog lamp for the ghia..

New workshop • Walls 2

I took a couple of days in the bitter cold with the help of the usual suspects. I think it is starting to take shape. Looking forward to write about cars once again.

Now there is a "big window" I want!

Recently this car surfaced on the samba. Oh - another battered big window car.. Look closer. Everything is wrong with this car. The squared-off edges of the decklid and bonnet, the brake light and license plate pressings, the weld seams at the doors. Leaf springs? Front engine? This is believed to be a pre KDF car. Named the vw38 or vw 39. It was found in Lithuania sitting on a front engined Volga Chassis with a front screen of a russian Zaz car cut into it. To put the model into a historic view, the vw38 model is the car Hitler drove to the laying of the cornerstone of Volkswagenwerk. That means it was probably build in mr. Porsches garage in Stuttgart.

New workshop • Walls 1

Ive started building the walls, making holes for windows and such. Its a long way round, but as you stand, working in the dark, you imagine how comfortable the garage meetings of next winter will be. Slowly you start thinking about where to hang what and so on.

New workshop • The roof 2

This weekend was spent laying out the steel profiles on the roof. I borrowed a "Hilti-Gun" which is kind of a scary, yet very effective tool. It is just like a regular gun - you put explosives in a champer, a projectile at the end of the barrel, pull the trigger an BAM! you shot an extremely hardened nail right through the I-beam. On one picture you can see the new windows and all the gear I used when climbing the roof.

Hello fasty..

Just before new year I had to move the fasty from one storage building to another. She fired right up and looked as good as ever. Thank you so much John for letting me use your premises another winter.

New workshop • The roof 1

Today the roofprofiles arrived. 12.250 meters of strength. 865 kilos of shelter from the rain. The guy with the crane had a really hard job getting the supersize truck close enough to lift the package. When we finally got the job done I invited him in for a cup of coffee. As we waited for the coffee to steam off he told me that he had a 25 hp motor standing in his garage. It was pulled from his parents barndoor bus in 1963. He said that he would love to part with it if it went to a good home. I told him "Thats exactly what i an building".

The coolest project I ever saw!

Every summer I go to the local weekly vintage car meet and an old IFA is one of the regulars. What´s a IFA I hear you say. You know Audi? - before it was called audi it was called Auto union. The four rings symbolize four different brands getting merged: Horch, Audi, DKW and Wanderer. The DKW was, as many other western cars of the period, copied on the other side of the Iron curtain. In DDR the car was called IFA. I just stumbled upon this project on a blog. This car will be awesome! Take your time and try to envision what this guy is doing. A distant cousin placed on a type 1 pan. Porsche headlights are a straight swap, wide-5 wheels will look right. I will follow this project closely.

derluftboxers.skynetblogs.be

Contractors van

Today my friend Guller and I got the iron crosses welded in the steel structure and got the special concrete at the bottom of the pillars layed. Roof will be delivered from France next week. I tried to get a good shot of our work but the contractors van kept getting in the way.

Ready for paint

Having a spanner in your hand is a great thing. The sense of accomplishment - the feeling of being able to help your self. But have you ever taken time to appreciate the "mates", "buddies" you share your shop with? Or the effect they have on your progress? My friend Lars have been kind enough to lend part of his workshop to long time compadre and beetleowner Ole who in return has rubbed some of his enthusiasm on to Lars. The result is that Lars has got the 356 ready for paint and is currently looking at swatches and websites for inspiration. And how about those wheels? A few months back Lars has lost his fire. I now the feeling and if you ever wonder where i get my energy from it is indeed from friends with similar interests. Maybe they need a helping hand or your oppinion and suddenly you feel the urge to fix up a car again. Keep your friends happy.

Wanted...

I am looking for one of these batches.

New workshop • Tons of steel..

More progress on the workshop. The steel structures were done for the holidays and after a breathless drive through my hometown with the overriders we could finally start assembly. Next is the roof..

Bugs Funny video

Please find the biggest marker you´ve got and circle the date of the next Bugs Funny. Its all smiles, I tell ya!

Merry x-mas from Air-mike

Sometimes checking your mail box is not all boring. Sometimes there is a fresh copy of Ultra VW in postman Pats van, sometimes new parts. Sometimes your e-mail box is full of Viagra and Rolex but at other times theres a hallo from nice people. Today I got this christmas card from Air Mike who is actually the guy who inspired me to do this blog originally. On the Gustav_t-scale-of-cool sending a bus christmas card is way up there.

King of kool! to me anyway...

Hannover 2008

A feeble attempt at video making. You know I love Hannover. Its less than 150 days away, you know.