Happy Holidays!

A wonderful time of the year has started already!
Allow me to greet you a “wonderful season ahead”.
It was a blast to start this season with you in mind;
Great family, great friends and great fun!
Cheers!
May your season be merry and bright!
Love and peace to one and all!

VW Day 2009 Snapshots

Pictures paint 1001 words.
I’ll let the photos do the talking then!
Enjoy!

Vdub lines




...more Vduds






& much more

2 x 2 = twice the fun

Finally my quest for the HW anniversary version Gulf 917 #2,
has been realized!
This was made possible by the generosity of JDMike.
I couldn’t thank him enough for the RAOK!

The Gulf team is steadily growing and is experiencing a much welcomed expansion.
To celebrate it, would be to join the two #2’s in a fun shoot!
Enjoy….I am!

Hard working Pups

I remember in my teen years, my hard working Dad always envisioned owning a ranch of a farm for leisure time. He would describe vividly going to that place in a beat up pickup truck with paint-faded rusted body work. Of course he’d patterned this vision from the Western films he loves to watch. Many years later, the ‘leisure’ farm of his dream did come true, and I’m happy for him.

My Dad celebrated his simple birthday this November and this reminded me to post these much played-with Pickups. I wouldn’t dare restore their paintwork as this is how they should look like….paint faded rusted….Hey! I’m becoming my Dad (haha).



SHOUT Out:
Thanks to a wonderful friend in Belgium for the yellow version, and JDMike for the white one! Both were given to me this November. The green Pup, I have this for decades and is a delight having a trio now!

Husky VW Pups!

Custom MBx Regular Wheel Karmann

More than a "Lazy Custom" series

Back in 2006, I wrote in my blog a glimpse of my liking of a weekend warrior….
http://ekomenda.blogspot.com/2006/08/rebel-racer-weekend-warrior-everyone.html
It is this blue Karmann Ghia I sketched.


3 years after, a few weeks back….I gave it a go!
I did though revised a bit, since after that blog entry….both HW and Jada had some pretty wild concepts of Karmann coupe racer and I wouldn’t want to repeat them in this custom. Sticking to my wanting of a vintage weekend racer, but in another guise is the route I pursued. I always loved to have some Matchbox regular wheel VW’s (donations, RAOK are welcomed :) ), and this is a good excuse to make one.
From the recent MB Karmann Ghia…

Initially I wanted it to be just a lazy custom, but the original stance is too high. So a new chassis was grafted, then fitted with skinny regular wheels from a beater Siku…

To make this Karmann Speedster in one of my fav livery.



Some more views.
Showing the fabricated front lip spoiler,

tonneau cover, roll bar & twin tail pipes.

Cheers and Enjoy!
Erwin

Alpine & Sahara Night Out

"Taking time to smell the coffee" series

It is an occurrence every week that you will see this tandem.
An Alpine White VW Jetta GLI Mark 2 on a convoy with a Light Sahara Sand VW Jetta GL Mark2.
At times having car wash together…..or parked in a coffee shop…..side by side in a gas station store…..mostly just hanging out!
These are our dynamic duo of old school sedans. At first glance they seem to be clones, but they are not exactly identical as one is a US version, the other a German version. You have to be with them to see their numerous differences in features.

I love old school water-cooled VW’s that much, thus having one is not enough. My family is into this hobby together, and that’s the other reason to have this pair.

Shot last night, this is one of many night outs with our fav old school cars.

Enjoy your 1:1 as much as the smaller scale cars! We do :-)

Cheers!

Quotable Quotes 1

Fun Interpretation Series

“Racing Is Life…
Anything That Happens Before or After…
is Just Waiting.”


My fun take on this….Enjoy!

Stop gap custom

'Lazy Customs' series

I’ve wanted the HotWheels 50th anniversary Porsche 917 Gulf #2 , the 1970 24 Hours of Daytona winning car for quite a time, yet until now has not bagged one. I think waiting will take some more time. Meanwhile, a great guy sent me this HW Real Rider spare… though we both share the same observation. It does not represent an actual racing car.

Alas, an opportunity presents itself for a quick transformation.

The inspiration:
The 1970 1000km Brand Hatch race winner, which was never modeled in small scale yet. The 917 piloted by the legendary Pedro Rodriguez

The ‘lazy custom’:
The car was de-tampoed.. .rubber tires reversed for thicker sidewall…home-made livery applied….added detailing.

The Gulf #10 Porsche 917 Kurzheck.

A pair of shots inspired by the 1970 race photo.

The glass top resembling rain soaked track :-) maybe.

Cheers!

Japan only German model

‘They don’t make them like they used to’ series

For VW, the Japanese market it seems is an important one. I guess it confirms my brother-in-law’s (my wife’s youngest sibling) observation that there exists an enthusiast base for VW cars. Let alone that he also owns a VW Golf IV now in Japan, and is part of that fan base.

Back in the late 70’s, VW introduced the highly successful Golf I in Japan. The Golf was badged a GLE. It is an ‘only in Japan’ model, as the Mark 1 Golf GLE exist nowhere but in the Land of the Rising Sun. Everybody would expect a GTI badged hot hatch 2-door Golf, and the acronym is known worldwide. Well, this makes the GLE very special then.

Somehow I was hoping to find the meaning of GLE, to understand why it was a Japan only model, but to no avail. Rather I’ll try to guess what it stood for. Normally car plates with GL, would mean “Grand Luxury”. GLI, then is “Grand Luxury Injection”. In early German cars, E stood for Einspritzung or fuel injection. Alas, GLE can then be simply a GLI in another form.

Here in small scale, Tomica captured the Japanese special VW Golf GLE.

Kudos to Tomy for modeling this one of a kind Golf.

It is a special version made by no one but Tomy?

I’m a Golf lover myself and this casting is a favorite. Thrice that much…

...and got to get them in our national flag colors (hahaha)

Smallest Diecast Karmann Ghia

Miniature Appeal Series

Contradictory to the dictum “Bigger is Better”, nowadays everyday things are getting smaller. Good examples are computers and host of personal devices, are leaning towards being handy and tiny.
Miniaturization then is the operative word and it does have its inherent charm.

For diecast car collectors, they know too well the appeal of miniatures; the scale representation of their favorite automobiles. Most would say, having them is the only sane way to have your very own 1,001 or more cars under one roof! But let us admit it; the real reason is that miniatures have irresistible appeal, period. Let us not even touch on mini pinchers or bonsai, a wonderful small scale car is a sight to behold.

How about going to the extremes of diecast car miniaturization?
I believe the firm, Tsugawa of Japan has done it by this example of one my favorite classic VW.

The smallest diecast of the VW Karmann Ghia (Early version Type1)

For scale comparisons, it is shown beside the JL 3” Karmann, and 1 Philippine Peso coin.

Overall length is 1 inch (25mm), thus it should be around 1: 170 scale

For its size it is quite heavy. Note it even sports clear plastic windows.

A bit of trivia : The hubcaps are sized like that of the needle pin-head….that tiny!