Volkswagen – Gripshiftslide

National VW :: Swap Meet & Show

Grant — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 10:04:51 +0000

When a bunch of Volkswagen’s get together, you know that a diverse range of people will arrive with them.
The show and swap meet was held this year at the Williamstown Maritime Association just near the main pier of Williamstown. With such a unique location, situated just on the waters edge, this show really made the cars shine.

Don’t be fooled though, the day wasn’t just for enthusiasts. It was also a family friendly day out with heaps of kids and of course dogs out and about enjoying the sunny atmosphere.

The variety of cars on show was huge to say the least, not to mention the amount of parts and unfinished projects that were up for sale.

This BUG was a true show stopper and with an almost Herbie style colour scheme and some summer decals, this was one phenomenal car.

Peering in through the window, this doesn’t look like a Volkswagen… but looks can be deceiving!

The Karmann Ghia coupe is one of the most sought after and collectible VWs. It has its own style and you can even see that hint of Porsche styling within the shape of this car.

Apart from the large collection of VW Beetles and Kombies, there were also a fair amount of type 3 Volkswagens on show.

This is not your average VW Beetle. With enough horse power to move a small planet, it looked truly intimidating. Everything on this car apart from the shell had been constructed just for this build and with the aim of going stupidly fast!

This wasn’t part of the show, but I found it lurking in the car park. I love kit cars, especially ones that are clubman style.

With the Sea Shepard’s “Steve Irwin” looking over the Swap Meet & Show, many people couldn’t help but take a closer look at the famous ship.

The one thing that VW owners know is character. Of all the modified and non modified cars we have seen none have as much character or are as individualised as older VW’s.

The Safari Kombie van is the slightly rarer version of the Kombie. However, in Australia we didn’t get too many of them and to see this one restored was a great sight to see.

This isn’t a VW obviously but Mini Mokes are a dying breed and it seems it’s the perfect run around for the Sea Shepard group. Check out its double canon exhaust setup! Plus its hardcore roll bars makes this little Moke ready for a fight.

What an impressive pillar-less VW custom type 3 coupe. Removing the pillar from this type 3 makes it look much cleaner and puts a new spin on an old favorite.

Some seriously beautiful pipe work here and a monster turbo to match! Love the side by side exhaust and screamer pipe set up.

All kinds of parts were on sale with these speedo’s catching my eye. Parts for these cars are getting so rare that anything in working condition is desirable.

It’s those individual touches that make VWs special. People add the most unique trinkets to their cars which adds real personality to them.

Stephen’s Notchback was looking amazing as usual! Such a clean ride with a great set of wheels to match.

There were lots of Kombies on display and even a few on sale. They are becoming the most prized VW and have seriously gone up in price over the last 5 years.

Not as popular as the Beetle but just as nice is the 1968 Notchback which has the advantage of being just that little bit lighter than the Beetle.

With so many parts and engines for sale this swap meet provided a haven for collectors. It gave restorers a good chance to source that hard to find part needed for their project.

The show had a rather early start so most people disappeared around midday for lunch. Yet there still were a few die-hard VW fans checking out the remaining cars.

There is always one in a crowd that sticks out! Rossko’s 1600 Squareback certainly does that! We first spotted this car at the Hanging Rock Car Show and may even feature it in the future.
The day was full of great cars and fantastic people. The Volkswagen community is growing with every year! With many of the members traveling interstate for this very show it truly represents their passion for these wonderful cars.
Thanks for looking,
-Grant

VW Cruise :: Melbourne's Euro's Come Out To Play

Grant — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:16:39 +0000

Recently I attended an early morning starting point for a local Volkswagen cruise through the hills, the meet point was only 10 minutes from home so I had no excuses not to rock up and take some snaps.
Except it was at 7:30 in the morning, on a Saturday… and I had a wedding to get to!! This did not deter me though.

The boys and girls from VW Golf.net.au are a dedicated bunch.
I arrived at 7:30am sharp and nearly 15 cars were there already. They were all looking very shiny, full of fuel and ready for a day of spirited driving through Melbourne’s hills and the Yarra Valley.

Being a VW Golf forum the cruise consisted of mostly, you guessed it… Golfs!!

Now I’ll admit I’m quite sheltered when it comes to Euro’s and modified cars outside of Japan, so combine that with my still sleeping mind on an early Saturday morning and I was aimlessly taking photos left, right and centre.

Shoot first, ask questions later!
I found out this is the second generation Golf, the quad headlights are a giveaway that this is the GTI model.
Another hint here is the Neuspeed badge on the front, things are not exactly standard here.

Nicely lowered on some aftermarket alloy wheels.

Aside from the VW’s there were quite a few intruders, none of which were as menacing as Todd’s Skoda wagon!

This is certainly a car I haven’t taken much notice of before, partly because I’ve never seen many on the road.

The facelift Octavia is really quite an attractive car, I would definitely consider one of these as the run about car.

While continuing around my aimless wander through the car park I kept returning to “BFLAT”.

This superb little GTI was the star of the show, sitting very low and cleaning the streets as it goes!

The car is a massive testament to keeping it simple. With the right wheels, a well placed sticker or two and of course the right ride height.
Nearly any car can be transformed into a neck breaker!

This car gets a lot of love, the inside was spotless!

The wheels are of course Ronal Turbo’s, quite a rare sight around our side of the world.

This is the latest generation Golf, the MK6 Golf R. Compared to the previous version it is little bit smaller with a much more aggressive looking set of headlights.
I absolutely love the new look, with another version due to be unveiled later this year I’m excited to see how it looks.

The second generation Audi S3, don’t let the 4 rings on the grill fool you.
At the heart of this machine is actually a Volkswagen 2.0L turbocharged engine.

Looking into the distance you could have been forgiven if you thought the sun was rising awfully quickly this early in the morning, as it got closer it was in fact a bright yellow Renault Megane RS!

As bright as the sun and nearly as hot, this little hot-hatch packs quite the punch!
With 184kw at disposal thanks to the turbocharged 4 cylinder engine, this FWD Renault would be an absolute blast to drive!!

Being unfamiliar with the euro scene, anyone care to enlighten me on these plates?

So after taking a few photos and having a quick chat, I let the boys get on with their cruise and headed home to quickly suit up and get to the wedding.
Hopefully next time there is a cruise I won’t be required to attend a wedding by another inconsiderate friend 😛
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.

Scrapin' Dub :: MK1 Golf

Grant — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:12:29 +0000

This is the story about George and his first true love… The Volkswagen MK1 Golf.
The story started when George was just 15 years old, clicking away on Ebay he stumbled across a less than desirable example going for a low price.
A few bids later and $1800 out of his savings, George and his father made the trip up to Sydney with a borrowed trailer to collect the car.
The 2000km round trip was done in one day without any sleep!!

Why a Golf, you ask?
George spent a part of his life growing up in South Africa, over there the MK1 Golf is one of the most common cars on the road, with local production continuing till 2010!!
After moving to Melbourne, George never saw any older Golfs on the road. With that in mind when the time came to get a car and get his learners license, he knew what he needed to do if he wanted to be different. So while other kids at school got old Holden’s or Ford’s he held out for that special car he just couldn’t forget.

The first thing to happen to the car was general maintenance and getting the thing running and his bigger hopes and dreams for the car would have to wait until he had more cash.
As you can imagine working part time while finishing high school doesn’t exactly make you rich and can leave you feeling pretty burnt out and exhausted.

When the car first arrived home in Melbourne it didn’t even start and was plagued by wiring issues, being only 15 years old George wasn’t exactly mechanically minded.
What he lacked in skills he made up for with enthusiasm and motivation, taking things apart and figuring it all out as he went along.
Soon the car was running and George drove the car around on his L’s for a short time before he got sick of the car and the ugly body kit it came with.

George started to piece together his vision of the car, after a lot of saving he could finally afford to remove the body kit and also managed to change the headlights from the quad lights back to the cleaner twin lights.
While saving for the ‘freshen up’ he found a set of euro chrome bars. These things are very rare to find and even harder to find as straight as the set George picked up.
In the process of removing the kit, he discovered the paint had seen much better days, so he counted the rest of his cash and decided to paint it.

After talking with his friends he managed to convince a mate to help out and do a backyard respray, this saved so much money that George could also afford a new motor as the original 1.6l engine was getting very tired!
He sourced a much newer 1.8l engine from a MK3 Golf and a 5 speed gearbox. The new engine also came down from Sydney just like the car!

During the engine conversion George got stuck into the engine bay cleaning it up and sanding it all back, he then sprayed it all at home by himself.
The car was really starting to come together. When the new motor was in, he added a 32/36 Weber carby with dual throats. All of this helped transform the sluggish car completely, only weighing around 800kg the car now had plenty of ‘zip’.

George was now 18 and ready to get his probationary license, as a reward for himself and the car he decided it was time to finish the picture…

He picked up some ST coil overs and a set of widened ‘steelies’, then stretched some rubber over the wheels.
The car was then slammed as low as it could go and he has never looked back!

Over the years that George has owned this amazing car, he has been meet with smiles everywhere the car goes.
People just seem to be overwhelmed with the little orange car, whether it’s at car meet with like minded enthusiasts or down at the local shopping center with regular people staring in awe of it’s presence.

Now of course not everyone is a fan the Golf. Local law enforcement haven’t exactly agreed with some of the things he has done to the car.
Just a few weeks before we meet up with George for this photo shoot, he had to clear a defect which meant changing the ride height, wheels and removing his roll cage.

It takes dedication and sheer stubbornness to drive a classic car like this, then modify it to the point in which it has absolutely no creature comforts like the ability to absorb even the smallest of bumps on the road!

Some of George’s favorite destinations on the web, I’m sure it won’t be long after we post this feature until we see a ‘GSS’ sticker on the back…

We had to keep stopping the shoot as more and more people came through the alley way, they kept stopping to look at this intriguing little car.
After I had all the shots I needed and said my goodbyes, I left George and his friends with a bunch of photographers doing wedding shots in the alley, the bride did a couple of poses with the car!

Now the car does have some imperfections around the body, but that only adds to the story and character of this wonderful little car.
How many of us have purchased and maintained our own car since the age of 15? Not many, I’m sure!

It really is low, what you can’t see here is the sump actually sitting on the pavement!

So much has happened to the car while George has owned it. As he has grown up, so has the car.

Nothing a band-aid won’t fix!

George and his mates really got to work with some sharpies on the front fender, this sort of car graffiti is becoming more and more popular with many different styles floating around.
This is some of the most intricate and complete sharpie panel art I have ever seen, months after the shoot I find myself still discovering new characters and elements on the fender!

The bike isn’t just for looks, George is a big fan of BMX and has also just acquired a Huffy Slider!

I really hope you have enjoyed reading about this great little car and the story of how it came to be.
As we post this feature, George is busy restoring another MK1 Golf! This time its a white one rolling on some BBS RS Wheels!! We can’t wait to see how it comes together.
Thanks for reading,
– Gwyn.P.S. Here is a short mod list of George’s build.
– ST Coilovers
– Widened Steelies 14×8 +10
– Tyres; 165/60
– Bride seat with custom bracket
– MK3 egine (1.8) with 5speed
– Whiteline lower stress bar
– Whiteline Front anti roll bar
– 4Point roll cage/half cage (not in due to defect)
– GTI vented front disc’s with bigger brake carriers
– Bigger brake booster with upgraded master cylinder
– Weber 32/36 carby

– Bigger alternator (very helpful in a old car)
– MK2 dashboard and console