Blue Monday..

The weather has taken a nose dive, but don't fret, we have some picture based pick me ups to brighten even the darkest of afternoons!

Perhaps a slight exageration, but here is a nicely presented US import Westfailia, which popped by to see us on Saturday.
Unusually sporting a coloured pop top, it caught my eye.. for the right reasons!

The customer was rightly proud of his van, although he has a few plans for improvements in the pipeline.
It recieves a warm welcome wherever it goes, and he has even been stopped by people in the street trying to hire it for weddings!







See you tomorrow!

Andy

Bens Beetle build off, Purple installment #2

After introducing you to Bens car a few weeks back i thought it was about time to let you in on whats been happening.
As with most beetles, the pans, channels and boot floor needed attention, just as well that Ben works here then!








Ben has fitted our boot floor repair pieces here, ideal in this case where the whole floor didn't need to be replaced.

For those who just want shiney car pics, a few more of Garys Retromobile show photos.









Have a great weekend, see you Monday!

Andy

Gary Goes To Retromobile show!

We let Gary out of the Ebay bunker momentarily, and he offski's to France to the Retromobile show.
He was good enough to take some pictures to show us what he had been up to, and there were some impressive sights for sure.
The VW count from the looks of things was low, but a couple of early Porkers were right up his street, owning a 356 himself.
The pile of rust in the photos is a Bugatti fished out from a lake and auctioned at the show by Bonhams auctioneers.
Enjoy!












Will upload a few more of these over the next week or so.. too many nice, old, unusual cars and motorbikes for one days blog!

See you tomorrow!

Andy

Our Australian friends win a prize!

After taking their beloved Bay off to Oz, (see our Blog last month)
Emma and Simon made a trip to a show called "The day of the Volkswagen" where they entered the van into the show and shine.
Their Bay won best in class, reassuring them that taking it to the other side of the world, was indeed a choice well made!



Spotted at the show, an Ice Cream Van Bay window!



Thanks to Emma and Simon for the Oz updates -As we have said to them, we can even send parts to Australia, so you are never too far away from us!!

See you tomorrow!

Andy

The monster, coming to a tin can near you soon!

Dave waved goodbye to the monsters shell at the weekend, it went to the local tip in the back of a mates sprinter van!! Off to become baked bean cans perhaps, or maybe just a collinder!


On a lighter, more positive note, another couple of aircooled treats from Saturday, a couple of our shop customers making good work of the sunshine while it lasts!







We were particularly fond of this mexican bug running on the alternative Dotz rims.. it stood out for us, in a good way!

Well done to all those driving their cars through the winter..braver than most of us!

See you tomorrow

Andy

Special Brew, REMTEC 2007cc engine.

Every now and again we will get a request for something thats a bit special, and being into the VW game as much as you, we get a bit excited!
So when we got the order through for a custom built 2007cc engine, with the new CSP Python exhaust, the aircooled amongst us were over the moon!



I won't bore you with a complete technical specification, partly as i dont know it all, but the important bits are as follows.
44 Weber IDF's mated to CB Performance mainfolds and Linkage, Oil breather also by CB and Electronic Ignition and coil by Petronix.
It is running a deep sump, and soon to be bolted to a Rancho Pro Street Box.
The exhaust however is the star of the show, and although expensive, is a work of art!










Well hope that pushed a button or two for those who are aircooled, and to those of whom it didnt, how does 140bhp in a '58 split sound?

See you Monday!

Andy

Its a nice day for a white 'wagen

We have had a few pleasant days here of late, and it seems to of tempted those V-Dubs out of winter hibernation.
I expect only momentarily, as no doubt it won't last!
Yesterday one such vehicle rolled onto the forecourt, and had me twitching at the blinds, it was no good; I went down to find out some more.








The customer was rightly very pleased with his van, imported from Australia by a UK company, and refurbed by them too. The interior had be designed by the customers wife, and was finished to a great standard by a company in the west country.





Thanks to the owner of the van, for letting us share it with you.

See you tomorrow!

Andy

Fubar'd and Custard, Bens 1303 Cabrio build.

Now we have met the cabrio in its new yellow hue, here are some build up pictures from the last few years.

The car used to be Porsche Viper Green, and in the rebuild has had new front and rear quarter panels, floors, sills, strengtheners and in fact everything except the windscreen surround!
Here are a few snaps, probably not in chronological order!


The workshop floor giving a small clue as to how bad this car was!











More retrospective pictures will follow as Ben uncovers more, progress is now being made on the rebuild too so expect some current updates aswell.

See you tomorrow!

Andy

Boxed Fresh; latest shipment of SSP wheels are now with us!

We have had a busy few weeks here at VW Heritage HQ, especially in the warehouse Goods in Department.
This was the sight yesterday when the latest batch of our SSP wheels arrived!







I was amazed at how many pallets of these we had turn up, just goes to show how popular they are!
Aswell as all the wheels, a container of REMTEC engines turned up late last week! They are currently in the aisles, waiting to be re-housed onto the racking.






Best go,things to do!

See you tomorrow!

Andy

The Monster gets slayed, well kind of.....

The progress on the monster had slowed down a little, as Dave dug deeper the problems seemed to get worse.
A good friend of his, and owner of this Volksworld cover split had a look over it for him, to see if it was worth salvaging.



Aaron had done all the bodywork on his van himself, so if anyone was to give an expert opinion, he would be the man.
Sadly he figured it madness to invest the amount of time needed to fix the shell up, so the body was to be seperated from the pan and binned off.



The weekend saw Dave spring into life with the tool, stripping anything worth saving from the shell, the plan at present is to find a solid shell, to sit onto the soon to be refurbed chassis.


Panel gaps were the least of this bugs worries.




Which leaves him with the better-ish bit!

Although none of us would see this as an ideal soloution, for the amount of time and money required to fix this shell, sadly it was best to kiss it goodbye!

See you tomorrow

Andy

We've been giving something back

Over the last year VW Heritage have been doing their bit for charity inluding a donation to the recent Haiti disaster fund, through the Cornwall based Shelter Box Trust.
Please visit their website at www.shelterbox.org, or click the picture above



On a broader scale, we are actively involved in donating to the World Land Trust, this is a project based around offsetting the future carbon emmisions of every REMTEC engine we sell!
Please visit their website www.worldlandtrust.org or click the picture above

Back at christmas we were approached by a local Childrens Charity to organise a hamper raffle, but with a difference, we donanted the items, but then also bought tickets to win the hamper once it was full.
Heres what was on offer, congratulations to James T, who won all the goodies!


Details of CCHF All About Kids charity can be found at www.childrensholidays.org.uk, or click the hamper picture.

On a lighter and less serious note, we also managed to rasie £100 for comic relief, sporting hats for the day!
Here are some of the highlights...

The Friday morning breakfast was full of alternative headware.

Nick, our sales manager, sporting a most fetching number.


Sales Director Barney was in on the act too!

I did get pictures of everyone, but perhaps some are best kept under lock and key!

See you next week, have a good weekend

Andy

VW Heretics: The Second Saturday Social

Saturday Febraury 13th, get that date in the diary!

After the Success of the first Saturday Meet, we are holding a second one.
Here are all the details, most beautifully arranged by our IT and Design Department



Hope to see some of you there!

See you tomorrow!

Andy

Company Car with a twist

When one of our customers got fed up with driving modern cars with no personality, he took the bull by the horns, and bought a Ghia!
Yes thats right, a 1967 LHD Karmann Ghia, to use for the daily commute - it can be regularly seen "nipping along" the A27, a great sight for all on the mundane drive to or from work.
The only real creature comfort is the seating, the original seats were beyond repair, so a set of modern sports seats cushion the ride for him.
Weekends are spent tinkering and maintaining, and the car seems to be responding well to its regular usage.









Hats off to him, cars are meant to be used after all.

See you tomorrow!

Andy

They've gone to a land down under..

Continuing the story from last week, apologies for the lack of blog Friday - duty called!
I'm sure the wait was a tantalising one, but the van arrived to the shipping agents in Oz safe and sound.



With the van on the right side of the world, the next job was getting it registered to be there!
The van passed and the plates were issued, and fitted pretty swiftly after.





Here are a few to prove it was worth taking the van "down under".
Jealous of the weather? Not us!!







Big thank you to Emma and Simon for getting in touch and sharing their story with us, they have been in Oz over 6 months now, and we all wish them good luck for their future over there.

Catch you tomorrow

Andy

Dont let the weather get you, down under

Earlier this week we had an email out the blue, from a couple who had recently emigrated to Australia.
They were customers of ours when living in the UK, and all round VW enthusiasts too.
So much so, that when it came to the move, they chose to take their early bay (owned for 13 years) with them!

Here are Emma and Simon Martin, about to embark on their move, amusingly the sun was shining in England that day!


Scary stuff leaving your pride and joy in the hands of a shipping company, but far better than having to leave it behind!
The van had to be checked for stowaways in the UK, before being loaded into its temporary home.




While you contemplate "upping sticks" and heading for the sun, with your vw, i'll answer a few phones, and then let you know the rest of the story tomorrow!

See you then

Andy

Its not over, not over yet..

Well more snow last night caused a bit of chaos here this morning, taking some of us over 2 hours to get in.. good job we like what we do!!
Back to the Bens Beetle Build off, and some more snap shots of Mr Murphy's late cabrio. Now taking up residence in his folks garage, its ready for the rebuild (and clean up of that interior!)







You may be thinking to yourself, they never came in that colour! Well you would be right, Ben chose to repaint the car in Citrus Yellow, more normally seen on the Jeans Beetle.
And if armed with that knowledge you were wishing it was your 1303 cabrio - rumours of it being for sale when finished are in fact true -call Ben M in the office for details.
Pics from the rebuild will follow shortly

See you tomorrow!

Andy

And in the Purple corner...Car #2 in the Bens Beetle Build off.

Introducing Ben Pascoe's Beetle, the other Ben in the Trade team, and a walking part number encylopedia. In Bens own words, which to be fair are pretty good (he does a spot of moonlighting writing for Ultra VW) i'll leave him to explain the car....


"This is my bug, I've owned it since 1994 when I got my first job and thought it would be a nice cheap runabout until I grew up; and got into hot rods like my Dad. Boy was I wrong, I've been stuck in the air cooled world ever since, to the point of obsession.
My uncle took me to Bug Jam when I was 12 and have been hooked forever more.
Anyway, back to the car. It's a '69 that has slowly developed into a '67 over the years and is about to look even more like one. I blame Ivan McCutcheon for my '67 perversion and can't get enough of all the one year only parts. I have collated a hell of a lot of one year only parts over the years and i'm still finding parts that 15 years ago, I had no idea existed. It probably would have been easier to start with a '67 but this is my first car and I can't bare to part with it.



Them damn Outlaws have got to me! I'm planning a 2276cc normally aspirated Ida motor with an Engle FK89 Cam, Comp Eliminator heads, a CogBox close ratio gearbox, Erco raceweight wheels for the strip and a set of SSP BRM’s for the road. All the trim is being removed and the car will be painted Zenith Blue; A ’67 only VW colour!

That's a long way off yet, heater channels and pan halves need doing first, then off to Chris Isaacs Racing for a 6 point chromoly roll cage"

Progress with the resto will follow in the coming weeks.

Have a good day!

Andy

And the Winner is....

Introducing this years winner of the highly contested "waiting with baited breath" award.
Ben Murphy, part of the trade sales team has this 1977 1303 cabriolet, an unfinished project of 7 years and counting!
He purchased it back in 2003 and used it daily for over a year, before taking it off the road for a light resto.
Autospray in Hove were given the job, and what a job it was to become.
Previous repairs had been done in haste (and in the dark), using newspaper and blue tack as the materials of choice!
Slightly worrying, seeing as it had been in frequent use.
Here are a few of the good bits!




More pics to come next week, along with the second car in the "Bens Beetle Build" series.

Have a good weekend

Andy

The Show must go on..(snow pun avoided)

We are back in again today... the clean up begins, as the forecourt is becoming like an ice rink.
Another few pics of the action.. with the comapny snow plough being the star of the show.
Below we can see the plough in action, and who else at the helm, but our Operations Director Mark, and Sales Director Barney (in the box, acting as ballast)



Coming soon... snow banter permitting. The Bens Beetle Build thread - both the Bens on trade sales have cars, that really should of been finished by now.. we will be bringing you the pics as they do or dont happen!

See you tomorrow!

Andy

Snow glad we've made it....

Expectations of snow over night, had us a little more prepared, or so we thought!
Note the cars abandoned on the forecourt.
We are running with those who could make it, but are having no courier collections today - and watching the weather to make sure we get home too!
This didnt stop a truck of Goodies arriving for goods in though, only it had to be dug a path way to the nearest door.
I took a sly snap from upstairs.. and then they spotted me! (click for bigger pics-with cold facial expressions)





See you tomorrow.

Andy

Happy New Year!

Its the first proper day back in the office, loads to do and catch up on.
I'm sure we will have another action packed year, hopefully you will join us for some of it, be it at a show, popping into the shop or just following our ramblings on the blog!

I'm sure you will want some sort of picture hit today..
What to choose?





And a little something for the aircooled fans..



See you tomorrow!

Andy

Summer is on its way...!

Well, thats the shortest day of the year done and dusted.
Its downhill now to the spring, lighter evenings will soon be back upon us.
While we wait, and on a non christmassy topic.. heres the rest of the cars from the Saturday Social.

















See you tomorrow!

Andy

Simian snow sighting

Wow! what a morning, most of us have made it in today, either under their own steam, or aboard the 4WD's amongst the staff, after being "rescued".

Out the window of the office, a strange sight; on what is normally the grass, an animal lying in the snow.
I got the camera out to capture the moment...David Attenborough style.

I went downstairs for a closer look,









Looks like the ol' monkey was having a ball, had to leave him to it, phones to answer!

See you on Monday!

Andy

....and he's flying, without wings now!

Dave has got the bit between his teeth, and the last few evenings he has braved cold out in the garage.
The wings have come off, fortunately not claiming any captive nut victims, and the majority of the glass is out too, revealing a few small areas of "concern" but nothing some small repairs cant fix.
A slightly larger area for concern is the strange dent to the top of the A pillar, around the screen. With a stroke of luck the car had been hiding a repair for this all the time,in amongst the boxes of spares, a piece cut from a donor car. Result!

Hopefully more progress pics from over the weekend, on Monday.


You can just see the dent to the right side of the screen in this head on shot.






See you tomorrow

Andy

More from the social.

Hope your all keeping warm!
I can tell you the novelty of scraping ice has already passed!

Here are some more pics from last saturdays Heretics meet.













There are some more, i'll get those up tomorrow.

See you then!

Andy

We're on the Social!

After the great success that was the evening meets, we were all quite unsure as to how a wintery saturday meet would be recieved.
With 4 weeks left to the meet, I made sure we littered the owners club forums with our festive flyer, and sat back and waited! (sorry if we missed you!)
The weather for the weeks leading up to the meet, was; as documented by our blog, terrible, but the sun shone on this day, and the cars turned out!
With a Coffee Shop set up in the warehouse, the hardy huddled onto their cardboard cups and chatted vw's happily for a good few hours.

Thanks to those who made the trip, and braved the cold..will keep you posted on future Saturday Socials.












Saturday 12th December was the "Heretics Saturday Social" debut.

Will post some more from the meet tomorrow,

See you then

Andy

Monster on the move.

The weekend saw the monster emerge from its long term garden hiding place.
With the help from a friend or two Mr Jones has moved the bug, and it now resides in the garage at home awaiting the body off resto.
Eager to get on with the job Dave has treated himself to a new socket set,and a can of WD40 for all those siezed bolts, so the strip down is not too far away i feel.

Heres the pics from the move.
Special thanks to Rob and Duncan for the tow car and the trailer!












And its home,in one(ish) bit!


Stay tuned for the updates, Heretics Saturday Social pics tomorrow!

Andy

Theres a (tin) worm at the bottom of the garden

The monster is yet to be moved, although it has now been emptied of "stuff"
The early indications of no welding are sadly proved wrong, as signs of a previous A pillar repair are unearthed.
The heater channels have all but rusted away on the passenger side front, but the beetle owners in the company are offering words of encouragement, and it would appear this is pretty standard these days.
Lets wait and see what happens when it gets moved.. now scheduled for the weekend.

Fingers Crossed!







The drivers side looks, on first inspection slightly more solid, but it's all going in the bin when the new channels go on, so it makes little odds.

See you tomorrow!

Andy

Its Christmas at VW Heritage

The decorations are up in the office, the cards are coming in thick and fast, and most importantly the tree is up in the shop.

And there was only one choice for the top of the tree......




See you tomorrow with more news of the monster....

Over and out

Andy

Brazilian Beetle, not the car

Turning up last week, a container load of parts from Brazil.
On board, unknown to us, a stowaway.
Sadly he didn't survive the trip, i say sadly, i think he would be far scarier if still alive!
Pictured here with his "travel money" for reference.
Look away now if you don't like creepy crawlies!!






See you tomorrow

Andy