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!

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