Sgt. Pepper's Lonely: Lennon Heads Off to Respray

Thursday marked the day where Mr Lennon headed off for a respray to a local town not too far from where the secret base of Caught the VW Bug is.

You may think he is going for a total change of colour, as a few people have expected when I mention the term 'respray'. However, it is merely a touch up near the rear window and to remove the rust that is currently sitting there, making the car a right eyesore.

I can just imagine that Lennon is currently sitting in a bodyshop right now feeling pretty lonely, helpless, and worried about why there are a team of blokes probing his rear...

Lennon had headed off while I was finishing off at work, so I was informed of the antics as he was towed away. It turned out that the body shop were originally to drive it back to the bodyshop, albeit with no MOT, or seats. So we had to find a rogue seat in our garage to assist them!We envisage him to be back in around a week, I will be keeping you updated upon his arrival.

Guest Blogging on Classic Volks: How To - Upholstery: Recovering Those Pesky Seat Covers!

I'm super pleased to announce that my second post with ClassicVolks.com has gone live!

For any reader of Caught the VW Bug, you may know I like to keep anything tech based sweet and easy to read and this one is no different! I documented way back in the fierce winter about how you can recover your seats, which I did for McCartney and will be doing for Lennon once again later in the month.

Feel free to take a look at the post here, I'm very excited about such a small topic! ClassicVolks.com are now up to 485,000 fans on Facebook and recent claimed the award for the 'UK's Most Influential in Social Media' as rated by hirejungle.com, so the exposure to write for them is massive!

Here is the link!
http://www.classicvolks.com/blog/how-to-upholstery-recovering-seats/

Germany vs Brazil: World Cup of Bugs

Yesterday in the World Cup, we know that Germany dicked the hosts Brazil with a 7-1 victory, the biggest victory in any semi-final of the World Cup's 84 year history and the joint heaviest defeat ever for the Brazilian National Football Team.

Brazilian Bug

What's interesting is that the VW Beetle was produced in both of these countries throughout the lifetime of the Type 1, with Germany ceasing production of the Beetle in January 1978, following the Last Edition Beetle. Production carried on in Brazil until 1996, when they ceased to build the classic VW air-cooled engine after building Bugs since 1953 in Brazil.

We essentially saw two powerhouses in Beetle production (and football) come together to settle the scores and retain their reputation. Needless to say, Germany came out on top. After all, they built in excess of 15,000,000 Beetles out of the 21,500,000 produced with a solid 3,350,000 produced in Brazil.

Even in 2014, it's evident that the German built Bugs hold their own in terms of price and build quality, as cheaper products were used to build the Brazilian counterparts over in South America. The Brazilian (and Mexican) Beetles are widely regarded as less desirable, despite retaining that classic Beetle look, the true classics rolled out of Wolfsburg up until 1979. 

DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLES 

They didn't make any Beetles in Argentina nor Holland, so don't expect any more football based posts from me. Unless Germany win.

Lost & Found: Where is UKR 527H?

A new feature for you all while the car's are enjoying fanning themselves in the sun, drinking Pimms, and being spoilt rotten with new parts and accessories. I've named it Lost & Found, searching for those long lost Beetles that we owned over the years.

(Sidebar: I have MASSIVE, LIKE ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE DE JA VU RIGHT NOW.)

"You've been Tango'ed" always springs to mind when I think about UKR 527H. That big orange looking... Orange was my brother's Bug way back in the late 1990's and we sold the car around 2000. UKR is a 1970 which is registered under an H plate.

From looking on the records with the DVLA, I can see it is still alive with a full tax and MOT and is now re-registered as Yellow, but still on the road which is pleasing to see. Thanks to Data Protection, we're limited to fully knowing the car's whereabouts such as address, but it's awesome to see it's still running around the streets of the UK somewhere.

We are aiming to hunt the car down, not to buy it back but merely to admire and get into contact with the proud owner of UKR 527H.

If you know anything, feel free to email me at veedubdubdub@gmail.com, comment on the blog or send a pigeon my way!

Lennon #ProgressReport 2

Sick Bay.

As Baz Luhrmann said in that feel good song, "the race is long, and at the end of the day it's only with yourself." That certainly rings true with our projects although I'm pretty happy to say that Lennon is moving on at quite a rate of knots so far.

Lennon is currently in the sick bay as you may have already seen in my first Progress Report. Since Lennon arrived, we have worked on the following:

• Removed Engine
• Sourced problem with engine (Cylinder Head)
• Replaced Cylinder Head, this should eliminate the knocking                 

This week has been a long one, but my dad has had a little bit of free time to plug away at Lennon. Therefore, the tinware, which is the metal casing that sits around the engine once in the engine bay, has been removed and painted black to release the heat from the engine (I think... or that we just chose black, but a scientific reason is always necessary). This means the engine bay will look nice and neat.

In addition, the engine itself has had a bit of a clean, port, and polish inside and a little bit outside although that will have to be the next step before his life and soul is fitted back into the car.

Now, for an interior update. Remember "Lennon & Lime"? Well yes, we've retained the lemon paintwork on the outside and decided on lime green interior. I'm actually incredibly excited because this means Lennon will look absolutely nuts and will perhaps be the only car that can divide opinion, unless you drive a Corsa or KA then those battles within the working class will always wage on HOWEVER! This car because of its striking colour choice could easily be a catalyst for sparking a civil war within my friend group, Wetherspoons, or possibly the whole of the UK.

The door cards and seat covers have already been sent off to be made so the decision is made and we should see the covers arrive towards the end of the month.

If you think we're mad deciding on Lime Green interior, patience young Jedi.

I will be providing a weekend update next on Lennon with the rust holes repaired and any further progress on our schedule.

Plus, English apples are fucking awful... Eating one while I write was a bad choice.

I'm Not a Cult of Personality: Meet Me This Summer!

Caught The VW Bug is on a mini tour of the South of England throughout the summer months and you have the chance to meet me. The world's best stalkers have a golden opportunity to hunt me down unmarked, off guard, and defenseless to say what they need to say like "can I have a photo?" or "Can you follow me on Twitter because your Twitter presence is woeful?" at various big VW shows South side.

I will be attending the following shows over July & August:

13 July 2014 - London Volksfest (in Essex...) North Weald Airfield

20 July 2014 - Bug Jam 28 (with a MASSIVE hangover) at Santa Pod. 

31 August 2014 - VW Action upon a return to Santa Pod!
Any Given Saturday - My Local Wetherspoons

More dates may follow. 

I will be paying a visit to the guys over at Rothfink Industries at Bug Jam 28, who you may have seen featured on the blog as I am the latest blog writer for them, and I hope to get some photo's with the team!

Remember, you could meet me at anyone of these shows! I will be signing autographs from the front seat of my Bug at each venue and if you win our non-existent competition, you will win, depending on the budget, the following!

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone paperback signed by myself.
• The latest and hottest copy of the Mail on Sunday
• A pack of 10p Haribo
• A hug (only if you're not weird)                                       

I can confirm that I will not be having my own trade stand and I will be wearing a generic t-shirt bought from a shop, so I will be super easy to spot at some of the biggest Bug shows on the calendar. The chances of meeting me are perhaps an astronomical impossibility, yet the thrill of a challenge will be even greater!

See you there!

C.T

Recreating the Iconic Shot

Flashback to 1999, the end of the first era of Beetle restoration. Three Beetles and a Split Screen Camper faced the home their owners resided; the sun radiating off their roofs and looking glamorous all the while. In 1999, this seemed to be just any old photo that was taken in the midst of a summer's day.

However, this image stuck with me for many years as we'd dig out old memories from when we were young and looking at photo's of my family when I wasn't even born. I was very young when this photo was taken, around about four years old at that point and I'm not really sure why, but this photo stuck with me a lot. This photo was since used to show how our old fleet in my first ever blog post for Caught The VW Bug and also with my presentation I created for my college course this year.

You may be seeing just a photo, but this is an iconic shot that's been etched into my mind and resonated with me throughout growing up, happier times, and simple pleasures of life. That photo really responded to me in a way that summed all of those criteria up in a nutshell because owning Beetle's was something that we used to do when I was little and not now.

Although, when I started to get into the scene with the support of my family, who also got heavily involved and bought other projects, we'd finally have enough Beetles to do something I have always wanted. That was to recreate this iconic shot that meant a lot to me as we are arguably coming out of one of the toughest periods of life to grow up in and despite things still being quite tough, I am enduring one of happiest times of my life where I am doing something I love and could be proud to look back on at a later date or with my kids, much later down the line.

Therefore, I lined up our three best looking Bugs at this moment in time and took that shot, some 15 years later. Here was the result.