I got involved with 356's the roundabout way by being involved with the poor cousins of the 356 - the unique and wonderful VW beetle! I have been into VW's since 1968 when my mom bought our first beetle for a few hundred dollars. It was a faded red 1959 standard beetle and I will never forget that car.

I have been restoring Vintage VW's for about seven years now, Our first beetle we had (my wife and I) was in 1983. It was a 1974 auto-stick. I drove that car from Mansfield to Springfiled on a regular basis to visit her at school, even in the Winter! The next beetle I had was also a 1974 stick shift - this car lasted the summer that I worked at Cedar Point and it cost me $15! Of course it cost me $3 bucks a week for oil! After that we unfortunately had about a twelve year Hiatus from the VW scene, but when we came back, we came back with a vengeance.

We purchased our next beetle in 1997. A 1978 Yellow convertible affectionately known as "The Embug!" This is our main VW for driving around in the summers here in Ohio. As this was my first attempt at a restoration, she will be going back into the shop in the future for a full on resto! I have learned quite a bit about restoration over the past 7 years and I truly enjoy watching these cars come back from the ground up ( sometimes literally ...)

I am currently restoring a 1964 21 window walk thru samba bus with 42,00 original miles! It was parked in 1969 and sat until I found her about three years ago (fall 2000).

My last project was a 1959 deluxe beetle. The opportunity came about from a VW magnet on our refrigerator. A couple had stopped by during a home tour and the conversation led to Volkswagens. They said they had an old '59 sitting in the back of their garage and asked if I would be interested in seeing it. Always willing to take a look I checked it out. It turned out to be in great shape and a super restoration candidate, so the deal was made. Here is what I did with it....

Sitting outside the shop under a tarp is the next project. Two 1960 356B's, I cannot wait to get the bus done to get started on these!

I currently help out our club with the website and the newsletter, always feel free to get a hold of me with any club questions at ohiotubfan@cs.com.