Meet the Team! Air-cooled staff cars at VW Heritage

About the vehicle -

Andris drove this Beetle back from his home in Latvia in just a few days. After a bit of an engine service and a general check over he set off on his 1500 mile trip. He now uses the car daily and has been super reliable.

He can often be seen in the VW Heritage car park having a tinker, only a few months ago he had the crankcase split on a pallet and rebuilt it in a few hours! That's some commitment. The Beetle is currently running a 1384cc motor with a engle 110 cam.

Future plans involve a fully rebuilt 1600cc motor (to make the daily commute a little less dreary), possible lowering job and some SSP Alloy Wheels

When a customer called our Sales team saying he had a 1 owner from new Beetle for sale, we thought it was too good to be true!

Our IT Support and Web Design guy Dave took the drive to Woking and bought the car on first impressions. All the parts were loaded into the car and then trailered back to Worthing. Only a bit of welding was required and the car took 6 months to get it to MOT stage.

It's was MOTd and driven for a year until an argument with the outside tap took its toll on the Bug's offside front wing. The car was taken back off the road to repair the damage and within a week the task had escalated into a complete strip down ready for a repaint.

A further 18 months and the car has been complete repainted, new TMI headliner fitted by Dave's mate Arron and lots of other finishing touches. Rolling on Polished SSP GT5 Spokes, 4" Narrowed and Adjustable beam with dropped spindles and rebuilt king and linkpins, lowered 1 spline at the rear. The engine is a rebuilt 1600cc to help push it a little faster than the stock motor allowed, with a stock exhaust system to help keep in car conversation at a sensible level. Interior is off white smooth vinyl with sand tweed inserts, with oatmeal carpets and a trick stereo install.

1957 Split

Jo and Martin's 1957 Split Bus is a result of years of hard work and long weekends. It was sold to them in 2004 by the previous owner on the agreement that the bus was to be restored, but not modified in anyway.

The previous owner had posession of the 1957 camper for 37 years after getting hold of it from a Bognor Regis based band called 'The Southbeats'. Sadly the previous owner decided he couldn't take on the work himself, so Martin and Jo snapped it up.

The bus has received extensive welding work and a full respray in Dove Blue. Inside, campers are kept comfortable with a replica devon interior with all the fittings.

1970 Beetle

As these things always end up, the little Bug ended up with a host of welding including heater channels, floor sections and other common areas. All the welding is done to a very high standard, as is the striking blue paint (matched to the colour of her Kayaking helmet!)

There are lots of nice custom touches including 4 wheel disk brakes, custom wiring loom with 2 electric fuel pumps (one for backup) and black detailing where chrome once would have been. Pushing it along is a 1679cc with twin 40mm Dellorto carburettors and is sitting pretty on some of our SSP Slotmag alloys.

It's used on a daily basis, so if you see it, give Jo a wave!

About the vehicle -

Nigel has had a long interesting list of VWs over the years, prior to this great 1974 Bay Window he had a Karmann Ghia Cabriolet. Naturally the Ghia wasn't very practical to cook and sleep in so the decision was made to move it on and look for a suitable bus. Many a family holiday has been enjoyed in the Bus, powered by a 2.0 Type 4 Fuel injected motor, the next holiday arrives a lot faster than before too!

About the vehicle -

Since the day Alex bought the '69, it's always been a rolling project. In 2009 the bus saw a complete repaint by his friend at a nearby restoration company. The van then received a narrowed front beam and some Erco's for the rear wheels, this enabled some massive 205/70 profile tyres. 2010 the bus was kitted out with a full camping interior as Alex likes sleeping in this van almost as much as he likes driving it!

The most interesting aspect of the bus lays in the back, more specifically the engine and drivetrain. It's being pushed along by an Autotechniks 2276cc Motor with an FK10 cam, 044 Heads and Weber 48IDF Carburettors. This is bolted up to a Cogbox built 091 Gearbox with a super diff and a longer 4th gear to help on the motorway.

The van gets regularly drag raced and the best pass so far clocked in at 15.2 seconds @ 81mph at Das Drag Day 2011. If you see him, give him a wave....He's a jolly nice guy!