Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Funkengroovin - News

What can you buy in Egypt, that you can't in the U.S?

Wheels: America Won’t Get VW Scirocco
"The Volkswagen Scirocco, a sporty coupe that’s been a huge hit in Europe, won’t be coming to America in the foreseeable future, said Klaus Bischoff, VW’s head of design."

(Below): The new Scirocco. Photos taken at the local VW dealer in Maadi, Cairo, Egypt.






TeeVee:

Currently on here in Egypt, and anywhere Discovery is available via Orbit, Discovery Channel's latest segment of Overhaulin has: "That`s All, Volks!
Like all VW fanatics, Hot Dog Fred has nothing but love for his old Microbus. But after Chip and the team work their magic, he may fall in love all over again.
Ara subtitles (R1) "

These are repeated throughout the week, and it's best to consult the Orbit schedule for times in your area.



NEWS:


New Zealand: 'Veedub' fans take the cruise

The Cost of Going Electric
"A St Petersburg, Florida company -- Rebirth Auto, LLC -- is advertising on EBay a kit that will allow you, with some labor and a few bars of angle iron for the battery racks, to convert the original VW 'Beetle' into an electric car...."

Randy Kraniak revels in his propane-powered antique cars
"On his property, behind Kraniak’s house, there is a playground of sorts that seems to not only fit his sensibilities, but his 10-year-old son Walker’s as well. In the yard you can see a 1967 red Cadillac convertible, outfitted to run on propane, or even a 1974 VW bug with an extended dash, red, and also outfitted for propane."

from VW Trends
Black Gold, Texas Tea: Synthetic Oils and What You Need to Know; Slow Lane: Taking Life Easy in a '58 Vert';
What Kind of Engine Can You Really Afford?

A century of people's cars

Five Guilty-Pleasure Cars That Are More Fun To Drive Than You’d Expect
"VW Beetle: Forget the New Beetle, I’m talking about the original people’s car. It’s slow, its weight balance is all wrong, and it sounds like a blender full of clam shells, but driving a Beetle is fun–certainly way more fun than it should be."

Frank's bus goes to a good home; its first (4/9/09)
"My VW bus is headed back to Germany. I said goodbye yesterday in the parking lot of South Coast Plaza, where I met with the German couple who'd paid an ungodly sum for this thing I rescued it nearly a decade ago from an alley in Lompoc for $500."

Nickelodeon Theatre founder delivers a touching tale in new book
"Part homespun diary, part travelogue and part history lesson, “Letters to Zerky,” is a fascinating, lighthearted and touching tale. In 1967 Bill Raney, local resident and founder of downtown Santa Cruz’s venerable Nickelodeon Theatre, undertook an adventure of behemoth proportions. Along with his wife JoAnne and their infant son, Eric Xerxes (thus the nickname Zerky), Raney set out from San Francisco on the ultimate road trip—across Europe, the Middle East and Asia—in a Volkswagen bus. The trio bravely crossed mountains, deserts and oceans, and the couple captured their harrowing experiences in a series of letters written to their young son, so that he could later relive the around the world adventure that he was then too young to contemplate.

Tragically, Zerky died only a few years after returning from the trip and the letters became “lost”—stored away at the Raney residence for more than 30 years."

Every day he gets to use his 'Magic Bus'
"Over the past eight years or so, this column has featured modes of transportation ranging from a 1969 Jaguar XKE convertible to a 1948 Buick roadster to a horse called Popeye. This week, I landed my first Volkswagen bus. Finally."

Bristol couple start VW camper van wedding hire business

COFFEE WITH: Part of history
"South Burnaby resident Gregg Harris doesn’t have any trouble remembering where he was on July 20, 1969.

He and his wife Barbara were in Uganda in Murchison Falls National Park, living out of their Volkswagen camper van during a two-year trek around the world."

PHOTO: VW Celebrates 30 Years Of Transporter
"The T3 Volkswagen Transporter is celebrating its 30 th birthday this year. At the world`s biggest showroom of classic cars, “Techno Classic”, which is held in Essen from April 2 until 5, Volkswagen`s stand will entirely be dedicated to the T3 transporter."
Photogallery here .

Is that patchouli burning in my bug’s engine?

Volkswagen California road test
"The California is the modern incarnation of the classic VW camper. "


General Auto News of Interest:
Chrysler includes Fiat 500 in New York auto show debut

The surf set gets a new ride
"The silver cocoons of summer could be targeting a new market. Airstream Trailers, noted furniture designer Republic of Fritz Hansen and Mini, an arm of BMW, are teaming up to build a special trailer/car combo that could have the designer cognoscenti making reservations at the nearest campground.

The project will make its debut at the upcoming Salone del Mobile show in Milan, Italy, and will run from April 21 to April 30 .

It combines three icons of style, the new Mini Cooper Clubman S, a smaller version of an Airstream trailer and the trailer's interior design ..."

Help Fill The Autopia Fantasy Garage
"You knew it would happen - someone has turned the age-old parlor game of picking your money-no-object fantasy cars into a Facebook app. It's always fun to fantasize about the fleet you might assemble if you win the Lotto or hit a jackpot in Vegas, but too often the lists are a bit, well, predictable.
Consider the "Cars I Want In My Garage" app that LivingSocial put together for Facebook. Lots of Ferraris, Porsches, the occasional Bugatti Veyron or McLaren F1. Nice cars, those, but no real surprises. And it isn't like LivingSocial knows cars and we don't. We see this as a challenge.
So, with no further ado, we're filling the Autopia Fantasy Garage with five eco-conscious cars and inviting you to play along."
Go to the link to submit your photos, as well.

And the World Car of the Year Is...
"The sixth-generation Volkswagen Golf edged out two other fuel efficient cars to be named World Car of the Year, while the Honda Clarity FCX hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and Nissan GT-R were named the cleanest and meanest cars on the planet."









2 comments:

  1. I recall ads for a car by that name years ago in the US, I don't recall if it was a VW or not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Say '75 until sometime in the mid-'80s? I'm not exact on the dates, but know for sure around 1977, as a friend owned one, and we drove to Cleveland, OH from Cincinnati in it. It was definitely a VW.

    ReplyDelete