Doris the Roaving Reporter: VW Heretics

Last time out we gave Doris, who right now is in need of precious R&R a shot at reporting.
It turns out she was pretty good, so she has reprised the role of Roaving Reporter to talk about her account of VW Heritage's monthly event, VW Heretics earlier in the month.

We have to understand Doris is not only slow on the road, but also at reporting so I apologise for the delay.

"VW Heritage's 'VW Heretics' meet truly marks the start of the British Summer Time season. The weather was mild and sunny which set the scene perfectly for the evening ahead. It also marked the first time where we took two Bugs to an event with McCartney who is still experiencing problems managed to do the 30 mile round trip to Burgess Hill in West Sussex. We later deduced that his Carburetor is the underlying problem in this mess. Luckily, VW Heritage are on hand to offer such parts so freely.

Upon arrival, we experienced a grand entry to the party with at least 100 visitors and VW fans admiring the convoy as they arrived line-a-stern.  in a spectacular fashion with McCartney cutting out in front of everyone at the meet and myself arriving in the wrong direction.

"They had to push me in as soon as I arrived as the engine cut out, I am getting too unfit for this in my old age and with an unidentified problem at the time, I think it's a saving grace really because my owner's music was purely awful that night." Quips McCartney as he discussed his arrival to the show, some say he was the Raving Reporter that evening.

The Green Machine earlier in the year!

The turnout of cars was around the 40 mark and we were very happy to have large amounts of interest in myself and McCartney. McCartney's owner was much more interested in having a look around the other Bugs for inspiration for our new recruit, Jake, by looking at colour's and particular interiors. All very exciting stuff!

It was a pleasure to have another chance to write.

Much love, Doris."

It was a great evening, apart from the incident that sadly occurred the morning after. However, we will be back again!

P.S. The Bratwurst hot dogs served out of the VW Bus... AMAZING.

UPDATE: We lost all photo's for VW Heretics. Balls.

DubLove!

Doris the Roving Reporter: The Ace Café

Doris has recently landed herself some work experience in a bid to revive her career as a reporter for various car shows across the classic VW scene. Doris, who was stigmatised as a diva years ago was given a chance at the VolksWorld Show to show her worth. Now Doris has been given the nod for the roving reporter role at Caught The VW Bug for show season.

Recently, Doris has had her confidence knocked as her super rare Corona Sun Visor has been pinched by some rather crafty opportunistic lads. Here is what I had to say on the matter.

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my sun visor go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

Doris, pre-the 'event'

Anyway, on the 15th April, Doris had her chance to race up to the Ace Cafe at rush hour to report on the latest of VW meets. Here is what she had to say:

"The traffic was horrendous! I was stuck in the dreaded M25 for almost two hours but never fear I got the team up there in good time! A sunset drive along the motorways of the UK was a good choice and the chief editor at Caught The VW Bug was pleased to ride shotgun.

The first impressions of the Ace Cafe in North London was a strong one with decades of heritage harking back to the glory days of the Mod's and Rocker's of the 1960's, 1980's and beyond. A strong following for a bitterly cold Tuesday night was positive to see with a whole range of VW's like myself and other like minded Bug owners to a few Camper and later Bus' making up the numbers. We also had a Karmann Ghia at the Ace Cafe today, parked next to us as well as later T4 Vans. Finally, a fellow Bug had been Herbie'd to the highest detail... but they're plastic VW fans anyway. It was a great evening to acquire ideas and I thoroughly recommend it!"

Herbie Goes to London

To round off the evening, the team and I smashed out a McDonalds and had a cheeky trip around IKEA. I got a paper Swedish flag, looked a bit mental and started hitting people with a plush fish.

HAPPY DAYS.

It did actually happen!

Join Doris and I for our report on VW Heritage's VW Heretics monthly meet with the man, the one and only, McCartney who is currently enduring a lengthy repair.

Doris. Ghia. Herbie.

Parker's Road to Recovery - Paint Job

Remember Parker? He has been with us for about 3 months now and in that time he has had a heart transplant in a backdoor surgery about the size of a double garage where we bought a brand new replacement engine for £41. Parker has also endured emergency dental work on filling his cavities and various rust holes in his enamel. Now Parker is showing signs of recovery and has been able to move around and his vital signs are looking positive.

Why spray him in Grey? Primer as it's called acts as an undercoat for the fresh paint.                                                 

Parker was thus ready for his next operation, skin grafting. This usually is the longest process of the road to recovery as it takes a long time to prepare by sanding down by hand, paint and let the paint dry as it always requires a lot of effort, precision and at times, money. It's lucky that we have a paint supplier for genuine VW colours so close to home in order to inspire new people or impress already seasoned people in the VW game who have 'Caught the VW Bug'. We have used their products for McCartney, Doris and now Parker.

We went through reams of masking tape. Spray paint can easily  'overspray' to areas you don't want i.e. Windscreen etc.

Parker's operation took roughly over a month to fully complete and required taping him up with masking tape and newspaper to catch any overspray. When that process was completed, we were ready to spray the dear boy who with everyday, was showing signs of recovery and has not turned to drinking Diesel throughout his rehab process.


Luckily with some good weather (and by good weather, I mean. One. Dry. Day, thanks to the wettest January on record.) a garage for shelter and an electric fire, we are able to push through against the elements and save Parker's paint.

Now, here he is in all his glory and he is looking absolutely fantastic, with Parker restoring that warm glow that the red paint job draws upon.

We are now 3 steps in to his recovery process and you can already see, this once ravaged superstar is slowly returning to his status that he laboured for in his early years. Next time we will show you how Parker is getting on with the finer details of his appearance.

A damn sight better than what he used to look like! Coming along nicely!

Stolen: Very Rare Corona Sun Visor from Doris

I never thought I would ever have to write one of these posts. However, last night we had a lovely time at VW Heritage's monthly meets, only to find out when I woke up this morning that someone else had to ruin the party. 

Doris' very rare Corona Sun Visor has been nicked off her in the night. This wasn't an act from some gippo, but someone in the know and knew what they were doing. 

Now, I am not one for foul play and if you work hard all month then you should be able to acquire nice things and not for others to nick them because they look nice. It's greatly frustrating. 

If you have or see any whereabouts, eBay or on the road (for the friends and local folk reading), please contact me at veedubdubdub@gmail.com This is my email for all VW related enquiries.

Stolen: Corona Sun Visor

McCARTNEY LIVES

He's a Beetle of course. These fun loving criminals never die on us, they just need a bit of time to be reassured it will be okay. It's taken 2 1/2 weeks to source and fix the problem and after several days of hard graft, little sleep and many, many swear words McCartney's heart bypass operation had been successful and he roared into life!

McCartney is happy & excited to get back on the road.

What was the problem you ask?

Fuel pump. Basically no fuel was getting to the car and it was extremely frustrating. Although, no job is too large for Caught The VW Bug and we managed to source a new fuel pump, fit it and voila! 

"It worked right?" Wrong. This was the first problem, the fuel line had recently split so that was re-routed 3 times to assure enough fuel was reaching the car and gravity wasn't interfering with the fuel flow. 

"Once that was done, it worked right? "Wrong. We took the fuel tank out, cleaned that and placed it back in the chassis as the fuel pipe might have been trapped.

"Sounds like a tough job, but it's fixed and it worked right?" Wrong. 

It turns out we put the fuel line on the wrong end of the pump, so it blew the petrol away from the carburetor and the engine and not the reverse.

"Oh you tit." 

We can all make rookie mistakes and yes, even the best of us make critical errors like that. However, he runs better than before with the fuel flow vastly improved. Lets hope the FIA don't disqualify us.

Its always a learning process but I am just happy my boy is working again. McCartney will be heading to Burgess Hill to visit VW Heritage's monthly meets, who wrote about us at the beginning of the month for his test run. Also, watch this space for Doris' journey to the Ace Café.

Happy to get him running again!

Bugging People Since 2013 (1 Year Anniversary)

We have owned VW Beetles for over 35 years now! Why am I writing about our 1 year anniversary then?

Well, I'm married.

It's been a year since my sex change.

I have been sober for a year now.

It's been a year since the team rekindled our spirits and got back into VW Beetle's. We used to own a whole range of Beetle's back in the day when I was a little nipper. The only nugget of information I knew back then was that they used to smell of a combination of Magic Tree's and Churches. This is certainly no different 15 years later.

I remember the day as one drove past me on the way to school and that was it. I wanted one as soon as possible. We bought Lola, our first one a year ago on the Sunday just gone and the empire slowly grew, leading to the blog!

Lola, one whole year ago. Arriving on the scene.

Little did I know that I wouldn't own her for long, or even purchase another FIVE of these lovable rogues or even get back into the game with my family on such a head on manner that we have done. 

Really, I would like to thank everyone that's been of help. From the mad scientist at work who helps me fix these beasts, to the young lady who procures all the stock and little gems along the way that retain so much meaning and rarity that makes these Beetle's special and unique in their own little way. Thank you to my siblings who have put up with all the noise, cursing & banging (not like that. Well, sorta) in the morning and thanks to my trusty dog who is taking a liking to these Beetles. "You can have a ride in it one day" I tell him. He just looks at me bemused, but he's a little mental anyway.

Also, a special mention to all the people on forums, whoever likes the blog, show promoters and parts suppliers for promoting us and helping us along the way!

Over the past year, I have learnt a vast amount about these Beetle's down to the VW media, how each little part works, how basic they are to run and even how to drive them (bare in mind I hadn't even passed my test last year). It's been good fun and it's great to finally get lost in something you enjoy and better still, write about them. 

It's been good fun, here's to the next 35 years of thrills, spills, swearing, banging and boozing. 

Line a-stern, back in the first phase of it all. (1999)

Progress at Caught The VW Bug

I am happy to announce some, yet little progress at Caught The VW Bug!

In the last post, there was a meltdown within the team. It's evident that the sun has finally arrived for us to stay for a while and that inherently means (and fellow VW owners will agree) that the Bugs don't ever work. They last all winter in the vicious conditions but now the parts evidently get too worn to use and breakdown. The biggest culprit of this was especially McCartney who was in the Doghouse for a bit before I rekindled my spirits for him and decided to get hands on and source the problem.

At least McCartney looks nice...

We deduced that a fuel pump issue was the problem and that means no fuel to the car and it can't thus turn on without it. We are sourcing another fuel pump and I am glad to announce this as we have tried about 6793 potential solutions to find the problem so we're on the up!

Also, Parker's 12 step recovery took a backfoot but is now getting there, I will be writing more on him later so watch this space for him and his transformation to pass his medical by the MOT (Medics of Transport) team.

Therefore, this did mean that Sting won't be going to Stanford Hall which is a big disappointment as the time frame arrived far too quick than we expected. However, we will look forward to taking our time fixing him up over the year, along with Jake.

Not making it to Stanford Hall VW Show. Gutted.

UPDATE: Turns out the fuel pump is fine and the poor '68 Beetle's fuel line has a problem. Nearly 3 hours were spent yesterday evening finding the problem and what is it? Gravity of course!The fuel doesn't run up the route too well and isn't getting to the engine whatsoever.

I am looking forward to collecting my degree in physics as soon as we collect the car as this is turning out to be a mammoth job.

Dumped by the roadside.

Help us all.

Any small donations, food or beer would be greatly appreciated.

In the meantime, check out my Twitter and Google+ for all non-related, topical nonsense. You could even follow me if you want.
https://twitter.com/CTracey143
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101003325908076718434/posts

A bad day at Caught The VW Bug

Whilst I am sitting here, writing to you with a beer in hand. We experienced our first bad day at Caught The VW Bug.

Here's a quick cit rep of what on earth has happened.

McCartney - Fuel Pump: F***ed.
Parker - Fuel Pump + Timing: F***ed.
Sting - Wrong wings sent: No Stanford Hall. My mood: F***ed.
Jake Bugg - Can't get a quote but we all know that is: F***ed.
Doris - Last one standing, only female of the group (GIRL POWER). F**k.

It's been an odd one today as the wings sent to us were rear wings. This has pushed us off track beyond Stanford Hall for the 4th May. It's hard to take but its days like this where you just need to reflect, go back to the drawing board and understand it's not as bad as it seems.

On top of that, McCartney's running problems since the VolksWorld Show has been relentless, only to find out Parker has the same problem. We've been consistently playing trial and error but believe me, we will rise again to find the solution and I will document it with great pride. But until then, I will be in the corner. In the pub. Beer in hand.

Free to good home.

Meet the Team - Jake Bugg

ANOTHER ONE?

Yep, that's right. The fifth VW Bug has arrived. They are spreading like wildfire.

Jake said he was happy to be joining the Caught The VW Bug team and looked forward to getting back on the road.

 How does one team own five bugs in such a short space of time? It's a combination of truly encapsulating the VW scene by injecting venom and young blood into it. It's also about getting involved and finding like-minded friends and enthusiasts but most importantly it's the basic premise of simply loving having the opportunity to repair, restore and pretty much fall in love with these classic cars as they retain SO MUCH CHARACTER.

Rust holes are inevitable. Not been run for a good few years.

Jake's original paint colour inside

Meet Jake, Jake Bugg. Some may have heard of Jake Bugg, the 19 year old folk singer from the UK who is currently lighting up the new generation of independent artists. I personally am a fan of his work and it just so happens to be that he has a relevant name for the new project.

Give him his due, our Jake is 47 years old and currently looks a little bit rough. I don't predict that the real Jake will look this by the way! However, no challenge is never too fierce for the team at Caught The VW Bug!

To be brief, Jake is a 1967 Beetle, originally painted in a royal blue (my Secondary/High School's uniform...) which makes him the oldest of the team at the time of writing. We picked him up for a good price (undisclosed of course) and we are looking forward to taking time (and running our finances dry) with this one and restoring Jake from the ground up. We aim to put our own Caught The VW Bug spin on him with a new interior and a paint job. We have an idea in mind currently, but I will be reporting on Jake's progress throughout 2014 with a planned 2015 completion date.

Lacking the bottom 6 inches, Jake will need a bit of welding before he is roadworthy.

Jake rocking the grey right now, absolutely. The primer look gives us a clean slate
to redecorate and put a personalised touch on the bug.

The aim is to keep Jake after he is completed and be fully inducted into the Caught The VW Bug hall of fame, along with myself getting the honour of the highest order to take Jake under my wing and travel the roads of the UK and Europe for years to come. Although, I still will be using McCartney until that day which I equally adore just as much, even if it has broken down. Again.

Think of it like cheating... on a cougar... but it's non-sexual... because it's a car... and I am not weird.

A SUNROOF. YEAAAAH. Sunroof on a Beetle is super rare!

Currently, the sunroof isn't working and will need some delicate repairing.

Parker's Road to Recovery - Rust Holes

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Preserving the Heritage of VW's

Caught The VW Bug would like to share with you a little insight about us, courtesy of VW Heritage. They decided to catch up with us! Caught The VW Bug are very excited to share this with you and how the journey of restoring the little buggers and later, how the blog came to fruition!

Here is what they had to say.

http://www.vwheritage.com/blog/2014/04/01/blogging-good/