Meet the Team: Lennon

"Imagine all the Beetle's, driving for today."

Meet Lennon. It's only natural that the naming of my cars after The Beatles has continued and this time, it's very, very fitting. 

McCartney went solo the other week and I'm sure he'll attend big events such as the Queen's 500th Jubilee and do just fine. However, living in the moment, Lennon has joined the team in the replacement of 'Daily Driver'.

Setting foot onto new territory. I'm glad he didn't piss himself or leak oil.

Why did I call him Lennon? I will explain the thought process:

• Numberplate letters are NYC, the place where we lost the great icon.
• Lennon's colour is lemon, similar sounding names there.
• His last owner lived on Abbey Road. 

THIS IS SO PERFECT.

There could be more variables somewhere, but I'm far too excited to truthfully think that deeply. I'm sure that more will pop up in future posts. 

ARRIVAL.

Lennon is a 1967 Bug, a 1500cc engine which McCartney had and what Jake's original engine was. Effectively, Jake and McCartney are loose relatives of Lennon and all three of my cars have been named after music stars; a coincidence mind you. He needs a little bit of work, but I'm so excited to get my hands dirty as soon as I can. I'm looking to get him on the road shortly, so if anyone wants a ride when he is ready please enquire within. (if you're reading and thinking unsavoury thoughts, shame on you.)

As Lennon is so similar to Jake's plan to be Cream, this does mean he will undergo a different colour in his respray, but that will all be revealed tomorrow. Therefore, I'm about 87.9% sure that I'm going to take the punt and stick some lime green interior in there to represent my quirks and outlandish style. It sounds a bit jazzy and it will probably look a bit jazzy, but believe me it will be a good one.

Lennon and Lime. There's another one.

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.

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!

Meet the Team - Parker

Meet Parker! He arrived passed out on a back of a truck in some fashion! Proceeding to block the whole road up while trying to wheel him in.

Poor Parker jumped onto the scene in December 2013 and is the first project for this year. After a heavy life near Brighton for several years, Parker has been inducted into the family rehabilitation unit to restore him back to his glory days of the 1970's and 1980's. Born in 1975, Parker has been nothing short of a wild animal living through the 1980's, the high amount of abuse has more than taken his toll on him, leading to his engine to blow up which was arguably Parker's rock bottom moment before his induction to rehab.

Parker is currently inducted into the 12-step programme and we will be documenting his progress next month. Parker luckily won't have to be talking about his troubles in schools as we had already done that as part of a college presentation which you can view here.
Also, Parker is a car and can't speak English (sorry kids). At the moment, Parker has since been given a brand new 1200cc engine which Parker originally had when he left the showroom in 1975. The 1200 model is the most basic of the Beetle range, with the 1500/1600 models completing the top end of the market. The rehabilitation programme has been more extensive than we had hoped, but all in all, Parker has taken to the 12-steps better than we expected with the aforementioned new engine, treating and filling in the rust holes with filler and also new metal which has been welded in by our team and also a fantastic respray, bringing the aesthetics back to life for Parker.

Next time, I will introduce you to our final team member, who is still lacking a name but is dubbed currently as 'The Silver Hornet'. This one, is less ravaged and is something more of a hidden gem with a fantastic history who will be travelling up to Stanford Hall this year for one of the biggest classic Volkswagen shows in the UK, along with McCartney or Doris. That battle however, has yet to be decided.

Meet the Team - Doris

Meet Doris, arguably the biggest diva of the group.This one is less powerful than McCartney, weighing in at 1300cc's which means a whopping 30 horsepower! Born in 1970, it has since seen a renaissance period as the pre-1972 era are now heavily sought after. Thus we felt the need to have a good attempt at restoring her as we bought Doris cheap at the time. Starting out as the 'ugly duckling' when we bought her, Doris quickly blossomed as it required very little work and therefore more time and effort could be spent on the aesthetics on the car, which included respraying the front of the body, a focus on overhauling the interior, especially the seats. The seats may look conventional, but these are super rare and were only made for one year, 1968. Marry the two up and you can deduce that these were nicked out of my car without me knowing by my dad... Terrific.

I have since procured some myself and I will show you the transformation later on in the month so we are now back on talking terms. 

Doris, when we first bought her in July 2013.

Looking mighty fine now!

Luckily though, the Doris rarely sees sunlight and doesn't move more than 50 feet each time and always lives in the garage, due to it being a summer car. This is something that I seriously do not agree with as cars should be used all year round, not just polished. Currently, Doris is lacking an MOT to use it on the road currently, despite being good to go. This means I can sleep easy and still take the plaudits for having a usable car. Plus, its engine is sounding something of a hybrid between a Ford Transit and a Peel P50 which does mean that work will need to be done on the engine before she is good to go for the fast approaching show season. Beside that though, it does look awesome with rare Cibie spotlights and other original period accessories.

Rare and original accessories really bring this project into its own.

Next time I will introduce you to Parker, our current running project that would love a new home when completed. 

A completely revamped interior to match the colour of the car.

Meet the Team - McCartney

Eastcourt House, East Grinstead, September 2013

This here, is my first car McCartney. A 1968, 1500cc VW Beetle and it's awesome! This is the first of 4 Beetles that we own and I will introduce over the coming days and just exactly what we plan to do with them. My family are currently in a prosperous time and our plan is to buy cars in need of TLC and sell these machines when they are all refreshed and restored to their former glory for someone to enjoy. We are aiming to go to shows and display our work much later in the year and from my perspective, be on location (if it makes it there in one piece) for new photo's and campaigning to place our cars in the national VW magazines. 

We bought McCartney in June 2013, all the way from Devon and needed a little bit of work before it was good to go. This meant a small amount of welding and general maintenance to the engine which happened to break down 3 times in an hour when we finally conceded defeat when it was first bought. It has too undergone a full, in-house respray with brand new and locally sourced paint. The interior, which I will show at a later date, has also been revamped from originally black to now a cream and red interior as well as a thumping loud Alpine sound system, which we had inherited when we had bought it.

I will be posting more soon, but I hope you like it and most importantly, spread the word!