Rob, one of the club’s few charter members, is a strong supporter of our club. A Master ASE Certified mechanic by trade, he is also the first recipient of the "Vdubber of the Month" honor, which uses event attendance as qualification into the drawing.

Rob owns 14 VWs (9 Beetles, of which one is set up for an RX7 rotary engine with radiator, 3 Rabbits and 2 Foxes). However, he is usually seen in his Pearl 1972 Super Beetle. He has owned what I am now naming "Pearl" since ’97. Until recently, Pearl was a daily driver. This is considered "light duty" compared to her previous life as a bracket racer. Rob rescued her from a member of the "old club" who had owned her for about 10 years. By the time Hero Rob gave her a new home, she was already a basket case.

She received 88mm pistons/cylinders (1679 cc), dual Kadron 40 carburetors, a counterweighted crankshaft, a cam, Centerline wheels and more. It also has a custom aluminum dashboard and VDO gauges. However, there is no radio. It’s just to loud in there without the sound barrier. Huh? Broke the sound barrier? Recently, Rob received a FREE DUI HEI ignition system as part of a test. They even threw in some custom shielded plug wires. If you are not familiar with that last one, this system has the coil built into the distributor; HOT spark! Rob’s dream would be a big cube hydraulic lifter motor, Topline struts, adjustable swing arms, and Ultra-Base Silver Pearl custom paint. What? No chopped top?

Rob remembers his Dad’s off white 1961 rag-top Bug that his dad drove to MSU in 1964. Rob and his sister would both ride in the luggage shelf area (for fun) when they were not up front, helping dad shift through the gears. Rob’s ownership history goes back to his first car, a 1965 Bug. He bought it wrecked when he was 16. His dad felt safe when he proclaimed that Rob could drive it once it was fixed. Well, our future mechanic bought a parts car and made the repairs himself. He had a compressor, so he borrowed a friend’s Binx spray gun and painted it Medium GM Blue Metallic to finish the repairs off.

I am sure that I haven’t been told all the stories. But some of Rob’s craziest antics include driving a ’73 Super Beetle from Danny Thomas Blvd. in Frasier to Raleigh... with a broken ball joint! Then there was the time he decided to take one of his lowered bugs on a short cut through a field to another road. He high-centered it and managed to get all four wheels off the ground (time to get the tractor). Not exactly what is meant when they say "4-wheel VW."