My love affair with Volkswagen air-cooled cars started in 1962 when I bought a 1959 Carmen Ghia rag-top.  It had been mildly customized and had a beautiful Candy Apple Red paint job. The engine was stock. I remember cruising the drag (that was back in the days when it was allowed) and that little car turned heads. I always remembered the special feel of driving it and the sound of the air-cooled engine. It was just different from any other car I had ever driven. I eventually replaced it with a "muscle car", but somehow over the years I knew I would have to have another air-cooled VW.

In 1988 I finally realized my dream. I picked up a poor old 1975 Super Beetle. It had been sitting in someone's back yard for years and was about to become a flower box. I bought it and hauled it home. It was one sick puppy, and the only remedy was to rebuild it from the pan to the roof. After months of hard work it was ready for painting and putting back together. It had gotten it's rear end cut off and a Baja kit installed. The front end remained stock except for 3" wider fiberglass fenders and body de-chrome. I gave it a paint job consisting of five coats of Sienna Gold and five coats of Clear. All the glass went back in with Cal-look rubber and it got all new interior carpeting and fabric. I built a new 1776 cc engine. Mild cam, twin Baby Dellorto carbs. and some other mild tricks, nothing real wild. After four years of VW events and daily driving I decided to sell it, mainly because I couldn't keep the engine running. Something was always coming loose or breaking.

Soon after selling my 75 Super Beetle I realized that life wouldn't be complete without a Beetle. In 2001 my son-in-law picked up a decent 1975 standard Beetle for me. This one had a decent body and interior, but the engine was hopelessly locked up from sitting around. As I had decided to have a Baja Bug this time, I began preparing for major body work. At that time my son came home from Colorado and had a Porsche 914 engine in his trailer. He said that this engine would be great for the Beetle. As I didn't have a foggy hunch about this funny looking engine, I began what would end up to be months of research. Today the Porsche 914 is sitting pretty in the engine compartment of my "still under construction" Baja Bug. Its not a stocker either! The remainder of this Volkswagen section is devoted mainly to the Type IV engine and it's conversion and installation into a  VW Type I.