- Bill C.-

Greg M. is our Vdubber this month. He has been active since joining our club nearly 2-years ago.

He has two children; one just out of college and another starting college this fall. If he is like me, he is thinking… “Four more years and I can REALLY start fixing up my VWs.” But don’t install that swimming pool until they are well established… or they might move back! Ha!

Like so many of us, Greg’s beginning with Volkswagens has a history and a story.  In his case, it was during a military stint in Europe, Germany to be specific. You see, he is retired U.S. Air Force (Go Greg!). It was 1986 and he needed some dependable transportation; to get back and forth around his duty station and maybe romp through the Black Forest on weekends or visit a castle. Well, even then, “petrol” was $4.00 a gallon … gulp. So an ’82 Beetle became his very first VW. It makes sense

Then came the “temptation.” You see, the base had a racetrack. Yup, that’s right; a RACEtrack! I thought I was lucky to have an automotive hobby shop where I was stationed. Well, there was also involvement with a car club, the Eifel Meisters AutoCross Club. All the classes raced were based on some form of the VW Beetle chassis. There was every kind of racing from dirt circle track to timed asphalt racing to motocross with Beetles. He got his start racing 1300 stock class … and got tempted some more. He graduated to one with a 5-cylinder 2.5L turbo Audi engine in it. Is that legal? If it is, I gotta get one! Ha! All fun things must end (kind of like getting called in for a nap when you were a kid) and Greg eventually cycled back to the States in 1990.

With his German experiences still fresh, he soon bought a 1984 Vanagon GL with a wasserboxer engine. It had the typical head seal leak. So he had the heads machined and replaced the gaskets. He is proud to say that it ran another 130,000 miles before he traded it in on his wife’s truck.

There is a gap in time while he was “vdubbless” or maybe not. But it’s what I call “The Dark Ages.” Then, in the fall of 2002, he purchased his present project, a 1970 Blue Baja. His goal is fix all the issues and problems and for it to become a daily-driver. It is already in pretty decent shape, after replacing the front brakes with a disc kit, rebuilding the rear suspension, and replacing all the wheel bearings and shocks. The reason he likes Baja Bugs is that he can be cruising on the boulevard one minute and zip onto a trail or off road area the next.

Like I said, he still has some things to get this project out of the project category. I remember he told me not long ago that he will be taking on splitting the cases soon (his first venture into this area) and building the engine. He wants an engine with more bottom end torque and lower gears in the transaxle. This would get him closer to being able to “idle” up hills and zoom when he needs to zoom. Right now, the medium-big tires make it impossible to get out of 3^rd gear without bogging down the engine. So the transaxle should address that issue…. and he’s got to have even bigger “meats” on those wheels too, to put him “up in the air” and away from the snags. This should be fun to watch. He already has a good start.

What else is in the works? Greg is also working on a couple of sand rails to take up to Turkey Bay, along with the Baja and some ATVs (I need to see his trailer!).

So, that’s “the dirt” on Greg and where he got the “bug for Bugs.” Thanks for being a part of our club, Greg. And, as the truckers say, “Keep the shiny side up.” … oops …. sorry, that would be the “muddy side up” … no … oh well, NEVER mind. Ha!