Thursday, May 20, 2010

Volkswagen Concept: Lemonade

Volkswagen Concept: Lemonade was built out of another abandoned Brazilian VW sedan and made into a Volkswagen "woodie", with a Volksrod flavor. Fenderless,bumperless, with the Wheelbase extended, It gives a hot rod flavor to the Volkswagen. Extremely popular among the Hot Rod crowd is the ultimate surfer ride, the Woodie.

Handcrafted wood panels built around a Volkswagen pan mimics the 1920s to 1940s Ford Wooden station wagons. Hard Maple gives Lemonade a lighter disposition to go along with it's bright yellow hue. Classic VDO gauges and updated with a contemporary sound system. A Pioneer AVIC-D1 In-Dash Mobile Nav head unit, makes sure that Lemonade doesn’t get lost on the way to the beach. Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty DSP pumps Punch subs, and the Audiobahn A12005DN amplifier keep the beat thumpin’.

18 inch Porsche Fuchs-style alloys with 235/40X18 front and 255/45×18 rear Yokohama Advan AO48, single block with a race-ready compound provide fantastic grip. The front end features a CB Performance dropped spindle and the rear torsion bar was adjusted 2 notches to bring the ride height down to the pavement.

Giving Lemonade horsepower, a 200HP Type 1 Volkswagen engine was built bulletproof. It has full-flow oiling with a Maxi30 pump. 94mm Mahle pistons with A Race Pro 84mm crankshaft with Chevy journals and forged 1.4:1 rockers bump the displacement to 2332cc. Other engine go-fast goodies include a lightened flywheel, wedge-port heads with 44×37 valves, Dual 48mm Weber IDA carbs and a 1 3/4? merged ceramic coated exhaust. A close ratio Volkswagen Type 1 Pro Street IRS transmission, features a Super Diff, Aluminum side covers, Welded 3-4 hubs, and hardened keys.

Chrome Yellow paint covers what is left of the original Volkswagen sheet metal, new HiD headlight and LED tail light conversions brighten the way, and four-wheel disc brakes and Koni shocks firm up the handling. Black leather door panels and ebony German wool carpeting are perfect complements to the wooden exterior.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Volkswagen Concept: Jake

Volkswagen Concept: Jake was built out of an abandoned Brazilian VW sedan and patterned after the 4-door Rometsch Taxi, with a Volksrod flavor that is totally "gangster". Fenderless,bumperless, with the Wheelbase extended, It gives a menancing profile to go along with the rear split window, and the classic VW "W" decklid.

To give Jake enough horsepower to back up its tough look, a 200HP Type 1 Volkswagen engine was built bulletproof. It has full-flow oiling with a Maxi30 pump. 94mm Mahle pistons with A Race Pro 84mm crankshaft with Chevy journals and forged 1.4:1 rockers bump the stocker to 2332cc. Other goodies include a lightened flywheel, wedge-port heads with 44×37 valves, Dual 48mm Weber IDA carbs and a 1 3/4? merged ceramic coated exhaust.


18 inch BRMs with 235/40X18 front and 255/45×18 rear Yokohama Advan AO48, single block with a race-ready compound provide fantastic grip. The front end features a CB Performance dropped spindle and the rear torsion bar was adjusted 2 notches to bring the ride height down to the pavement.

A close ratio Volkswagen Type 1 Pro Street IRS transmission, features a Super Diff, Aluminum side covers, Welded 3-4 hubs, and hardened keys.


Driving through the city, the deep House of color, Ultra black paint glistens from the fresh detailing, new HiD headlight and LED tail light conversions brighten the way, and four-wheel disc brakes and Koni shocks firm up the handling.

The shorter front and additional rear doors open butterfly style, revealing the jet-black leather Volkswagen interior. Black leather door panels and ebony German wool carpeting are perfect complements to the black exterior.

The split dashboard is home to classic white-face VDO gauges and updated with a contemporary sound system. A Pioneer AVIC-D1 In-Dash Mobile Nav head unit, makes sure that Jake doesn’t get lost on the way to the clubs. Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty DSP pumps Punch subs, and the Audiobahn A12005DN amplifier keep the beat thumpin’.

The early split-window roll-up 3-fold ragtop is restored and opens to spectacular views of the moon and stars.




Saturday, May 15, 2010

Volkswagen Concepts HardHeb and the Widowmaker

The fastest autocross cars are purpose-built "specials" ("A Modified" in SCCA Solo) with small lightweight bodies, sticky tires, powerful engines, and short gears.

Here are 2 sides to the same coin. Both concepts are extreme lightweights, featuring intense lightening, chopped roof, windshield, and doors, no fenders, and hebmeuller style rear ends. Same idea, different execution. While their top speeds are typically limited by the VW gearing, their transient cornering capabilities far exceed those of other vehicles not expressly designed for this.

Autocross, also known as "Solo," or by simply "Slalom", are races around a closed track that features numerous turns. These VW Concepts were designed to compete in extreme Autocross races, specifically, in the gymkhanas. Gymkhanas are an even tighter slalom track than autocross, with numerous turns around cones. It loops back upon itself and looks like a mix between autocross and drifting. Fast times require a lot of sliding and the lightweight racers intend to dominate.
For the slaloms, the Widowmaker uses the age old Beetle platform although trained by years of track racing experience. It comes complete with beam adjusters and lowered spindles for the front end and re-tweaked rear torsion bars, koni shocks all around. Widowmaker has Large-diameter (205/40X18 front and 235/40x18 rear) BRM rims with Pirelli P-Zero "Trofeo" rubber.

HardHeb uses modified 5th-generation Volkswagen Golf Mcpherson strut suspension, front and rear. A custom-engineered space-frame tube chassis and rollbar ties them together. HardHeb wears Large-diameter (235/40X18 front and 255/35×20 rear) Porsche "Gas Burner" style rims with Yokohama Advan AO48 tires.


Both racers feature identical full-flow 2332cc Type 1 engines with dual CB Performance 48mm Fuel injectors. HardHeb displays a custom aluminum twin free-flow headers and exhaust systems while the Widowmaker uses a bright red tuned freeflow exaust and a stinger.

In each racer, a close ratio Volkswagen Type 1 Pro Street IRS transmission is rebuilt. The HardHeb mid-mounted design neccessitated that the ring and pinion be flipped.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Volkswagen Concept: Black Widow


Volkswagen Concept Black Widow is based on an early Hebmeuller found in the proverbial barn. Features large diameter BRM style rims, narrowed and lowered front torsion suspension, disc brakes front and rear, and a fully-massaged 2180cc Type1 engine. The interior remains largely stock