Kai Berends show winning Resto Cal Oval window Beetle

The custom VW scene across the UK and Europe has changed immeasurably since the late '80s, and nowhere more so than the standard of the cars themselves. Well, that and the shorts, thank goodness. There were certainly some well-detailed cars built back then, but the detailing was, well, different. In general it was more inventive than expensive, with colour coding a big part of it. But that was just a sign of the times. In the 1980s the hot hatch was also born and these cars - of which the Golf GTi was the undisputed king - were what everyone wanted. At least, everyone wanted one until, like the Porsche 911, they became the symbol of Thatcher's yuppie generation. This association alone ensured that most Beetle or Bus owners then didn't want one for fear of being tarred with that brush. And that divide has never really closed. Although many air-cooled VW owners have gone on to own Golfs and water-cooled VWs in later life, they still lavish their money and attentions on the old Beetle or Bus in the garage rather than the dependable Golf on the drive. Pay a visit to one of the big water-cooled VW shows and there's no doubt it's a different scene to the air-cooled shows, and not just in the clothing. But if you want to see detailed show cars then it doesn't get much better than a European water-cooled VW meet. These guys take their detailing to another level and it's common to see polished, chromed and even gold-plated components throughout. Yet the two opposing sides of the VW scene have never really sat well together, leading us to wonder on occasions what would happen if someone who was into that kind of car built one of our kind of cars? Well here's your answer. Kai Berends from Neuenhaus in Germany is a water-cooled kind of guy, whose previous rides have been a Mk2 Golf VR6 turbo and a Mk2 16-valve turbo. He's currently working on a '78 Audi 80, also with a 16v turbo, yet somewhere in the middle of all this he decided to turn his hand to a '55 Beetle, the result of which ended up with the best of show trophy poking out of its sunroof at European Bug In last year. Now you might have thought that would be enough for some people, but not Kai. Since then he has worked tirelessly to improve his car and that has meant taking the body off the 'pan again, repainting it and obsessively detailing it throughout. Visitors to the VolksWorld show this year will have had the chance to see the fruits of his labours for real, where the car was displayed with two of its wheels off, so perverts like you and I could get on our hands and knees and marvel at what there was to be seen underneath the arches. Elsewhere in the July 08 issue I've questioned the sanity of this kind of behaviour, and you might do the same when you hear Kai spent a further 40,000 euros (that's almost £32,500 in old money) on the car since winning that first trophy! Where did the money go? Well, take a look at the detail shots here and you'll start to get the idea. For the full story check out the July 2008 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 16 May and then available through back issues. SUBSCRIBE Never miss an issue again by setting up a subscription to VolksWorld magazine! VW Wallpaper You can download a wallpaper from this feature for your computers desktop in our VW Wallpaper section.