Navigation

A Bug's life! - Readers' Ride

Jake Markham has had this Beetle since he was 19. Now, 21 years on, he is turning 40 and still the proud owner of the same car. In that time Jake has married Marta who he met just before buying the Beetle), and has two great kids, Daniel and Lora.
The car has also changed a lot in that time. 'Back in the day', Jake started with subtle mod's, a slight lowering job, Spintstars, black blade bumpers and Lucas indicators. This was the 80's, Jake was at college and money was tight, but the car looked cool. Moving on a few years, and Jake decided it needed some updating, so it went into the lockup to start it's next incarnation. It was still the 80's, Wizard roadsters and graphic door panels were in, so the Beetle was treated to a fibreglass oval deck-lid, 2 inch wider rear glass fibre wings, early '60s taillights, sloped front wings, polished Cookie Cutters, a 1776 and one of those 'in' graphic interiors with Capri grey velour seats. The car was sprayed dove blue.
But Jake wasn't happy, the car never saw tarmac in this form, and he started over. He had 'matured' and his tastes had changed. Jake decided to go with a subtle VW colour, Polar White. To continue the subtle look, Jake chose early Fuchs, the desirable 4 1/2's on the front and 5 1/2's out back, with US spec front and rear bumpers, and a 60s convertible deck-lid. He wanted to go way faster than the 1776 could push him, so Jake contacted Ian at Wolfsburg who built him a 2332cc type 1 with 48 IDA's and a hot FK87 cam all pushing a 10.5.1 compression. It's hooked to a CogBox gearbox with all the right pieces. A hot setup for sure, this baby pulls - hard! The Interior was the basket weave off-white VW/TMI variety with a stock '60s steering wheel, colour coded Safety Devices rear cage, and a small accompaniment of Autometer gauges, oh, and the obligatory line lock! Like this Jake managed to get the car legal and ticketed to run around in. He entered the 2004 VolksWorld Show, went to a few Hot Rod and VW shows, tried his hand at drag racing a couple of times, running a respectable mid 13, but Jake being Jake, he had to tinker. Bigger heads were the start of it, that was three years ago, the car is the same colour, but a lot of other stuff has changed, the obvious things are the wheels, original American Racing Porsche pattern D's, and a bunch of other stuff, but you'll have to wait and see... There are also plans to restore a Squareback.
For his Birthday, Jakes son, Daniel (aged 12) came up with the idea of getting his Dads car into VolksWorld, so between him, Marta and Jakes good friend Neil Brown, the trio got in contact with us to make it happen. They, and Jakes daughter Laura (aged 2) would like to wish Jake a very Happy Birthday!