Anybody remember these cars from Hot VWs? I do...but barely.

[Jim Ratto]

Turbo street car, sort of a light blue, polished Porsche cookie cutters, some type of signwriting down the side. Turbo 1776 with sidedraft Weber.
Was in late 80's Hot VWs, I think.

Another turbo street car....kind of a faint aqua blue-green...I seem to remember 911 alloys (?), turbo motor with white header pipes....I remember there were pics of the body off the pan...very clean and well set up car from what I can remember....which isn't much.

Does anybody remember these cars too? How about scanning features of these cars and sharing with us? most appreciated....

Thanks in advance,
Jim

[Stephan S]

Another turbo street car....kind of a faint aqua blue-green...I seem to remember 911 alloys (?), turbo motor with white header pipes....I remember there were pics of the body off the pan...very clean and well set up car from what I can remember....which isn't much.

That's probably Mark Akulian's Oval Ragtop! This was the car of my dreams back in the '80s. Aqua blue paint, Porsche alloys, turbocharged 2175cc by KRE. Danny Gabbard was working on his latest Bug a couple of years ago. As far as I know, Mark is still working on it.

[Stephan S]

I wrote a story about that car for a European magazine (Super VW) back in 1988. Got to scan it or take a picture of it!
I remember seing that car at an Intershow event (one of Al Martinez's deals) around the same time. I was in shock! I also remember Dyno Don selling a gorgeous red fully restored Oval at the same event for $10,000. Back then, I thought that was insane money.

[speedwell]

i will scan the report jim

[speedwell]

here we go  
jim if you want this one in high res. send me a mail i will send you the report 
rgd
fabian

[speedwell]

 i like that car at that time very cool   

[speedwell]

this's the report  who was in the super vw n°5   

[speedwell]

jim i found the report in  hot vws

[speedwell]

there's a real empi camber compensator on under the gearbox mark chromed it 

[speedwell]

 

[Jim Ratto]

still a cool car. Interior is dated, but detailing of motor and pan are still cool. Betcha it was fast! Thanks fabs!

[speedwell]

de nada amigo 

[Jim Ratto]

find any other cars from late 80's-early 90's Hot VWs we might enjoy? I remember a cool green Karmann Ghia with big motor, twin turbo mufflers, polished alloys. Also Wade's black '67 street and strip car was a real standout!!! If you can find and post, we'd all appreciate. Thank you speedwell,

Jim 

[Neil Davies]

Does make you wonder what happened to some of these old cars. That oval only needs some very minor changes and it would look bang up to date. Detail the wheels, tweak the stance, etc...

[streetvw]

I don't know if it was featured in hotVW's but one car that sticks in my mind was a pale blue small window on polished fusch's,  if I remember it correctly it was a 59 that was built/owned by twin brothers. it was featured in custom car in the UK perhaps KS can remember.
Also what about Mike smiths red 67 with flat 4 BRM's and a nitrous fed 1776cc motor from the 90's was in the same edition as Scott Smith's and Angie Vonderhurst's(spelling) 67's

anything of these cars would be cool  

[Bewitched666]

Pitty that when my parents house partially burned down all my hot vw's and vw trends went up in smoke and here in holland you cannot buy hot vw's anymore.
I wil try to get them from the UK via Vwcollectables.

[dyno don]

i also sold mark A.'s turbo car as well... along with scores of others in a time when the economy dictated better buying power elsewhere besides the U.S./ after advertising many and not getting any response back...anyone remember my 69 candy apple red turbo ghia ..?? ....dyno don

[Jim Ratto]

i also sold mark A.'s turbo car as well... along with scores of others in a time when the economy dictated better buying power elsewhere besides the U.S./ after advertising many and not getting any response back...anyone remember my 69 candy apple red turbo ghia ..?? ....dyno don

yeah I remember the turbo Ghia, I remember asking you about it @ Classic '91 and loved that car. Hopefully speedwell will find the feature on that car!

[John Rayburn]

Dyno, you jumped the railroad tracks in front of SCS with me in the passenger seat in that ghia.

[speedwell]

dyno have you some picture of your notch with the american racing torq trust 5x205 

[speedwell]

i also sold mark A.'s turbo car as well... along with scores of others in a time when the economy dictated better buying power elsewhere besides the U.S./ after advertising many and not getting any response back...anyone remember my 69 candy apple red turbo ghia ..?? ....dyno don

dyno i found this in  hot vws classified  11,504.99$$$$$

[dyno don]

...is there anything your NOT on top of..??....wow..i think you know more about yank history than we do...LOL...keep up the good work..!!    marks A's car was cool and fun to drive for only a brief moment until the detonation took over..OUCH..!!..RAILROAD TRACKS>john..that was only on a 8lb boost ride if i remember and apologize if i scared you for life...LOL...that  notch was my second and was after my bracket racer days and 2 of 12 that i have owned..RATTO.. completely rebuilt and changed many things on the ghia after you saw it at the classic that time/many stories from those days...balls to the walls..!!! NEVER beaten by car or motorcylce..!!  dyno don

[Jim Ratto]

...is there anything your NOT on top of..??....wow..i think you know more about yank history than we do...LOL...keep up the good work..!!    marks A's car was cool and fun to drive for only a brief moment until the detonation took over..OUCH..!!..RAILROAD TRACKS>john..that was only on a 8lb boost ride if i remember and apologize if i scared you for life...LOL...that  notch was my second and was after my bracket racer days and 2 of 12 that i have owned..RATTO.. completely rebuilt and changed many things on the ghia after you saw it at the classic that time/many stories from those days...balls to the walls..!!! NEVER beaten by car or motorcylce..!!  dyno don

Dyno, tell us some stories about the red Ghia. What did it make, 400hp+? 2386 4bbl turbo motor, right? Let's get some pics of that ride up, man.

[dyno don]

ok ratman you asked for it/LOL/...looking for yet another project i had located the 69 turbo ghia featured on the cover of hot vw and knew all the priciple players in the build so i ventured out to investigate the purchase...upon seeing the pristine candy apple red ghia in front of the mansion style home i knew the car was bitchin from the start and the owner j. howe took me for my first ride and squished my chubby cheeks back in sheer delight as we strolled around the neighborhhod and upon pulling up into the massive circular driveway i was happy to shell out the $7500.asking price and decided to keep the car for myself...way too much compression as i tickled the insides of the engine all the way back 30 miles to my home at the time in garden grove,ca. upon pulling into my driveway and turning the engine off it blew a fireball into the entire engine compartment catching everything on fire that literally destroyed the entire engine bay to include all the sealing rubbers/plug wires/lines/hoses/side and rear fenderwell material as well as the decklid paint..!! needless to say i was BUMMED beyond comprehension. that was all in the first hour of owning the car...i eventually replaced all the essentials and rubbed out and polished the paint back to its beautiful candy apple red lustre once again and drove the crap out of the car for a few weeks before noticing a slight "tick/tick" inside the engine which i determined was from a cracked lifter bore(s) from too much compression and not enough valve spring tension(h/d duals) so i embarked upon the first rebuild where i took the compression from 8:5 down to 6:1 so i could use more boost and still enjoy driving to san diego and back. at that time i revamped the entire back half of the ghia starting with another trans as the "new"trans in the car was having pinion bearing noise(rhino case)..shocks/upgraded brakes/lines ,hoses, and redesigned engine and thought i would be done with everything..NOT  !!! a fast learning curve to turbo car madness that lasted for a few years until i sold the car to my older brother at the time...i have so much more to tell but dont want to take anymore space unless warranted...(i can be prodded further) grin....thanks/dyno don

[louisb]

more, more,  more! 

(that enough prodding?)

--louis

[javabug]

   prod, prod, prod, prodprodprodprod.   

[Jim Ratto]

ok ratman you asked for it/LOL/...looking for yet another project i had located the 69 turbo ghia featured on the cover of hot vw and knew all the priciple players in the build so i ventured out to investigate the purchase...upon seeing the pristine candy apple red ghia in front of the mansion style home i knew the car was bitchin from the start and the owner j. howe took me for my first ride and squished my chubby cheeks back in sheer delight as we strolled around the neighborhhod and upon pulling up into the massive circular driveway i was happy to shell out the $7500.asking price and decided to keep the car for myself...way too much compression as i tickled the insides of the engine all the way back 30 miles to my home at the time in garden grove,ca. upon pulling into my driveway and turning the engine off it blew a fireball into the entire engine compartment catching everything on fire that literally destroyed the entire engine bay to include all the sealing rubbers/plug wires/lines/hoses/side and rear fenderwell material as well as the decklid paint..!! needless to say i was BUMMED beyond comprehension. that was all in the first hour of owning the car...i eventually replaced all the essentials and rubbed out and polished the paint back to its beautiful candy apple red lustre once again and drove the crap out of the car for a few weeks before noticing a slight "tick/tick" inside the engine which i determined was from a cracked lifter bore(s) from too much compression and not enough valve spring tension(h/d duals) so i embarked upon the first rebuild where i took the compression from 8:5 down to 6:1 so i could use more boost and still enjoy driving to san diego and back. at that time i revamped the entire back half of the ghia starting with another trans as the "new"trans in the car was having pinion bearing noise(rhino case)..shocks/upgraded brakes/lines ,hoses, and redesigned engine and thought i would be done with everything..NOT  !!! a fast learning curve to turbo car madness that lasted for a few years until i sold the car to my older brother at the time...i have so much more to tell but dont want to take anymore space unless warranted...(i can be prodded further) grin....thanks/dyno don

Wow, that sucks about engine fire. The car looked good when I saw it in Irvine.

[speedwell]

dyno the car was sitting on real empi 8 if that yes i see the car well  ,dyno that it was very pretty case   

[dyno don]

yes my friend it had original 2 piece empi wheels...

[speedwell]

remember well in my magazine  ,i saw a report(not hot vw ) maybe 10 year now i will chearch after this one and post , when i saw the kg it blow my mind , the color , the rims etc ,,, are well on that car , and i remember saw in a super vw video tape we saw the ghia go away from a meeting  very nice sound
it's rock dyno