Retro Race Beetle

Restoring a stock Volkswagen is a straightforward task. It's a case of stripping it down, replacing or renovating parts, painting, trimming and refitting. The hardest job is finding the right specialists to do the bodywork, paint and trimming, but if you don't, the end result won't be one you're happy with. Be honest - would you want the paint finish on your car to be like glass or a toad's backside?
While restoring a stocker is fairly easy, the same can't be said about a modified car. The latter is far harder as all of the changes need more thought and work than bolt-on replacement Volkswagen parts.
The 1959 Beetle you see here is a totally new car and the story behind it is full of highs and lows, problems and solutions and a rapidly looming deadline. But Steve and Adele Woodbridge from Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire not only met that deadline, they have built a real winner! This is easily the best new VW racecar we've seen to emerge this year, as while the Dyno Pincher (featured July '09) was amazing, it was basically a snazzy new paintjob on a tried and tested racecar.
Steve and Adele met through a shared passion for VWs and later were married.
Steve has been interested in VWs for six years and Adele twice that. Between them they've had a magazine featured 1965 Devon Camper, a '65 Bug and a '69 Karmann Ghia, which Adele raced in the VWDRC. Together, they decided to combine both their favourite elements of the scene into a joint project. Adele told us, "The car was built for two things: Showing for Steve and Racing for me." However, both enjoy the other elements too. Perfecto! Adele and Steve also spent five years around V8 drag racecars and the last three and a half have been as part of Spencer Tramm's crew on his V8 Corrado. As Adele puts it, "This was the main influence behind this car. We wanted to use the ideas from those cars into a Volkswagen Beetle. The finish and the quality of the parts on the majority of those cars is phenomenal, and we wanted that in our Beetle." They also took inspiration from an American drag racing Beetle owned by Bobby Smith, which we featured in VolksWorld Summer 2005.
As we mentioned earlier, Steve and Adele had three goals they wanted to achieve with this car. The first was to have it on display at the VolksWorld Show. In fact, they were one of the first entrants to contact us! This was at the start of the winter and they updated us virtually on a weekly basis with photos to show us how it was coming along. So, we have been there throughout the latter part of the project, egging them on during the lowest points and sharing their problems. If there's a racecar we know inside out, it's this one!

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the September 2009 issue of VolksWorld

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