We’ve seen numerous customer projects surface from the gates of Irv’s Resto Shop in recent years, but occasionally the talented team behind the doors finds the time to work on their own cars, too. This beautiful 1959 Porsche 356A coupé belongs to the

Email your rides, thoughts and opinions to volksworld.ed@kelsey.co.uk Ireland’s Glenn Williams is no stranger to VolksWorld. The radical creations he and his brother have created have always made you stop and look (check out your back issues from Sep

Do you have a burning desire to build your own car one day? Do you picture it, daydream about it, save pictures on your ’phone for inspiration for when that day arrives? I do. It’s mostly just a collection of ideas. The car itself is not set in stone

Not many of us are lucky enough to have grown up in families with parents who drove air-cooled VWs when they were new, but Erik Thorsen was one of the chosen ones. Not only did his father buy the 1960 Double Cab pick-up you see here in 1971, but he t

If, like me, the first time you saw a VW Kübelwagen was in one of those old World War 2 films on TV, they were always driven by the enemy, so you didn’t really mind if they crashed, or were blown up. They were almost all, as I was to later discover,

Having owned over 200 VWs so far, ranging from Barndoor and 23-window Buses to full drag cars like The Red Baron Fastback, Utah’s Cliff Witham is well acquainted with just about every style of VW out there. However, there was one car in particular he

Der Fieser Luftkühlers VW Club (DFL) was launched in 1998 and, in the time since, has grown to become one of the premier Cal Look clubs in Europe. Roughly translated, the name means The Fierce Air-Coolers, which is a pretty apt description of the car

In part one of this mini series last month, we looked back at the European VW scene in the 1980s, and how parts of it were influenced by what was happening in America, California particularly. This month, we up sticks and move to America and dig out

A large percentage of the Volkswagen model cars we’ve covered over the years in VW Toys have been produced in Germany in the 1950s. This is no great surprise, of course, as the Volkswagen is of German origin, and the ’50s were arguably its heyday. Ho

If you’re as old as me, you’ll likely remember the 356 Speedsters in Top Gun, Point Break and Doc Hollywood. But what’s the link between the Speedsters in all three blockbuster films? That’s right, they’re all replicas. I can clearly remember winding

It’s over 40 years since Jean-Marc fell into the VW ‘cauldron’. In 1982, he bought his first VW, a 1967 Beetle, then others followed, including Beetles from 1958, ’65, ’67 and a ’63 Cabriolet, which he still has today, but eventually he felt the need

It could be argued that Volkswagen buffs are nostalgic by nature. If you weren’t, you’d probably be reading magazines about the latest cars, rather than VolksWorld, right? Of course, that sense of nostalgia is nothing new. People have been reminiscin

Way back in 1988, a fresh-faced Simon Emery handed his notice to Ritchie King and decided to go it alone, renting the corner of a workshop in Maldon High Street. And so The Paintbox was born. Simon was soon joined by Shane Whitworth and the duo went

Some people follow, others innovate. That’s just the way it’s always been. Out of all the people who innovate though, there’s very rarely a completely original idea. We all take on board influences throughout our lives, and these permeate our conscio

VW Toys this month turns the spotlight on a very special pencil box produced by the A.W. Faber Company. The business was founded in 1761 in Stein, Germany by cabinet maker, Kaspar Faber, and, despite numerous expansions over the years, remained in th

The buying stage of a project is undoubtedly a dopamine high, but what comes after can turn into a nightmare full of heartache and broken promises. I gave a potted version of my own Westy project in my Border Patrol column last month, and yet more dr

There can hardly be a better pairing in the automotive world than Karmann and Volkswagen. Like macaroni and cheese, it’s almost as if they were conceived together. Unlike cheese (which had to wait a few thousand years for macaroni to show up), Karman

While VWs have been an integral part of the custom car world for decades, they still rarely mingle with the hot rod and custom car fraternities. Of course, some ‘get it’, but a lot still view them with contempt and derision. It’s a shame, as when you

Many cars hold a certain amount of sentimentality for people. With varying degrees of attachment, and for numerous reasons, we hold on to these lumps of metal and wires with a passion normally reserved for a loved one. So, when Spencer Pritchard lost

I remember the feeling Fabian had that day in the bookstore very well. I had a similar epiphany when I walked into WH Smiths aged 11 and discovered magazines with VWs in them. The feeling of eager anticipation we all had back then, waiting for the ne

Take a canary yellow 1970 Beetle, refurbish it with new wings, bonnet, decklid and valances from a ’65 model. Then cut the roof to fit a ragtop and paint the body bright green, enhanced with magenta and sapphire graphics. Sounds like a car that some