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Eircooled | Issue 1 | february 2013 www.eircooled.com

Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com

Welcome to the first ever Eircooled Car Club Newsletter. We are very proud of our club and although most of our activity happens in our playroom, the forum, we have had to come to the realisation that not everyone who is a paid up member has internet access or even has the time to logon to eircooled.com which means there is disparity in what happens. This newsletter will hopefully go some way towards bridging the gap between website based users and non website users. After all, we all have a shared passion and are all members of the one club.

History Lesson

So what have we got in this newsletter? Well, for one, we’re going to have a look at some of the most memorable cars to come to light in 2012 as well as highlighting some of the current projects people have on the go. There are two cars that we simply have to show you, one will simply blow you away with the history it holds, right back to day one when this Type 3 Karmann Ghia left the dealership in Dublin in 1968. The second car is simply daft. It’s an insane car and we can guarantee you that you haven’t seen one in the flesh at your local show. The Tatra is full of wacky styling and oodles of patina. We love it! We’ll have a review of some of the shows that happened in 2012 and despite the weather not being on our side we had a good turnout at most shows and if performance is your thing then you need to meet Britt Grannis, who is a club member whose right foot is firmly planted into the floorpan of his Karmann Ghia. Why not check out his record breaking salt flats run. With an invitation to take part in drag racing events, salt flat runs and the number of new projects about to hit the road 2013 is looking great already! Happy reading! PS: If you would like to submit something for the next issue (article, show report, photos, or have your car featured etc.) please email [email protected]

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Here is something that proves that gems are still out there. When shows are full of ZV registered cars we can easily be fooled into thinking that all of our Irish registered cars have gone to the scrapyard in the sky but Wexford native Michael Higgins has proven that theory is so not the case. He has unearthed not only a rare car, correction, a seriously rare car but one that has a paperwork file to make any historian weak at the knees.

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Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com

The car itself is a Type 3 Karmann Ghia or Razor Edge Ghia depending on your persuasion. The model itself was launched in 1961 at the Frankfurt Motor Show and was well received although the price tag was not in its favour. The most expensive car in the VW fleet and when compared to the comparatively priced Porsche models its performance didn’t match and therefore sales figures were low. On the upside, the most luxurious and highly spec’d VW is now a proper collectors piece. In fact, the majority of collectors seeking out quality Type 3 Ghias are not generally VW enthusiasts but are generic classic car enthusiasts who appreciate the bold lines and striking design features of the Razor Edge. Add to the mix that the factory

only produced a smidgen over 45k cars within the eight years production run and you should see that Michael’s Karmann Ghia is possibly one of the rarest VWs in Ireland. Apart from the facts and figures making Michael’s Razor Edge a rare beast it’s the history that sets it apart from everything else we have seen before. He can literally trace the car back to the day it first hit the road. Built in late 1968 the Ghia was a special order model being a 1600cc automatic with electric sunroof which is one of only three, possible four Type 3 Ghias sold new in Ireland. As Michael says, it has changed slightly over the years, “the car was originally white with a black roof and black interior. The long term plan will be to return to that combination but

for now it will be driven as it is and worry about any paint flaws later”. Registered on December 12th 1968 to a Peter Odlum who was the Managing Director of one of the most familiar company names in Ireland; Odlums Mills. This was to be his company car and even when he retired in 1974 he took the car with him. The car stayed in loyal service with Peter Odlum until his death in 1983 but the Ghia was not sold, instead staying in the garage for another three years at which time Peter’s neighbours in Blackrock, the Fenning family purchased it. The Fenning family clearly loved this Ghia as much as Peter did as they kept the car for a staggering 22 years. Within those years the family moved around the world quite a bit and they

took their Karmann Ghia with them. In 1990 the family moved to South Africa where it served them well for the four years they were there. Next up was another container trip for the Karmann with Egypt being the destination however due to the Egyptian law of not allowing anything other than LHD vehicles to be licensed the Razor was given a two year hiatus. Goodbye Egypt, hello Cyprus and now back in action on the road again the Cypriot sunshine helped preserve the usually rust prone T34 model. After a short stint in Cyprus the family moved once more, this time to England which was home until, twelve years after loading the Ghia into a container, it came home. At some point in 2002 the original paintwork was seeing better days and in an effort to preserve their treasured posession the Fennings treated their old friend to the paint scheme you see here after carrying

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out some rust repair. After three more years of faithful service the Razor was put into storage in 2005. That’s where it stayed until Toirleal O’Dubhlainn bought it in 2008. Toirleal actually used it as his daily driver until this year when he felt the time was right to sell it on

due to a lack of storage. For anyone that knows Michael Higgins knows he is Ireland’s biggest Karmann Ghia fan so it’s only right that he is the now very proud owner of what has to be Ireland’s rarest Karmann Ghia.

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Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com

Czech it out... PART 1:

I have an incurable affliction; anything that can transport a man, woman or child from A to B in style leaves me weak at the knees. In particular, the right car can make me stop and stare at ten paces if it’s got drop-dead gorgeous curves, or the noise from its exhaust sounds like a banshee on a shot of petrol-fume steroids.

aircooled cars led to a searching out of other model types that embraced the same layout and motivation. It was easy enough to read about and discard some variants (thanks, Ralph Nader) but one spicy variety from another European manufacturer caught my eye – the Tatraplan T600. Right the hunt was on…and after about twelve months the hunt was back off

Maybe it’s just the pillow-talk moment when it’s at rest and I’m listening to the gentle ticking of its engine as it cools after a hard run…bliss. For me, I’ve always been drawn to the curves of fifties era cars, with their designs influenced by the new world optimism after the World War and unhindered by later safety legislation. While manufacturers from the US focused on adding fins and sparkling chrome to their cars to mimic the emerging jet age, most European manufacturers took a slightly different approach. They wanted to produce a car that would be aerodynamic, light in construction and would go around corners (as opposed to cruising around shopping malls and going in a straight line as quickly as possible down the quarter mile). I subscribed to this idea by scraping the funds together at the age of twentythree to buy a Porsche -not quite from the fifties at the time (even though its original design stretched back to then). This purchase sat on a bedrock of VW Beetles and Ghias that stretched back seven years previous and I guess all this time of driving rear-engined,

again. I was focussing the hunt on the circa 1950 Tatra T600; prices for the earlier T87 had gone stratospheric and the later T603 would scare too many children if I ever brought one home. Problem was where to find one? It was never officially exported to the US or the UK, so the usual sources were effectively written off. Portugal got one export so probably not the best place to start either… I began browsing Central European websites and occasionally came across the odd lead that usually led to a dead end. Plenty of T603s available but no T600s to be seen in decent condition. I had just about given up on the idea when, out of the blue I came across an old feature on Bring-A-Trailer about a car that was up for sale in Canada along with a big cache of parts. The owner hailed from British Columbia in Canada and apparently had it in the same family for years. Even though the US never got any official imports Canada did get 168 for some strange reason only best known to men wearing ushankas. I was too slow on that occasion but as it turned out, it was Randy Carlson of Oldbug fame that had snapped it

up. He had bought it for himself with the intention of getting it back on the road so he had kept it for a year or two, doing a little bit here and there to it. He used the spare parts car to outfit any missing bits on the main car, stuck a set of 17” Escras on the front and turned a few heads at VW Classic in 2010. I agreed a sale with Randy in mid-2011 and then spent a tortuous eighteen

1950 Tatraplan

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T600 months trying to sort out a Title and then ship car and all of its cache of parts home. It finally arrived to Galway in August 2012, a 1950 T600 that proudly took up residence next to a few other aircooled brethren that were waiting patiently for it. First impressions? Worth waiting for, it commands unyielding respect in the garage and now appears to stand watch over its younger upstart siblings, just daring them to put a foot out of line…

Padraig Kelleher (kvinyl)

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Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com

Oxo 2012 If you’ve never been to Oxo then we wholeheartedly recommend you add it to your 2013 show calendar!

If you were out and about in the Lurgan area over the weekend of May 12th-14th 2012 you probably saw quite a number of extremely well turned out VWs heading for the annual Oxo Show which is held at Oxford Island, Lurgan on the shores of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. Northern Beetle Owners Club (NBOC) organises and run this event which originated as the clubs inaugural meet shortly after its formation in 2000. Now in its 12th year it has now grown into Northern Ireland’s largest aircooled show, now running over three days. Over the years camping and the family friendly atmosphere of the campsite more so lead the NBOC to move the entire show to the camp site. This change of venue has made what was already a very chilled out show into an event or gathering

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of what feels more like family getting together around a BBQ than a show. Eamon Winters was one of the Friday arrivals who has supported this show for many years. His Karmann Ghia looked striking with his Eriba Puck in tow and was our Eircooled representative for the weekend. Chris Kerr was determined to have his Ruby Red steel sunroof Beetle at the show despite the body only arriving ack from

the paint shop two days previously but he spent those two days frantically bolting everything back together and he managed to get the car there against all the odds. Richard Brown arrived on Sunday with his freshly restored 1303 Karmann Cabriolet after spending the last few months in the garage. Jim McCallum brought along his ’67 1500 which he has owned for 17yrs but this year it’s sitting closer to the tarmac

thanks to a lowering over winter. Prizes were presented but the public were asked to vote for their favourite VW with the emphasis being on their favourite VW and not necessarily the best on show which I think is fair especially for a family focussed event like this. One such prize winner was Russ Owens for his Cyber Green 1966 Split Screen Bus.

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Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com

For those of us old farts, it’s hard to think that the Limerick Show was 20yrs old in 2012. The old Beetles Reunion has come a long way!

Limerick show 2012 10

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Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com

2012 was the year of the Oval window Beetle with RestoCal to Cal Look to any old look, they were there. Wayne McCarthy brought along his Fendered ’57 and no surprise won Best of Show. Parked beside Wayne’s Oval was Diarmid Doody’s bagged Oval and beside that again was Eamon McEvoy’s ’56. Michael Higgins from Aircooled Technology and his son arrived in a fresh Type 3 Squareback, the only Type 3 at the show too. A recently painted Trekker with chromed EMPIs popped in the sun. The VW Spares team made an entrance with Tom Roberts arriving in his Bay while Jon White drove his T25. Davey McCarthy’s Samba and Darren Harris’ 13 Window Split Buses won prizes and were deserved winners. Liam Cummins’ Late Bay was the chill out zone for the day for many Eircooled folks as his awning provided the perfect shade. Our own DJ Kev entertained the troops for the day with the decks set up at the side of his Bay Window.

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The Williams Brothers and the Limerick Classic Car and Vintage Club can certainly hold their head up high as the 2012 Limerick Show was a great success, but then again, we weren’t surprised as they always pull out all the stops to make it a memorable show. They even go as far as booking the sunshine! Sunburn all round for every Eircooler! Eircooled cars in attendance were Eamon Winters with his lovely Karmann Ghia. Alice Gervin rocked up with her RHD 1302LS Cabriolet which is a rare beast, especially in RHD format. The Limerick Show seemed to be sponsored by Oval Window Beetles in 2012! Graham Cullen’s ex-Volksworld featured RHD Resto-Cal Ragtop which was parked beside Brian Maher’s exUltra VW cover car and beside that was Tsar Sheane’s ground scraping, chromed Fuch wearing Resto-Cal Oval.

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Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com

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Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com

Bonneville Ghia

This all started last November when I was talking to Ronnie, Matt, and Geoff Hart in Havasu. We’d just set the record for the First Air-cooled VW into the 130 Club at Bonneville 2 months prior and were bench racing. I’d sold the Ghia and was planning on running something different when Matt asked why I didn’t want to run the 150 mph club this year. My answer was “ it will cost too much for me”. It would require a greater entrance fee, a roll cage, and a racing suit, I just didn’t have the money. Well Matt chimes in a “ I bet we could get some of the guys to toss in $ 200 each to get you an entrance fee covered”. Then another friend “ Chucky” arrives at Matt’s house ( It’s about 10:30 pm) and Matt says “ Hey Chucky didn’t you just put a roll cage into a Bug a few weeks ago”? He says

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yes and Matt asks “ how much were the parts”? About $750 answers Chuck. “ How would you like to donate the labor ( another $750) to install one in Britt’s Ghia”? No problem says Chuck! We talk some more and Matt asks Chuck “ Hey, how would you like to donate the cage and install it into Britt’s Ghia”? Sure comes the reply !!! ( I swear that this wasn’t the copious amounts of Beer consumed by Chuck talking). I instantly offer Chuck the opportunity to race the Ghia at Bonneville, which he gladly accepts. That is how racing in the 150 mph class began. While I was in Ireland over Christmas I found a 1969 Autostick Ghia for sale in Concord, Calif. It had been sitting for over 10 years and it was cheap! I bought the car via email and had my good friend Mario pay the deposit. I

had to wait 2 weeks before I got home and could pick it up. It was tan and had no interior so it was a perfect car to make a race car. I brought the car home and steam cleaned it and got the screwdriver out and dug about 4 pounds of bondo off of the doors and drivers rear and passenger front wings. Oh well it wasn’t going to be a beauty queen and I could fix most of the bad work. The drivers rear wing had been replaces earlier in it’s life and as with all Ghia’s it seems the nose had been punched. I hooked it up to a tow bar and towed it back down to Lake Havasu City in Arizona for Buses by the Bridge in January and left it for Chuck to install the roll bar. I picked the Ghia up in June and took it home and started the body work. I was told by Burly Burlile that the car needed to be

a bright color so it showed up well on the salt for magazine pictures ( not that I believed that 2 years in a row it could be chosen for a mag) and I wanted to paint it Black. Yellow with a Black racing stripe with Flat black front bonnet ( to reduce glare off of the Salt early in the morning when I like to run because of the dense cool air and no wind). With the car painted and the Tach, 150 mph Speedo, and drivers seat installed I drove to Havasu towing the Ghia on a trailer for the first time because it had my Goodyear frontrunner tires on it. Now this was the week before Bonneville and we still had to wire the car, install the engine and 5 point seat belts and install the drop spindles. I’d also installed a clutch tube from a donor pan, and new shift bushings on the shift rod. ( more about that later.) I

almost died in Arizona with the temps pushing 109 F ( almost 43 Cel.) and me in coveralls I was just wring wet with sweat. The water comes out HOT even on the cold side when you take a shower! Ronnie cleared his home garage for me to work on the Ghia, he has a cool scissor lift. Ronnie helped me install the 2.5” drop spindles on the adjustable front beam, he provided at no cost to me rear CV joints and brake parts, and both Matt and Geoff Hart worked on the car along side me. I lost the bearings in a CV joint Friday night and was frustrated on Saturday morning and was at my wits end when Matt came by and in about 5 minutes had it all back together and greased. Matt custom fabed a wiring harness and was a great help. This was last years engine with my new 3.44 R&P gear box

to replace the 3.88 R&P box from last year ( against the advice from both Matt and Geoff). We got the car up and running on Monday and I made a few passes down Ronnie’s street (neighbors are really cool ) as well as Ronnie in his 124 Hp 36er powered 1960 Single cab and it was on to the trailer. I drove out 20 miles to the interstate and stopped for cheap fuel at 10:30 pm and it was still 106 F in the dark!!! I drove to my friend Dave’s house in Utah where he let me keep the car and install the Duck tail rear spoiler and put on some of the sponsors Decals. Thursday morning I drove over to Burlie’s ( he is the 36 HP challenge founder) and met up with the other racers from Ohio. We caravanned out to the Salt stopping for pictures at “Salt Air” turn out by the great Salt lake. Arriving at the “Bend in

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Eircooled | Issue 1 | February 2013 www.eircooled.com the road” on the way to the track we saw several VW campers already set up, the Blackline Boys with Art Thraen and RK Smyth of HVW’s were there also. At the end of the road we were greeted with about 200’ of 8” deep salt water! On to the salt and I pulled the car off of the trailer and set up the easy up. Then on to Tech inspection. Now here is where they inspect your brakes, seat belts, tires, roll cage, suspension ( OK it’s just like a MOT!). I flew through tech then went and waited in registration for 2 hours to get my number and paid my fees. Now is when the fun began. Upon trying to drive the car ( remember I just made a couple of 1st gear passes on a city street) we found out that I only had 1st and 2nd gear or after adjusting 2nd and 4th it seemed. Come to find out an Auto stick shift rod is about 7/16th of an inch shorter than a 4 speed shift rod! Crud! Nobody had told me this and it was my first conversion. We looked for a welder as Ronnie gave me another shift coupler and we cut off the end of it and were going to weld it to the new one I had just installed to make up the length needed but the generator we borrowed just didn’t have enough grunt. Colton McAllister of Blackline had suggested that fix by the way, thanks Colton. Oh I had to buy a new starter motor from Colton also because mine just wasn’t strong enough to turn over the 13.2 to 1 comp. ratio beast of an engine I had. So we tried re drilling the Hockey stick on the trans and it was a very shaky fix at best but it seemed to work. I lined up on the Starting line for my first run. I fired the engine and was waved off by the starter, the adrenaline was pumping as the car accelerated like a rocket. I shifted into second and was again pushed back into my seat by the 270+ HP of the Geoff Hart and Matt Adragna

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built engine. Every thing was going great until I shifted into 3rd, the coupler had come loose and I had nothing, no gears at all. I looked at the GPS and it said 87 mph in second gear at the .2 mile marker and I coasted to a stop. My day was over. We towed the car to the pits and wondered what to do. This was Saturday and I don’t race on Sunday, the meet went until Monday so I still had hope that a fix or replacement shift rod could be found. I knew that Burly had one in his stash 150 miles away that I could use if need be. Then Tom Simon one of the other drivers of my car ( and last years car too) found the fix. We took out the urethane shift coupler side blocks and drilled the bolt holes 7/16th of an inch back so the shifter holes and the Hockey stick lined up. By this time it was late and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make 2 runs before Sunday ( you have to back up a run to get into the club) so I let Tom run the car back through tech ( new driver new tech) and he lined up for his first run at about 5 pm. He blasted off a 150 mph run!!! We were very excited. He tried another run but the wind came up and he ran a 149.6 mph run that time. I said OK take the Bumpers off of the car and we did, the front nose had already been taped up and Tom went out and ran 156 mph at 6500 rpm in 4th gear! Now he would have gone faster with the 3.88 trans from last year had I listened. My engine had seen 9100 rpm on the Dyno and Geoff was shifting the other engine he had built for the Cheetle” at 9300 rpm. I gave away 2500 rpm with that tall geared 3.44 R&P trans. At the 1 mile the car was doing 144 mph and it only gained 12 mph in the second mile, we were just getting into the power band. The next day was Sunday and since I wasn’t racing I said that a fellow who had donated the adjustable front beam

could drive the car. It was a disaster, he couldn’t get the car off of the line without stalling it several times. I was fit to be tied and he missed the shift from 1st into second and came to a complete stop and still managed a 145 mph run. After he killed the engine he didn’t turn off the electric fuel pump and he flood the car on his second pass. We tried to bump start the car on the starting line but to no avail. We towed the car to the pits where Tom Simon adjusted the valves and found 2 tight valves ( titanium) and pulled the plugs and jets from the 52mm Webers and cleaned them. A quick call to Geoff Hart who had left for home and the consensus was that I could run it but experience says that Titanium valves tend to let go after they shrink, not usually on the first run, but soon after. Geoff said that I should run it but I said no, it wasn’t worth the risk. So there you have it, after almost 9 months of sweat and toil I didn’t get to race my car, but it did get into the re cord books as the first and only VW air-cooled car to get into the 150mph club and the fastest Air-Cooled VW of the meet. I’ll be back next year with another engine, which one? I may try and build a Turbo 2332cc monster of over 550 Hp and run over 200 mph or aI may try to build a Turbo 3 36 Hp engine and be the first 36 Hp powered VW into the 130mph and who knows maybe into the 150 mph club!!! One thing for certain... I’M DRIVING THE CAR FIRST! Britt Grannis (Roadcow)

BREAKFAST ROLL The February Brekkie Roll is quickly becoming the season starter here in Ireland and is a gentle way to ease yourself, and your VW back into regular service. 2012 saw an open invitation going out to all VW owners through a DoneDeal advert as well as the usual online club promotion. The response was the best yet with an impressive (by Irish standards anyway) number of enthusiasts from not only the Munster area but much further afield making the trip to the Plaza Building on the Tipperary road in Limerick on February 4th. The large car park provided for a mini show in itself with the onsite shop and café dishing out coffee and breakfast rolls aplenty. Kieran brought out his POS for the day which was the car of the show for many. It really looked amazing and is a crowd pleaser for sure. The Williams brothers arrived in their pseudo Oval which, despite its age is still as good as it was when it first hit the show scene back in the 90’s. Many Type 2 Ireland members also joined in after Kev posted up an invitation on their forum. There were stock and modified VWs from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and even the 80’s, well parts of a car from the 80’s anyway, so there was something for everyone’s taste. For the first time ever we had non club members attending just to sell their VWs and one such attendee was driving an orange ’78 Beetle that made its way from Cork which was in impeccable condition, although the price tag was putting people off making an offer. The car had original paint and uphol-

stery, came complete with a full service history as well as all of its original owners manuals. It was a perfect collector car if the price was right. Another first for a small meeting like this were the spot prizes which were provided by Jon White’s VW Spares, Aircooled Accessories in the UK and VW Heritage. Aircooled Accessories also offered a 15% discount card to all who attended. There was no competition and all prizes were given out based on the old favourite method of names pulled from a hat! Liam Cummins was the ‘name-picker-outer’ on the day! Damien Pollock was on site to capture the event for Retro Magazine and when it did go to print they also ran a piece on Eircooled.com too. Club spirit prevailed again when it was time to hit the minty highway as Diarmid Doody’s Beetle decided to throw a tantrum as he was about to drive home. Graham Cullen and Padraig Kelleher could have scooted off in their nice warm and dry cars but chose to stay back to get him rolling again. Nothing unusual there you might say but if you saw how heavy and constant the rain was you would definitely tip your hat in their honour. Club spirit and just genuinely nice folks at their best. The boys were not alone in their endeavours as John Murray supplied his T25 as a whiteboard so they could sketch a wiring diagram however he is still traumatised by what exactly was sketched on there which is why we’ll move on quite quickly now! Thanks to CM Signs in Thurles for supplying the event car stickers. They also supplied a new number plate to Padraig Kelleher for his 1959 Porsche 356. Being extremely vocal on the government’s lack of action and foresight regarding the issuing of vintage number plates gave Graham and Brian the

perfect opportunity to for a giggle and thankfully Padraig saw the funny side too which is why the oversized plate is now proudly hanging on his garage wall. This was a superbly supported event by Eircooled members as well as non members so we’re hoping that 2013 will see an even larger turnout especially as the format will be changing to a midmorning meet-up at the Plaza Building followed by a cruise and a lunch stop. If we’re lucky we may get a few more prizes sponsored too! We will also have a people’s choice award for the first time. The next date is Sunday February 24th, The Plaza Building, Ballysimon Road, Limerick. We’re meeting @ 11am for a coffee and then the cruise will roll out @ 12noon.

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