last modified May 03, 2004

For some bizarre reason, I have been able to collect a total of 10 VWs so far.  I recently sold the 11th car, a 66 bug.  It went to a good home a few hours from me.

Of course, my obsession doesn't just stop at having a collection of 10 cars... check out my vintage speed collection and all the aftermarket mag wheels I've been able to find.

The oldest one is a 58 Ghia convertible vin # 1932110. Born May 13 1958.

This is a picture of the day we bought it... We're standing in front the people's house that we bought it from in Puyallup Washington (Hi Mark and Kyla!!). We have appropriately tagged it 'R 58VW'.

Right now, I'm building up a 36 hp Okrasa engine for it but instead of the dual 32 pcib solex carbs, I'm gonna put a Mag supercharger on it!!! Can you say cool vintage speed! The supercharger is a roots type unlike the Judson which is a vane type and was built in the late 50's by a company called Motosacoche S.A. in Geneva Switzerland. BTW, if you have any info, literature and/or spare parts, please email me!

I also have another 58 ghia coupe vin # 2082955 which I just bought. This car is very straight and has sat in a barn since 1979 (or at least that is when it was last titled). I bought the car for parts but when I got it, I found it was too complete and straight to part out including all the original glass. I think it was a eurospec version since it has the euro head lights, bumpers, and the sticker on the inside of the glove box is in german while the one in my other 58 is in english. So, another project?

The 11th VW, a 1959 Firebus Kombi.  Built March 25, 1959 and converted to a personnel carrier by the Konrad Rosenbauer K.G. company in Austria.  It is from the town of Rauris in Austria.  With 3 pickups in the line up, I had realized that I really didn't have a vintage vehicle to haul people.  So, talking with Bob Van Heyst one day at BBTs, this bus came up.  The price was right so, number 11 was shipped and landed at the port of Tacoma on April 21st 2003 just in time for the spring VW meet in Puyallup.   For more of the story, follow the this link.

Then there is the 1959 double cab pick up vin # 469869. Born May 19 1959. My wife bought this for me on Valentines day after I had been drooling over it for about 4 years. I instantly pulled it into the garage, disassembled it, and started the restoration. It was originally dove blue so I decided to do away with the white and 'racing stripe' color scheme and go back to its original color. It's been over two years now and I'm hoping to have it back on the road in the spring of 2002 (ed. note, it's spring of 2003 with no sign of completion in sight!!!). I'm building up a period correct 1973 high performance motor for it with all the right goodies and I've had fun searching for all the correct parts... all the way down to the right nuts and bolts. Yes, very retentive indeed! click here for more pics of my 59 double cab and definitely check out the parts I'm currently looking for...

Acquisition number 10 in November of 2002, a 1964 single cab pickup with an 8 meter Ruthmann Steiger cherry picker,  Born January 6, 1964, another cool addition to the collection which will be used occasionally.  It came from Germany (via Bob at BBTs in Belgium) and served in the Volunteer Fire Brigade in Hohne Germany.  I gave this to my wife as a surprise for her birthday on the 19th of November.  Check out it's own web page.

Next is a 64 deluxe beetle.  I recently pulled it out of the garage for a refurbish such that my 16 year old daughter has something cool to drive during school.  I expect the project to take a year of effort to make worthy for her.  The picture on the right is during it's first washing in 20 years... needless to say, it needs to be rubbed out.

In November of 2001, I received my 1967 tipper single cab.  This is one of only a few known to exist in the world.  It resided in Germany and was used by a park service (or at least that’s the story I got).  I bought it from BBT in Belgium.  Check out it’s own page as it will slowly be fixed but probably not restored like the double cab.  I promised my wife that this one was to be USED!  Here is a picture of it loaded up at the port of Tacoma with Mount Ranieer in the background on Dec. 17.  I got the plate ‘VW TPPR’ for it... and the lady at the dmv didn't get it :-)

Next is the VW that I've owned the longest... my 75 scirocco. My wife and I hit a LARGE piece of a truck tire tread the night that we got married and the insurance company totaled it (!) So, in the garage it went in hopes of someday being restored. We actually drove it for the rest of our honeymoon with out problems... it's amazing how a few dents add up at the paint shop. The wheels on it are worth what the insurance company valued the car at :-(. I just found a brand new NOS hood for it in Boston and luckily I have friends that are dumb enough to let me store it in their garage until I can find a way to ship it out to Oregon (Thanks Agostino and Josefina)

During my first year of graduate school, I built up a go fast motor (it's kind of dusty in the picture since it's been sitting for almost 7 years now). I'm really looking for an Oettinger 16 valve head for the day when I get the this car back on the road. Another really cool thing would be a complete 16 valve Drake Engineering motor. Email if you have any info.

Then there is the 93 Eurovan, (HER VW) the family truckster. Great vehicle. It now has over 100k miles on it and I've only had to put ~$500 into it for it's 100k service/tune up and recently replaced the front brake pads and rotors.... You just can't beat that!

And finally, my 98 New beetle (1 MO VW). The picture is of the three kids at the 2000 VW show in Yakima... What a great show. And we won 'best custom plate' to boot.

- email me, David Mayes, at: mayesd@dsquared-dev.com