Haven’t posted anything on the blog for ages. Been busy with other projects and life in general to be honest. If there are any regulars out there, I did in fact manage to buy a Bus a couple of years ago - a 71 Westfalia. It needed some initial work to make it safe (new master cylinder, ball joints, wheel cylinders, brake shoes etc.), but has since sat in the garage gathering dust.
The main reason I haven’t driven it is a leaky poptop. I had a huge problem with water leakage when she was in the shop for repairs. The front elevating piece of the roof and rear luggage rack just wouldn’t line up, and despite numerous attempts to overhaul the hinges, realign the luggage rack and adjust the front brackets, I couldn’t solve the problem. It appears that the previous owner hacked a couple of inches off the large roof piece, and in combination with a badly replaced wooden bow that is supposed to match the contour of the roof, I decided to search for a total replacement from a local donor vehicle.
Months went by and still no luck finding a replacement. Slowly but surely I became despondent and as winter kicked in, I kind of gave up even wanting to drive the Bus. Fast forward to the Spring and I’m keen to get things rolling again. I did manage to repaint the cargo floor over the winter and have purchased some cool 9″ vinyl tiles from Madmatz who are based in the UK. I’ve also made a decision to remove the laminate from the original Westy cabinets and stain/seal the resulting plywood. As for the roof, I’m going to go against all the purists advice and replace the poptop once and for all. I have a scheme in my mind to cover the opening with a shaped sheet of bronze plexiglass. It sounds a bit crude, but I have high hopes that it will do the job. Watch this space for more details as I get into the project.
Another urgent task is to replace the who-knows-how-old tires. I’ve ordered 5 of the top rated Hankook 185R14 tires from a local shop, who are willing to fit them without me having to drive the Bus to their location. One less thing to worry about anyway.
I hope to post more in the coming months as I push forward in the quest to get my Westy back on the road…
Received a great gift for Christmas; a die cast VW Camper memory stick from SpinningHat.com. From their web site:
Trade in your boring old memory stick for a superior model!
These officially licensed dinky die cast cars cleverly conceal an impressive 256MB of flash drive memory. Each car also comes with a USB extender cable, so that your classic car can remain on your desk whilst still plugged in to your computer, for all to see.
As soon as you start transferring data the tiny headlights on the front of the unit will flash indicating activity. Solve your data transportation needs in style and be the envy of the office!
Pity it doesn’t come in anything higher than 256MB, but it’s a pretty cool novelty item nonetheless….
Thought it might be an idea to post links to the currently available VolksWorld Digital Download Back Issues. Each issue is currently selling for $4.98 (cheaper if you’re a Barnes & Noble member).
VolksWorld is the leading VW magazine from the United Kingdom. It covers the latest hot news, and shows off the very best feature cars around from the stock and modified classic air-cooled Volkswagen market VolksWorld highlights the very best VW Bugs, Buses, Karmann Ghias and all other air-cooled variants. Our world-wide coverage features the very best technical material, event coverage and product tests.
VolksWorld is a great magazine from the UK, but sometimes it’s difficult to track down a copy in the USA where I now live.
Usually I can pick up a copy in my local Barnes & Noble bookstore, but (a) they don’t always have them in stock and (b) it’s kind of expensive at $8.95 an issue.
Cover price - $64.74
Online price - $23.27 ($20.94 if you’re a Barnes & Noble member)
I signed up last week and immediately received the January 2009 edition in my inbox (pdf format of course). Admittedly it’s nice to own the physical copy of the magazine, but this way I’m guaranteed to receive VolksWorld (actually the subscription is for 13 issues) and I don’t have to take a trip to Barnes & Noble several times each month. The $$$ saving is pretty nice too of course…..
About the magazine:
VolksWorld is the leading VW magazine from the United Kingdom. It covers the latest hot news, and shows off the very best feature cars around from the stock and modified classic air-cooled Volkswagen market VolksWorld highlights the very best VW Bugs, Buses, Karmann Ghias and all other air-cooled variants. Our world-wide coverage features the very best technical material, event coverage and product tests.
VolksWorld has just launched a mini web site for their sister magazine VW Camper & Bus. From their site you’ll be able to find out what’s in the next issue, when it’s due out, watch videos, looks at photos and catch up with their day to day routines on their blog. Definitely worth checking out and I’m sure I’ll be a frequent visitor in the coming months!
Classic commercial for the new Volkswagen Routan , featuring several hippies reliving the past by looking at old pictures and movies featuring the original VW Bus.
Great choice of music sets the tone for this great advert. Enjoy!
Adobe Photoshop CS4 features a cool new feature called “Content-aware Scaling” which senses dead areas in photos before resizing the image to avoid stretching every object.
Click here to watch a movie detailing the new feature.
Received a great gift for Christmas; a die cast VW Camper memory stick from 
