Retro Sound's New Radio

New Retro Sound Radio

Retro sound recently put out a new radio. Up until now I have thought that their 60's style radios have looked good, but they haven't really put out a good 1968 and up sapphire style radio. A few weeks ago I saw the MidAmerica Motorworks catalog and I was pleasantly surprised. On one of the front pages they showed the newest model, the one shown above. I really liked it, I thought they did a good job on it. The black push buttons and chrome trim really are what does it. I think I will still stick to my stock radio, but they did a good recreation. Who knows maybe someday when I restore my car i'll get a new radio. I think they would look good on a stock VW dash or custom, either way its a good balance between retro and modern. What do you guys think, would it look good in a stock VW or should we stick with vintage sapphire models?

Vintage Sapphire Radio

First Snow... and an Idea for Heat

Christmas is in the air, and I've already broken out my Christmas music. Just in time too, today we had our first real snow storm, and well its a lot of snow. As I was driving back from school this morning the sleet was just turning to snow. It was beautiful, I thoroughly am enjoying the snow.

On my way home I noticed a slight problem with defrost. Bundled up I usually do OK in my car in the winter, but  there is one thing that I miss about a really good heater, that's the defrost. The heater in my car does pretty well on the bottom half of my car, but he struggles to get any heat to the front windshield. I was able to drive OK when I broke out the squeegee to keep the window clear, but defrost would be nice. I was bumming the internet when I found a solution. 

12 Volt Heater

This is a 12v heater from Sports Imports that has duct work coming off of it. If  it were hooked up to the stock Auxiliary heater switch it would blend in perfectly on the dash, but then it could be hooked up to the vents on the dash and have defrost and heat from the dash vents. I've never been a fan of gas heaters in cars, but I wanted added heat in the winter. I think this is a great solution for anyone in need of something a bit more. It could easily fit in the trunk as it is only 9" x 5" x 4" and then easily connected to the vents in the dash, and at a price of $239.89 its a good comparison to the gas heaters, because you would have to locate and restore a stock VW heater. Not to mention the gas heater never hooked up to the dash vents, it only had one vent underneath the dash, which really was a big hole that heat came out of on the driver side.

Another future addition to my beetle to put on my dream list, sure would make driving in the winter easier. What do you guys think, would you bother with it? Or have you done something else to improve the heating in your VW?

Finally Back on the Road & Ready for Another Year

My New Pedals

Last time I actually posted about my car I left you hanging. I mentioned that I had a new set of pedals and antennae ordered. Well that easy fix turned into a slightly bigger problem. When I tried to install the metal accelerator pedal I busted the entire pedal assembly. As I got looking at it I realized that there was a crack there previously and it had started to rust out. So I had to order an entire new pedal assembly. More money than I wanted to spend, but hey it looks nice, and that is one other part I won't have to replace when I restore my bug. So it took another week for that to finally come, and then I got my brand new pedal assembly in with the new brake and clutch pads makes the interior look a little better actually, a little cleaner. The other part I ordered was a stock radio antenna instead of the after market one. Sadly it didn't make all that much difference, I can still only pick up two radio stations clear enough to hear.

New Fan Pulley

OK so my car was running for a few days then I decided to do a carburetor adjustment before I took the car in to get emissions and safety done. I also realized the fan belt was really loose, so I took a look at it and realized the fan pulley was pretty warn and a little loose. I went ahead and ordered that, a week later that finally came, it all went together smoothly and the bug was finally on the road again. To top it all off it passed emissions and safety with flying colors, they didn't have to twink it at all. So he's good to go for another year.


I'm really excited the bug has been running really good lately. Usually about every two weeks I have to fix something else, but he's been running really smoothly (knock on wood). Do you guys find that you have to twink or fix something on your VW pretty regular?