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Since I'm a new registered user here on STF, I'll show some pics of my VW's.

My daily driver, a '72 1303 ratlook.

Rebuild 1200 engine (soon to be a 1600), front end lowered 13 cm, rear end lowered 7 cm, type 3 front diskbrakes.

'72 1302 Speedster.

Bought it this way in '92, it was my first aircooled VW. Needs to be completely restored. It'll be a very fast and very light racecar when I'm done.

'81 Silverbug.

This is about how far I am with this one. It's undergoing a complete restauration at this moment. The '81 body will get a '73 pan and the looks of a '60's Bug. I'm going to build an oxyboxer for this one, somewere between 2 and 2.3 litre engine. MS injection, throttelbodies of a Kawasaki ZX1300. The engine is the main reason I registered at STF. Lots of info here on oxyboxers.

'78 T2B Crewcab pick-up.

Bought this from a farmer in '98 for $100. It was complete and it ran on LPG. Needs welding on the inner and outer wheelarches and the underside. Will do this after the '81 has finished (in about 10 years ).

'87 T3 Crewcab pick-up.

Used to be my daily till I bought the 03. Current gasprices force me to hardly drive it anymore. It has a 1.9 wasserboxer (DG), front is dropped 12 cm and it has 17" Merc wheels fitted.

Awesome cars and buses too.

Karl, too much!! Welcome to STF!!

Surely you have some stories to tell??

doc

Is the 1302 a wizard or just good metal skills?

doc wrote:Karl, too much!!

It's Carl.
Way too much projects and way too little time. It seems I have to make a living too.

doc wrote:Surely you have some stories to tell??

I've been running around the scene here in Holland for about 19 years now and I'm an active member (and moderator) on our Dutch forum www.keversite.nl.

Best story: A friend of mine bought a split pick-up bus on Ebay Germany. Turned out to be one very big disappointment:
Check out these pics!
Some more pics.
It ended up like this.
He made a workbench from the bed. Almost everything else went to the scrapyard.
It was a nice adventure though. Driving for 2 days we had a whole lot of fun. There was a roadmovie made of our trip, I'll see if I can find a link.

This is a short movie of my workshop. Made at the beginning of our trip to Germany.


My 1302 has a Bieber kit. Bieber was a German company that sold a lot of these in the '80-s and early '90-s. The company didn't survive.

Carl,

Apologies. That germanic "k" just kind of slipped out. I was thinking vw, so .......

The bus pics are "typical". At least your pal got a workbench out of the deal. And I can see from the workshop movie that you have been collecting "junk" like many of us for some time. I'm sure you will find a place for every piece.

Tell us more about the vw scene in the Netherlands. What's more popular? Classics or hot rods? How large are the vw clubs? Are your government regulations regarding old cars restrictive?

doc

That's ok, Doc. You're not the first and you won't be the last.

The scene in the Netherlands is vivid. I've read that there are still over 50.000 Bugs in Holland (not even counting other type's of aircooleds). A lot of cars are being imported from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany and the USA.

Classics/originals are still the most populair (about 60% of total), but there are more and more people customizing aircooleds. The most interesting change I've seen over the last 7-8 years is the use of modern technology. The use of better brakes (mainly Porsche), bigger engines, turbo charged engines, DTA and Megasquirt injection systems, improving handling (mostly with Porsche parts), etc.

There are lots of clubs. The biggest club is KCN (KeverClub Nederland). Accesable to everyone who likes aircooled VW's in every way. About 8500 members.
The LVWCN (Luchtgekoelde VW Club Nederland; about 4000 members) has a passion for original cars. No custom cars allowed.
The VW Bus Club Nederland is a club for all types of busses, from T1 to T5. About 1200 members.
The VW Cabrio Club is a club for all convertibles. About 2500 members. Self made convertibles are allowed, but not much appreciated. It's more of an elite club.
The Buggy Club Holland, I think about 700-800 members.
These are the biggest clubs. Next to these there are a lot of smaller clubs, with anything from 10 to 250 members.

Biggest yearly event is the Bugweekend in Budel. It starts on friday and ends on sunday. If the weather is good, about 15.000 people visit this event. Alway the third weekend in june. This year will be the 25th, so it will be a major party! Big campingsite, dragraces, big market, show-'n'-shine, a 50 mile cruise, sound contest, multiple bands playing, lots of beer, etc.
KCD is a more race oriëntated 2 day meeting. Quarter mile dragracing and circuit racing are the main attractions. A bit like Das Drag Day just across the border in Germany and the European Bug-In in the south of Belgium.
Bergharen is also a 3 day event. It's also knows as little Budel, which says it all.
Just across the border in Belgium there is the Bug weekend at Spa (the Formula 1 circuit). Officialy it starts on friday, but the campsites are usually packed on thirsdaynight.
In various parts of the country there are cruise nights, cruise trips, one or two day smaller meets with cruises, show-'n'-shine, second hand markets, etc. If you want you can visit one or more every weekend from early April 'till late September.

Government regulations regarding old cars are very simple: The car has to meet the standards for the year it was first put on the road. So the older the car is, the less rules and regulations you have to meet! The only downside is, that gasprices are redicules. At the current rate we pay about $8 per gallon!
Ah well, anything to keep Buggin'.

Carl,

Wonderful report on the Netherlands. Thank you. Man, I'm gettin' my trip planner out.

Fantastic number of members in your clubs and participation at your shows. No US club membership could rival your top clubs, that I know of. Organizations the size of your clubs must have lots of activities, as you suggest. Most US clubs are very small, probably a hundred or less, but there are a lot of them!

Love the Netherland rules of legal for the year it was born. Our California folks would welcome a change like this.

Carl, pehaps during 2008 you might provide us a few pictures of your events? I know people will be interested. Further, there has always been pretty good debate between the American and European tuners about the "correct way" to make huge power. STF would like to encourage that debate to continue. Perhaps we can all learn something.

Again, thanks for the report.

doc

Haha, the first year I went to meetings I shot 9 rolls of pictures. The second it was 5, the third only 2 etc. I don't make pictures anymore, after a meeting I check out the photo album on Keversite.nl. I save the best pics on my harddrive.

There are like 25 or so semi proffesional photographers on our forum, they make a lot of beautiful pictures, much better than my own.

If you check out the pictures and you want some text translated in English, just ask.

I don't get involved in discussions about the "correct way" to make huge power. In my opinion there is no "correct way". It all depends on what you want with the car (street, race, drag, etc.), the skills of the person building the engine and the size of your wallet. The only "correct way" about building an engine is not to save on parts. There is no cheap way to get power from an engine IMHO (hence my signature). I learned this the hard way over the years . I've been working on mopeds since the age of 9, cars and motorbikes since the age of 15, I made a lot of mistakes that cost me a lot of money. (I'll turn 20 for the second time next month ).

Every project, whether it's bodywork, building a chassis or building an engine has become a study for me. I became a member here to study oxyboxers. I want to learn and benefit from the experience of others before the first wrench hits the shortblock I have waiting. For me that's the "correct way". For you it might be different.

If you do decide to get your trip planner out, you're welcome to stay at my place in between meetings. My door is always open for airheads. Again, the best meeting IMO is Budel, always held the third weekend of june. I've been there for 15 years in a row. I help out as a volunteer with building it up and tearing it down, so I go there on wednesday and go home on monday. Doesn't get any better than that.

Oke, some pictures of Budel 2007. These were taken from the Ferris wheel.

Parking ground (a part of it)


Party ground (part of it)


Part of the second hand market


In the background you can see part of the camping site


The campingsite is always lots of fun.



I could go on for a long time.

Ah, I wish it was june again.

WOAH that is some neat pics.

A few things in the Netherlands and US seem to be just the same. Camping ground fun, friends and beer seem universal.

Thanks for the pics, Carl.

doc

Check out the video's department

Civic vs. Beetle. Nice!! Universal!!

Great site. With that many members, you guys should be rich with contributors. The site shows it.

doc

I couldn't help myself, I bought my sixth ride last week.

Again, it's a '72 Bug (there is something about '72 that attracts me ), that I bought from a friend of mine. She HAD to get rid of it ASAP, or else the authoraties would. It was parked on a public parking place AND it was suspended for over 2 years. Not allowed to put it anywhere in a public place.

It needs welding on the inner wheelarches and both beams have to be replaced. I will restore it as an original, execpt for the height. I want to drop it about 2". Just looks a lot better than stock height.

Here are 2 pics of this Bug in better day's along with the former owner, Ingrid:



I really need to stop buying now. Although.....type 3 Fastback, Karmann Ghia, Split crewcab............hmmmm.....