Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Unroadworthy

VB is just going to let the photos tell the story today. She wants to add that, this car is still "in use." She watched as it was being parked. Many cars in Cairo are unroadworthy, but this one takes the cake!




























NEWS:
From Guam: (Nice photos.)
Volkswagen enthusiasts: Friends restore Beetles to original glory

"It all started early last year when Lloyd Baker was handed his brother-in-law's well-used 1967 Beetle, which spent most of its life cruising the streets of Manila. The car had been in Baker's wife family since it was first purchased 41 years ago on Guam and shipped to the Philippines.

He decided to spend the money to restore the "daily driver" back to its original glory, Baker also inspired his friends Jose Cabarles and Jerome Susim to take on their own Beetles to fix up and display.

The three wanted their Beetles to be as close to original as possible while adding a few extra after market parts. All restoration work was to take place back in the Philippines.

The Beetles each had their accessories replaced, from door handles to lights and upholstery. Because of its unusual design, the restoration process is known as a "pan off" where the body of the vehicle is lifted off its base.

Cabarles' car, also a daily driver, received sheet metal replacements for the holes before it was painted Pacific blue."



From Nigeria:
Rickety Vehicles: Off The Road!
"This is the announcement:
From March, 2008, all rickety vehicles shall be cleared off Nigeria’s highways and prevented from ever getting back thereon.
Purpose: To restore sanity to Nigerian Roads
Enforcers: Nigeria Police, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).
Announcer: Federal Ministry of Transport, Abuja.

Yes, the vast majority of Nigerians drive and ride in very dangerous rickety vehicles, but do they go in those bad vehicles because they love to? Who is that Nigerian who will have the options of either riding in the gleaming air-conditioned cars of the bank executives or the SUVs of our state officials or in the 30-year old Toyota C20 bus or the weather-beaten Hitler-designed Volkswagen Beetle (yes, they are still on the Nigerian roads!) and he will choose the latter?" (You don't saay...)


From Jerusalem - A movie:
Cinefile: Docu fest...and Portman out of character

"...Yishai Orian's My Beetle, about a man who becomes obsessed with his VW Beeetle and searches for the car's former owners;...."

"Remember, these Israeli movies go all around the international festival circuit winning prizes and you can catch them here first (most are having their premieres at Docaviv). In upcoming weeks, I'll have more information about the festival, including guests and the international competition."


Seven Questions for Phil Patton

"2. You're the author of Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile. What was the most surprising Bug-related story/fact that you encountered in the process of writing the book?
My favorite Bug is the two-foot metal toy one I own, made in Africa mostly of Coca-Cola cans. The VW bug shapes and the Coke bottle shape are both global icons, which seem to have fallen from the sky, as in The Gods Must Be Crazy. Now Volkswagen wants to create another global icon with the up!"


Airhead Parts to host Vintage VW Car Show & Cruise April 6th – 12th

"Ventura CA, ( Livepr ) March 6, 2008 – Airhead Parts ( www.airheadparts.com ), the leading supplier of restoration parts for vintage Volkswagens (VW Bug / Beetle, Bus / Vanagon and Karmann Ghia) announced today that the 10th annual Treffen Vintage VW car show ( www.airheadparts.com/cruise.html ) will be held this year at the Ventura Harbor Marina on Spinnaker Dr in Ventura California. The show has been moved from its usual May date to Saturday April 12 from 7am to 3pm. The Vintage VW Cruise ( www.airheadparts.com/cruise.html ) will be leaving Ventura at 10am on April 7th, the Monday before."


A WOODSTOVE... IN A VOLKSWAGEN

"This idea isn't foreverybody, but it's helped one MOTHER reader keep winter's cold at bay."

"The job was pretty easy to accomplish, too. I simply discarded the front passenger seat (I don't run into that many hitchhikers out among the Gila monsters, anyway) ... lined the newly opened area with fiberglass . . . cut a few holes in the auto body for ventilation . . . bolted a small sheet-metal "ice fishing" stove to the heatshielded floor . . . and ran the stovepipe out through the side of the car, after which it was connected to a length of flex-pipe that I bolted to the vehicle's roof."

(Great photos and more information at the link)
A Custom VW


From jalopnik (always good and with great photos):
Volkswagen T3 Retrofitted For Wilderness Espionage


The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up




5 comments:

  1. I'd agree with you that a lot of cars in Cairo are unroadworthy, but i would say most of them are not 'unloved' like this one.

    What I found so amazing when we visited Cairo was how people did their upmost to keep their cars running. Although they didn't look good, they still looked cared for.

    Then again, one can't really spend much on a car if you're only earning 150 US dollars a month. Anyway that's the figure we were given don't know how true it is.

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  2. The owner of the Bug needs a beating.
    Poor baby Bug needs a hug.

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  3. elle: Too many VWs around here, but they keep them alive.

    Kaya: Yeah - I'm hoping it's a work in progress and not just a decline towards total destruction. It is in pretty bad shape - probably the worst I've seen so far.

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  4. Yishai Orian's movie- The Beetle - Trailer- http://youtube.com/watch?v=EtATh4k5iQo

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  5. yb39: Thanks for the trailer tip. The movie looks hysterical! I tried to find it on imdb with no luck, but maybe they'll have it eventually. I am looking forward to watching it when it gets more distribution. Again, thanks, that was a hoot!

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