SOLD! TO THE LADY ON THE EBAY CONTRAPTION

McCartney has been a great servant, but laden with intermittent troubles, we finally decided to sell him. The old boy has done well for 45 years in the motoring service and our year's duty with the boy has been called time.

Many memories were had, many breakdowns were had and most importantly, many, many loud records were played out of those big Alpine speakers that shall be coming with me. 

We shook up the motoring community at least locally, served as a great impetus for the blog which you're all reading right now and got me properly excited about a motoring icon. It gave people another idea that you can motor around on the cheap, with your own custom style to cars, for cheaper road tax (zero) and insurance!

We turned heads where-ever we went, whether that was the car sounding like a bag of spanners, rolling to a halt in a roundabout or simply for the one day in a blue moon, sounding sweet.

It was good fun. However, there are more bugs to report on and more for me to get behind the wheel and repeat the process all over again. I will also be reporting on it's work over the week off I have had that involves a quick respray and change of interior.

Farewell mate.

Jesus. So, so loud.

It's Time For A Change

Change is on the horizon.

I awake from my 9 hours sleep each night and get ready for work. Hot shower awakes me and a small breakfast does the job. I am ready for the day's challenges. Before opening the door, I see my boy through the frosted glass in his dark green coat and that cheeky smile he always pulls at me. I smile, get in my car and drive to work. 

This has been a staple morning for nearly a year now with my Green Machine McCartney sitting on the driveway. But, it's time for a change. McCartney has been riddled with problems for about 6 months now, ranging from the clutch to the whole bleeding engine. 

It's been a tough, yet understandable decision. McCartney has been a great servant (when he wants to of course) to introducing me to the Beetle scene. Covering many, many happy miles, and a few sad ones too. We've shared a whole year together however it's time to get him fixed, resprayed and ready to say farewell to the team and also my life. 

I'm not cheating on another Bug at all, or two, but it's almost like a break up.

Throughout this week I will be documenting our brief restoration and spending a good week with my boy before he's looking better than ever for a new owner to enjoy perhaps the quickest Bug I have ever had the pleasure to sit in.

Going forward, the endgame is to have Jake at the end of the year but also use the others in the stable, primarily Sting who will be going through a quick first stage of restoration as he's been put on the backburner with the arrival of Jake Bugg and co. and then look to complete Sting properly in late 2014/2015.

The money from McCartney's sale will go into the respray for Jake so I will make friends with both Sting & Jake Bugg. 

Change isn't all bad, but to progress, you must embrace the changes. They might not get you from A to B half the time but it's all part of the fun.

Happy memories. Very, very happy memories

Finding the Right One for the Job

£5000 FOR A BASIC RESPRAY.

Exactly. The price of labour and paint has increased massively.

I'd wager that this is the most prominent reason why the whole Rat scene has come to light where fellow Dubbers run their cars in a more... shabby fashion because the costs are so high.

High costs now!

We've been offered cheaper, to the tune of £3k, but the prices do spark debate. People would take more time to respray their classic icons if the prices came down. Then again, would the scene be vastly different as a result? Most likely a reprisal of the 1990's renaissance thanks to the cheap price of Bugs (and probably respray's for that matter). But due the high costs, people are therefore turning to more innovative and cost-effective measures. For that price, you could slam it, run air-rides and place some decent modifications to your Rat, if that's your style or on the other end of the spectrum, deck out the interior to be bold and loud and find some rare accessories to your Bug.

Underpinning this is the age old debate of Built vs. Bought as it's possible that you can buy a near-perfect '67 Bug for £5k but the drawbacks are that you are limited to putting your own spin on the project of your dreams.

Something will come up I am sure as there are quality people in the country. But £5k? Not a chance.

Here was our attempt when we resprayed Parker.

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DAT WEATHER - Dubs at the Park

Well as they say, "It's not a show without a breakdown!". That can be used both mechanically and also emotionally. VolksWorld started with a whole host of drama. Dubs at the Park commenced with a breakdown less than a mile out from the site.

JAKE?

Nightmare! Doris actually broke down for once, but it was merely an overheating problem due to the absolutely scorching weather we experienced. It was the first time I cracked out the shorts for 2014 which usually is a trend that will continue to late September so residents of the UK, beware of my pasty legs!

Best vehicle around, I even got to have a quick spin on it!

So Dubs in the Park was greeted with some excellent weather and some excellent VW's. I was on a hunt to look at any '67's and for any cream painted Bugs to gather some inspiration for what Jake would look like when he is completed. A few cream Bugs were lying around in the sunny weather with their proud owners, which is pleasing to see! No 67's from recollection so I do feel that Jake Bugg will be in his own when we finish him.

The event was held at Easthampstead Park in Berkshire which was a stunning location, similar to Stonor Park, but was much more chilled out then your VolksWorld and Bug In's of this world. It had the right, friendly atmosphere with fans from all over the scene, ranging from your Buggers, to the families in the Buses to MK1&2 Golf's and later T4/5's amongst other rare and awesome VW's. They also had various live bands playing both their original content and some well known hits from days of past and present. In addition, they had Mountain Bike Trial's specialists demonstrating some absolutely insane skills, their most daring jumping 10 ft onto a set of rails, much to the visitors amazement and applause!

PARKER?

Trade stands weren't as prominent as some of the bigger shows but it was pleasing to see the likes of Hayburner and Rothfink (the latter travelled all the way from Cardiff for the event) representing the alternative VW scene which is slowly dominating, especially with the amount of Rothfink stickers about the place! Hayburner's new magazine is out now too so which I thoroughly recommend.

Un-licensed bar...

Anyway, a great, family friendly event for just a fiver, blazing hot sunshine and a licensed bar? Oh we will be back in 2015.

Just chilling.

A whole range of photo's will be up of the event on Pinterest, we have only included the best ones here!

Next report will come from Stonor Park on the 1st June, never been? The links are here!

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Rothfink Industries
Hayburner Magazine
Stonor Park

The PARTS WAGON was also spotted!

Special Guest: ClassicVolks.com

I am ecstatic to announce that I am now writing for ClassicVolks.com as a guest writer! I will be writing the latest reports and musings from Caught The VW Bug's antics as well as new features that I will be testing over there such as Top 5's, Show Reports and some tech insights for our new series, ELI5 (Explain Like I'm Five), a derivative from a great forum on Reddit.com

Here is my first introductory post, come along for the ride.

http://www.classicvolks.com/blog/new-kid-on-the-block/

Be sure to follow ClassicVolks.com on Twitter/Facebook/Web for more of my articles!

A Glorious Weekend Ahead - Dubs at the Park

All VW's ROLL OUT!

The team are excited to run down in Doris, the showboat to the next show in the South of England this weekend, Dubs at the Park!

Hosted by the London Thames Valley Volkswagen Club, the show is held in the lovely Berkshire with all types of VW's invited to this annual occasion. As always, we're excited to give our roaving reporter another outing, complete with a new radio so the team can listen to the sweet sounds of House music on the run down.

In terms of trade, the likes of Auto Glym, Hayburner & VW Heritage have been confirmed as traders and official sponsors of the event.

We will report at the week's end with our findings of Dubs in the Park but as ever, we hope to see you there.

See more about the event here:
http://www.dubsatthepark.co.uk/

Dubs of all kinds in convoy! - Courtesy of David Warren Photography

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Built vs Bought - The Showdown

Your desires are always the best ideas. You have an idea of how your perfect Bug looks, and all the girls to go with it. Reporters and enthusiasts desperate to take photo's or simply provoke thought to imitate one's ideas of making the perfect Bug.

How does it all happen of course? You could obviously source yourself a bare shell and get going. However, have you got the skills to make it happen, and even if you do, are they up to scratch? What's the budget look like for the project. £2k, £5k or £20k? Your budget is crucial to a successful project as you need to know where you can source the cheaper products and shell out for those 'wow' factors, the gripping features so to speak. Or do you purchase the cheaper kit that people know and love for the same effect? Time is a massive factor, you may only have 3 months before your deadline, everyday a long slog to complete the project with everyday you take minimal sleep and all nighters to get the car ready to your satisfaction. On the flipside, you could be in the category where some people have years to spend on their beloved Bug, with the time and certainly the peace of mind at your side.

The battle always wages on between a built vs. bought car.

Even still, you could source the complete article on eBay or at a show perhaps? If your budget is more than enough, I would certainly take this route and then you have a MOT ready car that's good to go. The time-frame is next to none. The underlying theme with Bug restoration is motivation makes the restoration. You need the vision and commit to the vision to make it happen. Realistically, if you had a £4k budget, you could spend £3.5k on a '66 or a '67 and then spend the remainder on changes to your materials and little nuances that set your Beetle out with the rest of the pack.

At least you can have your own ideas with a car you plan to build. McCartney was actually bought but had his own spin on it with interior changes and T-Bars.

We fall in to the deadline, small budget category. Our ethos at Caught the VW Bug is to find a Beetle that's cheap and restore him or her to a level that we're more than happy with and that's ready for people to put their own spin on. We're in a great position where we live and breathe Bugs. Although, this road is never, ever easy. Restarting in 2013, we originally decided on a road-ready car, or so we thought! Pay too much for something you think is perfect and the chances are that you may get a bit disappointed. Thus, we cut our teeth, learnt to weld and spray and alas, you're back in the game and building your own projects and making that dream come to life through wind, rain or shine just waiting for show season. It's not really about the winning, it's about giving the people that trailer their beloved projects a bloody good go and getting a good break. 

We will never be winners, but we will never be just there for the taking part. 

Whatever route you choose for your restoration, risk is always the way.

Bank Holiday - Complete

Welding. Sitrep

Saturday, that was a pile of rust! Look at the transformation!

Bank Holiday Monday doesn't just mean a day off from our tedious jobs and lives, but more so a day where we can get up at silly o'clock and have some good old fashioned fun. Usually, that means going to the beach, or simply day drinking in Whetherspoons. This weekend however, we at Caught The VW Bug slogged away working on our latest project, Jake Bugg. Beers included although so it was no scene from '12 Years A Slave'. 

Caught in the act

Welding new metal to a Bug is crucial to passing not only the MOT for the car, which is the little annual check-up most cars endure. An MOT for a classic car enthusiastic is a painful date in any diary as it requires us to worry if no parts have deteriorated over the past 12 months. ANYWAY. We got our hands down and dirty and I got the camera out to document the progress of the weekend. 

It was safe to say Saturday I was hungover, but Sunday nor Monday, I wasn't hungover at all! So as they say. Happy days. 

We managed to weld the whole of the driver's side Heater Channels, which acts as the structure for any Beetle chassis, also, the inside of the car had some treatment done to make sure the car is solid when it is ready!

A little bit helps, but evidently there are still holes in the chassis that need to be welded in.

Quick update as well, Jake has the date for his big respray day, 4th June! That leaves just 30 days, or rather a few weekends to get the car up to scratch!

Jake catching some rays with just a month to go before his new lick of paint.

 

Bank Holiday Madness

Well! What's in store for the Bank Holiday in the UK? Nights out? Hangovers?

Of course, but more importantly, it's the time we start working on project five, Mr Jake Bugg. The new recruit has been booked in for his spray on the 4th June and it's now up to us to get him structurally sound in time.

This is the first stage of Jake's restoration and we will be following his progress throughout 2014 with an update on the welding coming later this weekend.

In addition to Mr Bugg, Parker finally burst into life after several attempts at getting him started. The books we had referred to have been completely unhelpful as we needed to get the timing correct.

1,4,3,2? 4,3,2,1? 5,6,7,8? NUMBERWANG. So many combinations we tried but lo and behold, the team got him sorted. Now, it's up to finishing the timing to get Parker sounding sweet and finishing off the final details for Parker ready to get him to MOT in a few weeks. The 'Road to Recovery' series will be back, following Parker from his upholstery stage right up to checking Parker out of The Priory Rehabilitation Unit and sending him on his merry way.

It's a lot of work to be done, but this year is looking very, very interesting.

Come along for the ride!