Short update.
Please check out
the January 2007 issue of dune buggies and hotVWs magazine for a feature on my
’56 rag. It appears on pages 78 through
81, with the end of the article on page 109.
Also there is a pic of me racing it in Indy on page 87 with a blurb on
it in the article on page 86.
Most important
right now is that I am working with Toronto Motorsports Park for some VW racing
on June 23, 2007. As it sits I can run
1 class as part of the test’n’tune that day.
That means no matter what your time, you run in this class and it is
done based on dial-in. So if you do the
¼ in 15 seconds and you race a guy who does it in 11, you get a favourable head
start. Hopefully we can add more
classes but I need some input on who will be there.
Plans are going
full steam ahead to attend and participate in the Silver Dollar Showdown again
in 2007 in Georgia. Click here for details. Once again the BRE dragster, running on
nitro methane, will be making some (partial?) passes. Let’s try and get a nice group together from Ontario and make an
appearance! Last year we had 5 local
guys attend.
I want to let
you know about a new website called German-Pride. This site is designed and maintained by a
school teacher in Nevada named Scott Faivre.
From now on, to see pics of my own personal VWs and the build up of them
you can go to Scott’s site, to my gallery here. Scott also has pics of other awesome rides
in his gallery, and show pics as well.
He has a forum that I check often and you can feel free to ask questions
there and I will try to answer, and others can as well. Scott will likely ultimately be setting up
an online store for me, and since his site is new and does not currently carry
advertisements, I want to endorse it.
So check it out!!!
As you can tell I have been pretty busy this month. I have a customer’s Porsche 356 replica in the shop to clean up and detail the engine. May end up making a 1776 out of it- currently it is a 1600 with dual Dellorto carbs. Pics will follow.
Pictures of my
’56 that you can actually download can be found here. This is a gallery of the whole process of
building my ’56. Also, my car will be
featured in the January 2007 issue of hot VWs magazine.
I need some
feedback from you- I am looking at doing a VW race day the day before the June
Jitterbug. It will be on June 23, 2007
at Toronto Motorsports Park in Cayuga.
It will just be part of the test’n’tune likely, just like they used to
do at Carlsbad before the VW Classic in California. How does that sound?
Would you attend?
Finally, the
Silver Dollar Showdown is once again happening on March 11, 2007 in Reynolds,
GA. Plan is to race my ’56 in the
Street Challenge class. Mark your
calendars now if you want to come!
Just updated the site and added a page with pics from last Sunday’s cruise from Burlington to Geulph. We had about 20 air cooled cars out, a couple of new beetles, and a Scirocco. Brisk drive to Guelph, but the sun came out at the park and it was a beautiful drive home. If you have any pics from the cruise send them to me and I will post them.
Summer is just about over and I will be starting into the ’59 soon. Keep tuned.
HEY!! I’m doing a cruise from Burlington to Guelph
on Sunday September the 17th.
Planning to stop for Ice Cream or a Hot Chocolate (or coffee), then
continue to a park to have lunch. We’ll
meet at a Tim Horton’s in Burlington around 10am. Let
me know if you are interested in joining in!
Back from Indy
on Sunday. Made it to 3rd
round of eliminations, won Best of Show, and had the car photographed for a
feature in Hot VWs magazine by R.K. Smith.
Not too shabby.

Here’s a powerhouse crew chatting around my trailer- the CB boys, Anibal Chico, and Jack Sachette

Nothing much
going on with the ’59. Apparently you
need a lot of money to build a ‘vert and that is something that is lacking from
my pocket at the moment…. We’ll see
what develops this fall. The ’56 ran a
best of 12.28 in Indy, I need more seat time to make it quicker. And then maybe more boost! I’m thinking about hitting the Volksbash
show in Martin Michigan September 24.
Keep tuned.
Finally, I wrote
the story about the build up of the ’56 and you can read it here.
Here’s a pic of Pat Downs programming
the fuel in the CB EFI system.

A lot going on
again at the shop. Got Laurence’s ’62
tuned up and dropped back off to him.
Picked up my ’59 vert from the painter and it’s back home all painted
and with the air ride brackets welded in place. Ran my ’56 in Michigan at Bug Out 21 and made it to the 3rd
round of eliminations. Not bad for
first time out. Best time was an 8.36
in the eighth.
Took the ’56 to
Toronto Motorsports Park on Friday night for test’n’tune. Only got in 5 passes before condensation
began on the track and it started getting a wee slick for my liking. Best pass of 12.53 at 105 in the
quarter. We’re getting closer to seeing
the potential in this car. I weighed in
at 2080 pounds with driver (that is kind of on the heavy side for a ’56). The 12.53 was at 12 pounds of boost on
Sunoco Ultra 94 pump gas. A true street
motor that runs mid 12’s is not too bad.
The 5.0L Mustangs did not know what hit them!!! I need to set the front shocks softer to try
to get better weight transfer happening, I was definitely having an issue with
traction.
Next trip to Toronto Motorsports Park is August 11.
Updated pics of the ’56.
Updated pics of
the ’59 convertible progress. Click here to see.
Took the ’56 out for some road time on the weekend. Feels good. More details to come on that…
The June Jitterbug once again had terrific weather. How do they do it year after year?
Once again Tuned
Perfection was there, this year with the ’56 on display in it’s almost
completed state, along with a bunch of parts for sale. Click here
for some pics from the event, and click here
for some pics from the KC Family Day at Toronto Motorsports Park on June 24.
One again John
Rothnie and his son Greg took home some awards for their ’67 vert, this time
they snagged Class Champion and Best Interior.
Good work!
Host hotel info
for the event in Indy Aug 18 and 19 can be found here. I’ve made my reservation already!
Well, A lot has been going on since I last updated this site.
To begin, I now
have a daughter. Her name is Alexandra
and she came out at just a hair over 9 pounds!
That happened on June 2nd.
It was via a c-section so I was in the hospital all weekend with my
wife- no work on the cars.
BUT, this week
we got into the ’56 pretty heavy. Motor
is in and there is about 4 to 5 hours of finishing touches before it sees the
road. Check out the updated page for
the ’56 here.
Phil’s ghia left
the shop a couple of weekends ago and he is really happy with it. No completed pics as of yet, I forgot to
take some before he picked it up.
Started getting
the ’59 ready for paint by disassembling it.
Will be done in another couple of hours.
Finally, make sure you come out and say hi at the June Jitterbug June 25 in Niagara Falls at Fireman’s Park.
I got my motor
today!!! WOO-HOO!!! See pics of it here.
Been working on Phil’s ghia
non-stop. About 3 weeks behind on that
“little” project, and will hopefully get it to a glass shop this week.
A lot has been going on this month. Work continues to progress on Phil’s Ghia. Narrowed front beam is in, new ball joints pressed in, rear brakes bled after replacing all 4 flex lines, new exhaust is on, headliner is in, new rear rims are mounted. Check out the pics here.
Business
continues to grow. I now distribute
Empi and Bugpack products at competitive prices, in addition to CB Performance
products. I have quite a bit in
inventory now so give me a call to see if I have what you need.
Motor is finally
built for the ’56. Should have it in a
week and a half I figure. Dyno tested
and all I will say at this point is it is well over 300hp. Stay tuned for pics. Time frame for completion of the ’56 is now
early June. It WILL be at the June Jitterbug. I posted a few more pics of it here.
Work on the ’59 vert is at a standstill until the ’56 is done and the Ghia is back in Phil’s hands.
Sections updated include Project Vehicles, Events, and new section for Completed Project Cars.
My ’68 has now gone to it’s new owner. Passed inspection Friday and now I have in my possession a nice silver 1961 VW Beetle sedan. It’s for sale and you can check it out here.
Slow and steady
on the ’56. Got some great news today-
Pat Downs at CB Performance is going to start building my 2332 turbo EFI motor
this week and it will be done in 2 weeks time!!! The car goes in for final buffing and fitting of the roll cage
next week and is definitely on schedule to be on the road for mid May.
I have yet
another project in the shop now- a ’59 vert for my lovely wife. Needs some finishing touches like complete
air ride kit from Airkewld, the top needs to be completed (just headliner in
now), rewired, new paint, Porsche Fuchs wheels, you know, minor stuff like
that. Timetable? End of June for the June Jitterbug.

Added a new
section to my contents page- coming events for 2006
that I will be at. Coming soon (I hope)
will be a recap photo page from my trip to Georgia. Check out a video of the action here.
Short update today just to say my 1968 VW has been sold. I don’t think it could go to a better person & after spending some time with him today I know it will be taken care of.
I had an awesome
weekend Feb 17 through 19 in Plainfield Illinois. Troy Trepanier’s shop was incredible and the hospitality was
overwhelming. I will soon have a new
photo page and some stories about that visit.
Also helped my buddy Darrell work on the ’66 vert he is selling, and
picked up my RLR roll bar in Ohio on my way through.
All ready for
this weekend’s trip to Georgia, it should be some good times.
Stay tuned for the future projects rolling into the Tuned Perfection shop, and the progress shots of the ’56. We’re getting close now!

Been a busy month. So far I have the total stereo installation out of the ’68. Sold the DVD player, stiffening caps, Kenwood center channel and battery isolator. Working on selling the amps and subs and the installation itself. If interested drop me a line and I’ll send some pics. I have a brand new carpet kit to go in the back behind the rear seat (TMI), new front disk brakes (CB Performance), new rear seat cover (TMI), Kaption 10” sub in a box, and Kaption 4 channel amp. Now I just need to find the time to install it all! It’s still for sale too.
Hotel is booked
for Georgia. I’m so looking forward to this event. Magazine coverage by Hot VWs and Ultra VWs.
Project ’56 is
progressing slowly as usual. See the update page for all the pics. In the next couple of weeks I hope to get it
out to a painter I deal with to get it buffed out so I can complete the
assembly.
My next road
trip is this weekend. Ohio to pick up a
RLR roll bar and then off to Illinois to help a friend on his ’56. Pics of that car will be up in a few weeks.
Hey! I met Chip Foose a couple for weeks back at
Speedorama in Toronto. Only took 3.75
hours in line!! Here’s a pic of me and
my wife with Chip, and one of me (with head cut off- thanks photo dude!) and
Courtney Hansen:

Here’s a section
of the poster Chip signed for me. How
cool is that?

I have a shipment of CB Performance Narrowed beams in. 2” narrowed, ball joint and king and link pin available, with adjusters. Selling price is $300 including taxes. Order yours now!!!
Got the 1776cc
running in Marc’s 1961 Beetle convertible.
Sounds good with the A-1 sidewinder exhaust. He and his daughter took it out for a quick spin as well and were
impressed with the power. Movie- to view this movie
of the 1776cc being fired up, bring your mouse arrow over the word in blue,
right click and choose “save target as…”, hit “okay”, then when it is done
downloading, click on “open”. Movie
should play using Quick Time.

A lot to update, but just not a lot of time to do it!
Most important, Tuned Perfection will be a sponsor of the event in
Georgia March 11 and 12. Click here for details of the event.
The proud new owner of a Pat Down’s built 1776cc picked up his engine
Saturday. It did an impressive 110hp on
the engine dyno, pics of motor and car to follow. It is mated up to a Rancho pro street/freeway flyer trans also
supplied by Tuned Perfection. We will
fire it up Sunday after we hook up the oil lines to the remote filter.
John Rothnie’s ‘67 is in the shop for a few more finishing
touches. 2006 looks to be the year he
gets more than 500 miles on it!
The ’56 is coming along. More
pics to still be uploaded.
The ’68 is still for sale.
Price is reduced to a paltry $8500 US.
Tell your friends!!!!