A 1975 Split Window Bus? Surely that can't be right...the last Split Bus came out of the Hanover  factory in 1967. At least that's what most VW Bus owners who've never heard of a VW "Fleetline" Bus will tell you. VW Fleetlines were made exclusively for the South African market (one year only -1975) at VW's Brazilian factory in Sao Paulo and shipped across the South Atlantic as "CKD" (complete knock down kits) .
This one, named Clara belongs to club member Carolyn Couch.

Over the years Dave Cantle has owned plenty of aircooled buses but I don't think he has experienced the comparative luxury of a Bay Window Westie. Let's see if the lure of extra room and creature comforts will turn his head. I give it a couple of years. <wink>

If you're a club member you'll know all about Mike Tudor's track record for restoring aircooled VW and the meticulous standards he sets for them. Just a quick scroll down the page will uncover his previous projects...all trophy winners. This is the latest in line for Mike's special treatment...it's a '66 Single Cab of Swedish origin having been sourced by friend of the club Owen Warlow. 

As of January 2010 the restoration has begun and in the coming months we'll keep you updated with Mike's progress.

As a KG owner myself I'm pleased to bring to your attention member Adrian Jurd's '69 Coupé. It's a cracking car to have as a first aircooled VW and the route to ownership has been a long one...here's Adrian's story.

The first Karmann Ghia that I had ever seen was owned by one of my old school masters back in 1972. I thought what a great looking car it was. I even drew some pictures of it in art class and used them as an example of my draughtsmanship at an interview at the Ordnance Survey. Unfortunately I was offered a job and have been at the OS now for some 35 years and had never seen a Karmann Ghia in all that time until I met Dave Cantle.  

So you can definitely say he has had a lot to do with my sudden interest in acquiring one. He showed me a few classic car websites that had Ghias for sale. I was amazed that they weren’t too badly priced as classic cars go. We found her on the Car and Classic website. I e-mailed the lady owner and Dave kindly came with me up to Leatherhead to give her a good look over. (The car I mean). He gave the car the thumbs up and we haggled a little and agreed a price. I’m sure I could have possibly paid a little less looking at Dave’s face but I was happy enough. I picked her up a couple of weeks later and have had a lot of fun with her over the last 18 months. My partner Julie thought I was going through a bit of a mid life crises but when I brought the car home and I had taken her out for a spin she was hooked as well.

She is a 1969 Coupe Californian import LHD with a replacement 1641 twin port engine; the original blew up on a trip from Miami to New York . She was imported in 1995 and has a full bare metal re-spray and restoration done by the Karmann Ghia Centre. The colour is now Beryl Green and Cream but was originally a pale blue colour. I am the third owner since she came into the country.

I have entered her in the concourse category at Stanford Hall for the past 2 years, knowing that she is not quite stock. (Free entry and parking decide that). It has given me a great insight as to what the standard should be though. I’m not too bothered really about perfection as I like her just the way she is, as I’m sure John Moxon would agree. I’ve also taken her in the St Georges Day Rally for the last 2 years organised by Chris Derbyshire at the OS which was also lot of fun driving round lots of country lanes.  

Unfortunately I have to keep her parked outside my house at the moment with a cover over her but I do have an offer of a garage to use in the near future, fingers crossed.

Hope to meet a few more members at one of the future meets.

This Porsche is particularly suited to a VW club website as it was the result of a collaboration between design teams from both companies in the late '60s. VW saw it as a replacement for the Karmann Ghia and Porsche as an affordable entry level to their sporting marque. This beautiful example belongs to long standing member John Beever and is seen at the 2009 Beech Buggin' Show on Southsea Common. Here's John's story of the car and it's looong restoration.

For all of you that knew (and those that didn't know) about my 914 project, then this last week has been very eventful. Thursday (13th Aug 2009) saw it leave the garage for the first time in a very long time, and off for an MOT test - which it sailed through.

The following Sunday was its first major outing - to the Beach Buggin VW show in Southsea where it was entered into the relevant class of the Show & Shine contest. I am very pleased to report that we came away with First place in that class, and a surf-board shaped trophy for the cabinet.

So its on the road at last, although I have a list of several small jobs still to do, but its great to be driving a 914 again after such a long break since the old red one was on the road.

For those interested in the technical stuff - it’s a 1975 1800cc 4-cyl 914 which came over from California in 1993. It was originally orange, was painted light metallic blue whilst in USA, and then its current Mauritius Blue shortly after coming to UK. It has a recorded 51500 miles but is slightly higher than that because it arrived with a non-working speedo. It has taken me so long to get it on the road, because apart from taking out the engine, gearbox and rear suspension, I have taken apart virtually every part of it, applied many litres of Dinitrol, and assembled it so that things are in the right place, the right way-up, and with the right fixings. The braking system has had a complete rebuild, much use of 2-pack caliper paint, and filled with silicone fluid. And much more besides !!!

Just to prove the club isn't all about aircooled VWs this is founding member Al Saunders' 1990 Mk II Golf GTI.

Sean Tubby's 1970 Panel Van has a colourful history, having been found by an American pilot and driven to the UK from Afghanistan in 2003. Sean was just 15 when he took ownership and has taken the last 5 years, (at the time of writing) restoring it to the high standard seen in the pictures. The story unfolds in the attached link, click here to read it in full.

This is Mike and Holly Tudor's '53 Oval. If you don't already know their spectacular '66 Canterbury Pitt Split Screen Camper you'll find pictures lower down this page. 
True to Mike and Holly's meticulous attention to detail this '53 is getting the "full works," stripped back to bare metal, with all signs of rot eliminated. The full body off resto is now well on the way to completion having just come out of the paint shop. 
Just a "simple" spanner job of putting it all back together, the car should be ready for the June 2009 Hessisch Oldendorf show in Germany. The club will have a few VWs convoying over to the show with Mike and Holly leading the way!

UPDATE
As you can see from the top 5 pictures, Mike & Holly's Oval has been transformed into a show winning car. It was completed on time for the 2009 Volksworld Show where it gained many admirers. On June 1st 2009 it made it's second show appearance at Stonor Park, Henley on Thames where it walked off with the prestigious concours rosette for the best unmodified pre '58 Beetle class, amongst a field of high class competitors. Click on the thumbnails for a detailed view.

John Moxon's Lowlight Karmann Ghia was imported from California in September 2007. It's one of those "one lady owner from new" tales which, in this case happens to be true. It was ordered by Betty Saarni in late 1957, taking advantage of VWs "USA Tourist" scheme, whereby you could order your car from your local VW dealer and collect the car from the Karmann factory in Osnabrück. Betty collected the car in April 1958, drove it through France and Germany for her month's holiday, with VW finally shipping the car to her home in Berkeley, California. Betty drove the car virtually every day for the next 49 years! John hopes he can prove to be a responsible owner for the next stage in the car's long life.
Update November 2009:
John's Ghia now has an extremely rare VW Shorrock Supercharger fitted (see above right) and can be considered pretty well unique. As far as we know there are no other Karmann Ghias running a VW Shorrock Supercharger anywhere in the world.

Laurence Downer's Empi Imp is based on a 1968 Beetle floorpan with a 1600cc engine. This is Laurence's second Buggy, the skills required to build the Imp having been learnt on the former. The pictures shown here were taken on a trip to Ryde Beach on the Isle of Wight for a "Volksworld" magazine photo shoot (featured in the May 2007 edition).

Trev Mouncey's celebrated Samba often gets a call for a special day.

These 2 shots are from a Forest photoshoot for a 1995 Volksworld front cover and feature.

A low angle shot to show off the Safari Windows.

Paul Jackson-Turner's SP2 is an extremely rare sight here in the UK. An official product of "VW do Brasil" it has a 1700cc VW Type 4 aircooled engine. Paul's SP2 is very probably the best in Europe, possibly the world and speaks loudly for Paul's restoration skills. He carried out all the body and mechanical restoration himself, the upholstery by Wessex Car Trimmers in Southampton.

Mike and Holly Tudor's beautiful Canterbury Pitt Camper is not just good to look at, it's practical too and has done the round of VW Shows for a number of years. It wasn't always as nice but such was its painstaking restoration it's featured in David Eccles definitive book "VW Camper, The Inside Story: A Guide to the Various Camping Conversions"

Joint owners Dave Cantle,
John Moxon & Trev Mouncey

A couple of pictures taken at a local watering hole.

A virtually unmarked original interior.

Neil Courtney's '73 1303S was a 2006 acquisition. It had been restored over a 3 year period by the previous owner to near stock configuration. The latest plans in progress for the car are a change in style to the Super Kafer Cup look.

Club member Anna Slydell and her family have a fine collection of vintage aircooled VWs. The 2 you see here are the family '59 23 Window Type 2 Samba and Anna's New Zealand '63 Beetle. It's interesting to note the NZ Beetles of this period were shipped to the South Pacific and constructed from Complete Knock Down Kits.

Trev & Dave share another toy. This time it's a '63 Guards Red Porker in great shape.

Just to prove it not only looks good but drives well also they took it on a little trip to Italy in May 2006. The event was the 31st International Porsche Meeting at Padova, Italy. The trip, on the way back also took in the Porsche Museum at Stuttgart in Germany (see the "SHOWS" page). 

Dave Cantle's '72 1200 Beetle was bought in the early eighties for £200 and the sun roof was a prize from Testwood Motors. It did have orange, yellow and red stripes in the 80s but thankfully it's recently been restored. The interior is all original complete with a Hoover rear screen heater. It's Dave's daily driver so if you're in The Forest and see it looming large in your rear-view mirror...MOVE OVER!