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Motorkars, Inc. celebrated it's 30th anniversary with a banquet dinner held on the evening of October 29th, 2005 at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe just around the corner from Motorkars. The guest list included family, employees and professional associates. Click here for more >>
Some people have used the term "eccentric" to describe vintage Volkswagen Bus owners. We at Motorkars welcome the term since we have several Bus owners on our staff. One such owner (who will remain unnamed) has combined two of his favorite pursuits-growing flowers and Volkswagen Buses.
The concept occurred several years ago and now has taken on a life of it's own. This picture of his backyard is evidence of his "eccentric" perspective. The Bus is a shortened 1969 model year that the current owner saved from being crushed into oblivion. The Bus has become a "time capsule" of sorts. Everything inside the Bus dates to 1970 or before (except for the mannequins). People have begun donating old (pre-1970) items to help fill the cargo area and leave a piece of themselves for the garden.
The gas pump acts as the cornerstone of the garden with it's meter having been adjusted to reflect the year the garden was completed. There are various automotive items throughout the garden. There is an old tire tube test tank, a vintage windshield wiper display cart and some old filler cans just to name a few.
The motivation for the four seasons of the bus garden comes from the 1971 James Taylor song "You've Got A Friend". Some of you may remember the lyrics in the song,
Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall
All you have to do is call.
Keep on Truckin' A
Here's a head turner we saw at the 2005 Das Vroom European auto show. It's Bill Simon's 1955 sunroof oval window Beetle towing his 1952 split window.
The following photos show what happens to mechanical components when they are pushed beyond their limits.
It was a cold and gray February day when the office manager answered the phone at Motorkars. The caller identified herself as Holly from The Center of Science and Industry (COSI) and conveyed that she was involved with a special project for their new facility. They were in the process of recreating a stre
et scene from the year 1962, much like the "Street of Yesteryear" at the original COSI building on Broad Street. The Production Dept. wanted to secure a vehicle for the street scene and decided a VW Beetle was their car of choice because of it's popularity during the 60's. The purpose of Holly's call was to determine if Motorkars would be interested in performing the restoration work on a 1962 or older VW Beetle?
The conversation was relayed to me and then I discussed the project with everyone at the shop to determine the level of interest. The entire team was excited about the potential project so I called Holly to discuss specifics. She knew of several leads on Bugs that fit the criteria, as did I, and between the two of us we felt we should be able to come up with a good vehicle for the display. A few weeks passed and our prospects were narrowing when Holly called and said she had located a 1959 Beetle in Kent Ohio. After several phone calls between the owner, myself and Holly a price was agreed upon based on the car passing inspection of COSI.
Holly and her boss drove to Kent to inspect the car and were pleased with it's appearance. I offered to pick up the car for COSI. After speaking with the owner regarding the mechanical condition of the Beetle, I decided to drive the vehicle to Columbus rather than use the
car trailer. I convinced a friend to transport me to Kent in exchange for lunch and fuel. The directions I had were accurate and we found the car address with ease. I looked the car over (as best as I could sitting on the curb in front of the owner's house) and made a mental note to stop for fuel when I noticed the reserve fuel tank lever in the "on" position. I decided to drive on I-77 to Canton, where I could pick up SR62 and have a "fun drive through Amish country" on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon in May.
After stopping for gas , I could tell the drive back to Columbus was going to be somewhat of a challenge due to several mechanical shortcomings. First of all the old Bug's brakes would not respond until the second or third pump of the pedal. In addition, the steering response was marginal, the shocks were bad, the exhaust had a huge hole in it, the engine leaked oil onto the heater box pipes, the heat was stuck on and the brake lights did not work! I decided to proceed with caution and we set off on our journey down the interstate. I was cruising at a warp speed of 53mph when I heard a truck honking it's horn at me from the center lane. I panicked somewhat , thinking they were trying to tell me I was about to lose a wheel or something catastrophic. As it turned out , they were slowing down to videotape me and the '59 at "speed". I gave them a thumbs up and they sped down the highway smiling.
It's been awhile since I drove any distance in a vintage 36hp Beetle, let alone on hilly roads with a car in this condition. I was able to keep
it on the winding roads and even passed two vehicles (one was an old Winnebago with obvious engine problems and the other an Amish buggy and horse). After 3 hours of fighting to keep the vent wings open to overcome the effect of the stuck on heater, we finally reached Columbus. When I got out of the '59 I told my friend I felt like I had just gone ten rounds with a heavyweight boxer in the Arizona desert. She laughed from the air-conditioned comfort of her "luxury liner".
The following week, I put the '59 up on the lift in the shop to get a good look underneath. Upon inspection, I could not believe how rusted the front floor pan was. The front axle beam body supports were as bad as I've seen in over 25 years of repairing Volkswagens. I definitely had an angel riding shotgun with me on that trip from Kent!
We stripped the car down to get it ready for repairs and found even more rust than anticipated. I was glad this car was not going to be driven on the highways anymore. We all agreed that a body off "RUSToration" would have been required to make it safe to drive again. I reminded the guys that the car came from the Cleveland snowbelt area of the state and that was typical after over 40 years. I knew we were in for a challenge when we discovered the bumper mounts were rusted away and the bumpers were welded on to pass inspection. My long time friend Jack spent many grueling hours of labor in the August heat working on the body repairs and paint. We were then ready to tackle the reassembly process. I was amazed at how straight the car looked.
Our September 1st deadline was fast approaching and I realized we
were going to need to spend a few weekends working to finish the Beetle on time. I enlisted Mark G.'s help with the paint buffing process. He spent an entire Sunday with me at the shop making the paint glisten. We completed the installation of several additional trim pieces and the car was finished two days ahead of schedule.
The following week Holly arrived at the shop with a tow truck and could not believe the Beetle was the same car she had seen back in May. We donated a pair of 1962 Ohio license plates (accurate for the display but not the car) which really completed the project. I told Holly everything on the "59 was restored to historical accuracy except for the key fob hanging on the original ignition key in the switch. The fob was from my Mother's 1969 Beetle which was the 1st VW I ever worked on in the summer of 1970.
Black Beauty was gently loaded onto the flatbed and transported to it's new home at COSI in downtown Columbus to be on display for all kids, big and little to enjoy for many years to come!
To view a larger image of Black Beauty, see the Restorations page. Click on the COSI link.
The engraved Motorkars stone in the front of the shop is a stone from the old Ohio Penitentiary wall. The penitentiary was built in 1834 and was located only several miles from where Motorkars now stands. We purchased the stone from the State when the pen was torn down in 2000 to make way for the development of the Arena District. We had it engraved with the Motorkars name as a reference point for our customers.
For a close-up view of the marker, see the Services Offered page. It can also be seen on the home page.
(Click on images to see full size scans)
When Bugs Fly - Amazing articles of a VW Beetle with an afterburner.
When Bugs Fly When Bugs Fly (part 2)
For OSU Buckeye football fans and VW Type II owners.
Track down the best gas prices in town before you fill your tank!
www.gasbuddy.com nationally or for central Ohio see www.columbusgasprices.com
For a very interesting historical timeline of the Volkswagen Beetle check out this website.
Volkswagens officially recognized car club.
A home grown site for Vintage Bus lovers. Yea, we know a few. :-)
For a vintage air-cooled blogging forum, visit this site.
If you have a really cool car related web site you've found, drop us a line at service@motorkars.com We'd not only like to see cool new sites, but we'll share them here!
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2004, Motorkars, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Not affiliated with or sponsored by Volkswagen of America, Audi of America
or Porsche Cars North America, Inc.