Hip
to be Square
I've
got a 1968 VW Squareback, I bought this
from the original family owners, still
with the black and yellow California
plates on it. I grew up in So Cal and
always loved VWs, but sadly never got
one. I hung out with the mini truck
scene and started building mini trucks
instead. Well now, I finally got my
first VW 20 years later, and took some
of my mini truck background and used
it to influence my build with this.
I'll start with the motor, I tried to
keep the original EFI set up since this
was the first car to feature this new
set up and thought it'd be cool to have
it running still. But after months and
months of messing with it and finding
no hope or light at the end of the tunnel
I ditched it for a set of 34 Weber ICT's.
Drove the 1600 DP motor till it was
finally puking oil and had to do an
upgrade at that point. I took the opportunity
to make a jump up in horsepower and
had a new 1835 built by Geoff Hart Performance
engines.
During
the motor swap I shaved a few of the
unnecessary holes in the engine bay
and made did some trimming to make
room for the oil cooler and fan for
the new full flow oil set up. Due
to the air ride set up being above
the transmission I was limited on
where I could mount the remote oil
cooler, and found a spot it tucked
away perfect off to the side of the
motor. Once the motor was built, I
color matched the tins to the original
paint code and bolted it all back
together and tucked it away back up
in the rear. The
body of the car is all original to
include a few dings and bumps here
and there. I did a two stage cut and
buff bringing out the original shine
and had one of my local pinstripers
throw down a few lines throughout
the car to set it off. I had to search
for a while to find the 17 inch Escara
wheels to have just the right look.
I converted the rear end to and IRS
set up and built a custom rear air
ride set up, the front has a custom
Punch Drunk Customs dual air bag beam
to tuck all four corners and get this
thing on the ground. The Dakota Digital
Air management set up controls Parker
valves and four Slam Specialties air
bags. Up front under the hood is a
set of Viair Compressors, and a spun
aluminum air tank custom painted by
Crash Customs, also with a little
pin stripping on it!
The
interior is still a work in progress,
but so far has had all new headliner,
side panels, carpet, and custom stitched
seats by Crash Customs finished. Working
on the stereo and custom door panels
at the moment. But definitely a big
change since when I acquired it from
the original family.
Jay
Johnston
