March 1987 was when it all started. I bought a 1971 Marina Blue 1200 base model Beetle from a friend of my Dad’s. It came with a pile of ‘Hot VWs’, ‘Street Machines’, showing Colin Burnham’s project Cal-Look build, and most importantly the Bill Fisher book ‘How to Hot-Rod Volkswagen Engines’. I was 17 in June of that year so my Dad and I went to Bug Jam with ‘L’ plates as I had only been driving a few weeks. That weekend I bought my first performance exhaust and fitted it there with my first Snap-on tool. The beginning of an expensive combination.

I’ll let the photos below fill in the gaps between then and now, there’ve been countless cars, late night missions, street wheelies, hundreds of quarter mile runs and laps round circuits, 4 workshops and lots of good times.

I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped out over the years including my Mum and Dad for their support, for my eternal girlfriend Nikki who’s been there keeping me and my paperwork in order since the beginning, the Giant Killers and all the usual suspects.   Ian Clark WPS