SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

from VW Trends Vol. 3, No. 1 Summer 2023

BUG-A-PALÜZA 2023

What started as a simple stop on the “Where in the world is Dan Leadbetter?” tour turned into an impromptu open house show and shine! • By DG Leadbetter

IabsolutelyLOVE the South! And not just for the sweet tea … although that’s a big draw for me. It’s the people that make it awesome. Everyone is super kind, friendly and willing to lend a hand. So, let’s narrow that scope to the Southern VW community!

Without question, the VW crowd in the South loves to party — and if there’s no party happening, they’ll make one! That’s exactly what happened in April in Alabama. When I was at Bug-a-Palüza in Tennessee, I was told by someone that I HAD to meet Ed from Ed’s Foreign Car Parts in Gadsden, Alabama. Long story short, I met Ed and we hit it off. I told him about the tour I was doing, and how I’d love to come by his shop the following Saturday as one of the stops. He said, “Let me see what I can pull together.” when I rolled up to Ed’s place on Saturday morning!

Ed’s shop is filled to the brim with every VW part you could ever need, including just about every EMPI part imaginable (two stories worth — you should see the basement!) And he has a full-blown machine shop where he builds some of the best VW motors around (several people called him The Wizard.)

We had the best time meeting all of Ed’s customers (or friends, as he prefers to call them), taking selfies and just getting to know this awesome group of people!

Ed’s Foreign Car Parts

535 Locust Street

Gadsden, AL 35901

(256) 546-9279 facebook/edsforeigncarparts

I texted Ed in the middle of the week. He told me he decided to do an open house in conjunction with my visit, and that a few VWs might be showing. I thought, “Well that’ll be cool. Make a little more of a party out of it.” To be completely honest, I was not prepared for what was going to happen

The VWs started pouring in, and when it was all said and done, there were about 50 vehicles. And we’re talking some AMAZING VWs — Bugs, Buses, Trikes, water-cooled, and more. Ed made sure people were well fed, as grilled hot dogs, chips and soda were the order of the day. Four winners were picked to split the money from the sale of raffle tickets. Tons of fun!

The bottom line: My stop at Ed’s Foreign Car Parts was awesome, and one for the record books! Everyone had a great time, tons of selfies were taken, no one left hungry, and a good time was had by all.

You can’t have a proper party without some food! Ed made sure the crowd was well fed with hot dogs, chips, and soda.

When we said all types of VWs showed up, we meant ALL types! Check out this cool truck conversion.

Vw Trends 48ipa Alps Oval Special

1. This ALPS Oval is pretty rusty and beatup. It’s going to need some serious detail work and TLC, but at least all the original parts are there. I carefully removed the body from the chassis by bending up eight metal tabs.

headlights and a front hood handle finish off the details. The overall size of the large ALPS VW is about 200mm, which is 8 inches, or about 1/20 scale.

A hopped-up toy refurb for VW Trends’ beer launch party • by Arthur Junior

Editor’s note: When VW Trends decided to private-label our own 48IPA beer, we let all our freelancers know about the launch party held Saturday, June 10, in Old Towne, Orange, California. Everyone was super excited about it, especially our European toy contact, Arthur Junior. Arthur thought it would be cool to put together a VW toy to commemorate. Well, of course we were on board — how could we say no? Arthur had recently picked up a mid-1950s ALPS Oval tin toy that had seen better days and was in dire need of repair. It would be a great candidate for the project. So take it away, Arthur!

ThisOval Window VW toy was manufactured by Japanese toy company ALPS Shoji Ltd., Tokyo. The company’s trademark insignia is a mountain, but in my opinion it looks more like the Swiss Alps than Mount Fuji. Regardless, the body of this toy is made of stamped tin plate with a very nice VW silhouette. There’s little distortion, except in the front and rear quarter panel area. The tin body has cut-out windows, including the Oval rear window and door wind wings. The front hood indentation, door seam lines, rain gutter, and bumblebee-wing deck lid are stamped in the body.

One of the way-too-cool features is the detail of the 14 punched-out louvers under the Oval window. A clear plastic insert with a tin molding is used for the front windshield. There’s also a silver-painted raised line along the side of the toy for side molding detail. The body is not painted, but instead lithographed with colors of red, blue, green or gray. The taillights, license plate light, and rear hood handle are also lithographed. Shiny metal button

The ALPS VW has a tin plate insert with a colorful lithographed detailed interior. Unfortunately, it’s not that of a 50’s era VW. I’m not sure what it represents, other than perhaps a fancy carnival ride or golf cart vehicle? Who knows? The red, white, and blue tuck and roll seats, red steering wheel, and airplane-style dashboard with all the gauges and lights glowing are definitely not from a VW. Looking through the Oval window one can see the ALPS name, mountains, “Made in Japan” and a globe with Saturn-like rings. The globe insignia indicates that this toy was for the export market.

The tin chassis was usually lithographed in black and had a high-torque friction motor attached. Real rubber tires and shiny hubcaps, with or without the VW emblem, were installed; the front wheels did not steer. The chassis, which had tin nickel-plated front and rear bumpers, was secured to the body with eight metal body tabs. The ALPS Oval VW was shipped in a cardboard box that came in two different style graphics of a Volkswagen.

The “before” photos of this ALPS Oval clearly show how rusty and beat up it was. It needed some detailed work and TLC to get back on the road again, especially in time for the 48IPA BEER LAUNCH party! The best thing going for this ALPS VW is that all the original parts are there — usually a bumper, hubcap, or rubber tire is missing.

Let’s start the refurb and custom job! First, I carefully removed the body from the chassis by straightening the eight metal tabs. Then I removed the tin interior insert, headlights, and hood handle from the body. The friction motor is normally attached to the chassis with 4 tabs, but strangely, this one was attached with twisted wire. (Later in the process, I soldered the motor to the chassis to secure it.) Then I removed the front wheel axle, tires, and bumpers.

I stripped the body and chassis with paint-removing gel and exposed the bare metal. I smoothed out the dents by using some modelers putty. The body and chassis are now ready for primer and paint. Now comes the decision of what colors to use. There are four colors used on the crazy lithographed interior: red, white, blue, and black. So I’ll use those colors: white for the body, red and blue for the fenders, and black for the running boards, chassis, and for detailing here and there. Painting the fenders is a two-step process.

I wire brushed the friction motor, bumpers, hubcaps, windshield trim, headlights, and front hood handle for a clean, shiny look. The hubcaps require a multi-step painting process. I painted the windshield trim and front hood handle black. I silicone-treated the real rubber tires for that new-tire look.

I created a special set of decals for the 48 IPA Beer Launch Party, then printed them on a water-transfer decal sheet using a color laser printer. I applied the decals to the body and sealed them with a couple of coats of clear paint.

I attached the friction motor, tires, hubcaps, and bumpers to the chassis, and it’s now ready to roll. I added a license plate light and two taillights to the body. I reinstalled the windshield trim, front hood handle, and interior insert. Finally, I reunited the finished body and chassis and bent the body tabs back over.

We’re now definitely ready to cruise to the VW Trends 48 IPA Launch Party with the ALPS HOT