The VolksWorld Show 2014 - Sweat. Tears. Memories. Arse-Biscuits.

I'm back after a short hiatus after going on holiday and having a little bit of time to reset my batteries. However, we're back!

It's that time of year!

Jumping straight into the action without further ado, we pick up from outside a downmarket branch of Tesco. Why? Well, it's show season of course and everyone should know that these cars love going to shows and seeing their friends whilst displaying there new kit. Well. Not McCartney. He'd much prefer to breakdown outside a Tesco supermarket. We achieved roughly 4 miles into our journey to the business no other than show-business, much to my anger and near tears of pure, unadulterated RAGE. We had planned to take both McCartney and Doris but the team + entourage in the form of my girlfriend bundled in Doris on a very, very hot day.

#Vintage #Tumblr #Hipster - This was done through a sunglass lense...

Blazing hot weather and blazing hot legs from the car's heater, 2 hours after we had planned to arrive, but who cares we were at the show! Now, the VolksWorld show is the flagship show for the classic VW scene which now world renowned! VolksWorld is the leading UK magazine following the scene and has been going strong for about 25 years now.

How times have changed for the magazine... 1988-2014

The show itself was fantastic, ranging from those loved and cared for, towed on a trailer throughout the length and breadth of the country, engine probably doesn't work but looks nice, not jealous whatsoever, show cars to an autojumble (a cramped car boot sale for VW parts, fat men usually participate in this) to various different show stalls with companies involved in the scene such as alternative nutters Rothfink and like the proverbial 'cucumber', CoolFlo Vintage (who actually specialise in air-conditioning) as well as various enthusiasts and fans from around the world! CoolFlo Clothing even had BMX legend Bob Haro at the show displaying some retro race ready BMX's from the 1980's (which cost at least £1000!). We also met the people from our local shop VWHeritage who have spotted the blog recently which was a surreal experience!

I was also part of a failed record attempt! 67 of us had managed to get inside and on a VW Beetle which was an admirable effort nonetheless and even included the hero of the day, a man that had took off his prosthetic leg for extra space! Sadly, no Guinness World Record for me, but I can safely say we had a good go!

67 people were on this! 67! The magic number was 81 but we were close.

Also, whoever dropped an arse-biscuit in the car should be ashamed because that was a smelly one. But credit to you because you couldn't have timed that better!


It was a great day out and I fully recommend giving it a go and just seeing what all the fuss is about! Doris was a testament to how a 44 year old car can still make it on a long journey! To add, this was the first time Doris has actually been driven in anger!

The next show we are currently planning isn't until May but watch this space for stories about the World Record Attempt and a new arrival...

Not me, but this guy was definitely looking for love at the show. Bless.

Parker's Road to Recovery - Engine

You may all know him as the 1980's rock star that exploded onto the scene of Caught the VW Bug back in February 2014. Here he is again, ready to finally face the public after the dramatic report of inducting himself into rehab which I am not surprised did no good for his PR team.

So, let's talk about the first step on the road to recovery. The engine. The heart of the bug, without that, Parker would be a hunk of sad looking yet beautifully shaped metal. We bought a brand new 1200cc engine that Parker had originally when he rolled off the production line for a pricey £41! This, really is an absolute bargain in terms of classic VW parts as we have spent in excess of that for interior parts such as door cards, but this is the heart and soul of the car! However, Caught The VW Bug doesn't have NHS provisions for heart transplants/engine changes, so we had to operate on him pronto and against qualified medical advice.

Parker's heart operation in action!

We located the heart for Parker and a quick jump over to Essex, UK was all it took to collect. The benefit of this is that we didn't need to collect the heart in a van nor in an ice-cooler so we could quickly go about our business for cheap in the PARTS WAGON, who has served us well recently.

The finished article

When we picked the heart up, as you can see in the photo, it looked grim as it was left outside for many years in a bloke's back garden. Despite that, we manage to work wonders with the engine simply by a quick clean and a paint of the metal to make it look brand new.

Soon after all the metalwork was cleaned and painted, Parker's operation was successful after his new was dumped in the engine bay and wired up to run! This is only the first step on Parker's road to recovery, but the little bug is certainly on the way!

We will be returning to Parker after he is taken off the drip and showing signs of movement on the driveway where we will be reporting on his next step, emergency cavity work and filling in those nasty areas of rust.

LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS! - The surgeon among the madness

McCartney Goes to - The Lake

McCartney had a little journey over to the lake today just before the sun had set... His clutch broke and we nearly hit a pheasant but at least it was a fun journey nonetheless. Don't worry no animals were harmed in the making of this post, but my foot was.

Long Lost Rides - Lola

Here is a short series introducing a small insight into a few of the Bugs that never quite made the cut in the team as they were quite simply too butchered beyond repair. Oh and one we just felt the need to flat out murder one, but that's some other time. Does that make us bad people? Well, I certainly hope not, as I was 3 please don't blame me alright?

Anyway, meet Lola, my very first car. The one who made me catch the VW bug way back when. Named after her L registration (1972) and being very, very, very low, the name stuck and alas, Lola had a proper owner! You may know that McCartney I proclaim is my first car, but this Purple, 43 year old ex-glamour model who came all the way from Leeds had a brief spell in our team and our life. People reading this may have seen her very briefly on Facebook and as soon as she arrived in April 2013, Lola was in a very bad way. Paying over the odds from some clever sales technique from a lad up north on eBay who took some clever shots of Lola, or at least the car when we bought it looked like it had been shot with a rifle, she arrived, much to my mother's dismay and disappointment as Lola bless her was much, much worse than we expected, needing a lot of love to get her going. This really, is why I dislike northerners.

Lola looks brilliant from the outside!

Therefore, I only have a few images of Lola from when she first arrived with us and it looks from the outside, a very solid car. Although, take a look deeper and actually she is propped up with a trolley jack ready to weld underneath in the foot well of both driver and passenger side not to mention the whole rear of the car. Basically, in lay man's, 8 year old terms, I could see the ground and even put my foot through the bloody chassis.

Why did I like her so much? Why, she was purple! There was something about the car that I got attached with, perhaps it was the fact I had been around Lola for a good 3 months and in that time she was fully welded inside and out by us as well as having a new interior ready to go. Maybe it was the 'boy racer' slammed suspension, or the comedic klaxon horn that perhaps reduced Lola to Krusty the Klown's car. Although, sadly we decided to sell her after safety fears as the work completed on Lola before we bought her was very questionable, most notably someone had fixed seats to the chassis. Highly dangerous! Also, the new kids were on the block, such as Doris! Anyway, we got a good £800 for Lola in the end!

The last day of owning Lola after Doris had arrived and I had finally taken McCartney under my wing, the only lasting photo of all 3 of the Bugs.

After a recent check on the DVLA, Lola is still off the road, last registered before we owned her. I sincerely hope someone does get her on the road and gets in touch!

Next time, I will be showing you how Parker's reformation is getting along in his 12 step, rehabilitation programme.


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DOG WAGON. PARTS WAGON.

PARTS WAGON.

Meet the PARTS WAGON! in which we travel the length and breadth of the country for people who are too lazy to send parts via courier, or to pick up parts like an engine, or a whole project. As you can see, this isn't a Beetle, as a Beetle just wouldn't have the space to put any parts or storage in . We already tried that when we picked up our new seat covers which we will show you later on this year! Therefore, we still bought a VW, but a Golf this time. Originally, we were looking for a VW Variant but realised, after closely missing out on one for a reasonable price back the day that they go for prices that are similar to very good Beetles (£4000+). I later understood that there are only 300 of them left! Thus, we settled for this thing... It's only 13 years old and is considered the baby of the group, or the awkward teenager that no one ever understands.

We bought it for £450 and is truthfully, a pile of shit. But it has a big boot, 2 litre engine and 'ample and then some' cup holders for the drinks we carry on long journeys or basically the sick we produce from the drive down. The ride is brilliant and much better than a Beetle, but at least the Beetle's have a working 3rd gear and doesn't lurch so hard you want to throw up when going down the road. Despite that, it does chew up the miles nicely whilst on the motorway so it does serve its primary purpose. Also, it backs up as a dog wagon. This is the time I tell you that I don't have any dogs and prefer to lug round ugly people and ex-girlfriends in the boot for fun. But I actually do have dogs so don't think I am weird as I don't even drive it anyway.

All in all, PARTS WAGON! does his job well and without it, we wouldn't have our classy accessories or even anything to write about it, so give it some praise! Throughout the year, we may even show where we go on our travels and just how much sick we produce!

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STOP PRESS! WE GOT SPONSORED!

Yes! That's right, Caught the VW Bug has hooked up with Charge Clothing to promote their new company and gear this year!

We will be promoting Charge throughout the show season as ambassadors and supporting the logo, firstly starting off at the VolksWorld Show in Esher, Surrey on the 29th and 30th March. Tickets are still available if you would like to join us there and say hello to my team! Also, McCartney and Doris will be on their first cruise together after McCartney was involved in the Santa Cruise for  in December 2013 and arriving in style! McCartney will be sporting the Charge Clothing Rhino and their new stickers will be revealed on the car hopefully before the show starts!

We are also looking to get 'Caught the VW Bug' stickers made in time for Stanford Hall this year too so watch this space guys!

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Meet the Team - Sting

The final team member has newly been named Sting. Originally dubbed 'The Silver Hornet', Sting found his name thanks to Hornet's ability to sting. Sadly, contrary to Parker's hellish lifestyle leading to his induction into our rehabilitation unit, Sting didn't live a famous life and shouldn't be mixed up with lead singer of the 80's rock group, The Police. Although, Sting can turn off his red light as he isn't a prostitute, but that perhaps is another story.

Sting is similar to Parker in his specifications, being another 1200cc car and was born in 1977. Therefore, Sting is, if you can say so, the baby of the family. He is a fascinating little motor and holds a large amount of motoring history as he is the 201st of the 300 final Silver 'Last Edition' Beetles to roll off the production line in Wolfsburg, Germany for a limited edition run for sale in the UK. This does mean that only 99 more Silver Beetles were actually produced after the Hornet which is surreal to own providing Volkswagen sold 23 Million of these little bugs. The silver Beetles also have a 'Last Edition Register' in order to track down all 300 of the little buggers which we, as of today have just registered our interest in joining!

Currently, Sting is in need of love as he hasn't seen daylight or the road since 1998 and has lived in a garage by his previous owner who never found the time to restore him back to better days. Thus, the team seized the moment to induct Sting into our restoration projects and the aim is to get him looking flashy, fresh and authentic to reunite with a select few of his mates, whom he hasn't seen since 1977 for a high school reunion at Stanford Hall on the 4th May (Star Wars Day for you fans out there) as part of the Last Edition Register group stand. After Stanford Hall, Sting will be sent to a new owner transforming to a car in need of love to an absolute, original stunner.

Next time, I have a big announcement to inform you of in regards to a new partnership from a upcoming clothing company!