Those of you who come to 24 Hours Of LeMons races already know Jeff; he's the guy who makes the LeMons carnival function correctly when it clanks into your town. A former pro racer who got his start in his early teens with a hooned-out autocross MGB, Jeff now prefers Italian iron. Remember his DOTS '65 Giulia SS?

When he first obtained the Cortina, it was powered by a semi-hot Fiat Twin Cam engine. After the punishment of quite a few rallies, the ol' Fiat gave up. What next? Hmmm... you can get wrecked Honda S2000s pretty cheap these days!




My crappy photographs don't really convey the super-slick setup of this Anglo-Japanese monster; Jeff was a fabricatin' demon to get this Hell Project together. All the Honda wiring and ECMs are in use, and it runs fine; all that remains is a bit of brake work and a couple of thousand little details. 1,800 pounds and 247 horsepower is a combination that sounds pretty good to us! And with legendary wheelman Jeff at the controls, it's gonna be terrifying a blast! Anyone who has ridden with this guy in a rental car on a race track can vouch for that. Did you know that a Honda CR-V can do 110+ at Carolina Motorsports Park? Neither did I!

And that's just the beginning of the fun stuff to be found under Jeff's house. The entire footprint of Chez Jeff's Oakland abode is taken up by an 1,800 square foot garage. For starters, here's Mrs. Jeff's ride: a lowered 1966 VW Transporter with a built-to-the-hilt 2,000cc engine.

Just inside, you'll find this 1971 Fiat 850 Sport Coupe, also belonging to Jeff's SO; don't those Alfa wheels look good on it?

When she doesn't feel like driving the bus or the Fiat, there's always her '69 Alfa Romeo Duetto.

Sometimes Jeff needs to change things up with this 1971 BMW 2002Tii with "lots of mods."

Tired of four wheels? Hop on one of the Lambrettas!

Tired of internal combustion? Hop on a Bianchi!

We had a tailgate party last weekend, prior to watching the hapless Oakland A's get shellacked by some team from behind the Orange Curtain. In attendance were the usual suspects: Belvedere Adrian's wagon, my '97 P71 Crown Vic, and the most reliable vehicle I've ever known.

Naturally, while we brought a dozen different types of gourmet sausages to put on the grille, we sorta spaced on an opener for the elitist non-twist-off beer we prefer for such occasions. No problem, though- the late-80s Toyota pickup's door latch makes an excellent bottle opener. I know that our readers will have many useful vehicular-bottle-opening tips for us, so let's have 'em!

But first, what's that vehicle driven by our tailgate neighbors?

Why, it's a veteran mid-60s Transporter pickup! Good tailgating vehicle choice, we say.

Since this is Oakland, I didn't have to go far to find a donk. How about a mid-70s Malibu with the crypto-donk treatment?

We've picked out 20 of our favorite VW ads from the Classic Ad Watch series for your enjoyment. From the 1950s through the current decade, from the USA, Germany, South Africa, China, Mexico, and Brazil, these ads cover the highlights of the Volkswagen product line in entertaining fashion

1984 Rabbit	1987 GTI	2005 Caddy	Beetle
1984 GTI	1998 Transporter Syncro	1984 Vanagon	1979 Scirocco
1968 Beetle	1979 Rabbit	1972 Beetle	1981 Vanagon
1970 Karmann Ghia	1958 Beetle	1976 Transporter	1958 Transporter
1955 Beetle	1971 Karmann Ghia	1983 Beetle	1966 Fastback

We'll start off with an octet from Discontinuuity, who has a knack for finding some great machinery down on the streets of the home of Coors: Golden, Colorado. Discontinuuity brought us these eight Golden vehicles plus this dignified Golden Mercedes-Benz Ponton a while back, and now we've got another round for you:

Nova Station Wagon: I've got a couple of good DOTS cars here for you. First up is a 1962 (or maybe '63) Chevrolet Nova station wagon gasser. I talked to the owner, Mike, who also owns a 1946 Austin hot rod and takes both cars out to the local Bandimere Speedway for Wednesday night drag races. The Chevy sports a 327 small block, not the stock I6, and has a killer stance in my opinion. More photos of an IH Scout coming soon.
International Harvester Scout: About a block away from the Chevy was this International Harvester Scout in fairly good condition. All I know is that it's driven by a School of Mines student and that it was probably built between 1965 and 1970.
Subaru Leone: I finally got around to photographing this Subaru today. From what I can tell, it was made between 1975 and 1978 and has every Malaise-tastic tape stripe and chrome option checked off (along with "5 speeds" and "Front Wheel Drive"). It looks like a pretty competent little daily driver though. Now I just need pictures of the much rustier BRAT last spotted at Taco Bell.
Volkwsagen Beetle: I saw the Beetle you posted for DOTS a few days ago with the engine cover propped open, and it reminded me that I needed to photograph this flat-black Beetle. I'm not sure of the year; it's probably from the mid 70s. Whatever the vintage, I think it captures the spirit of a college car pretty well: the Libertarian party bumper stickers, subtle yet somewhat half-assed mods, and the pile of crap where the back seat used to be. You also might note that it's parked on Illinois St, right in front of the MG from the original DOTS Golden post.
Toyota Starlet: I saw this Starlet parked on the street while on my way to a friend's house, and knowing the love that many Jalops have for the little Toyota I had to snap a few pictures. From what Wikipedia tells me this is an 81-84 model, and from what the bumper sticker and rust can tell me this little car has been driven hard through Alaska and Colorado since the Reagan years.
Ford Model A: I hope I'm not sending you too many photos from Golden, but I couldn't pass up this great vintage-styled hot rod I saw in a parking lot today. It's a 1931 Ford Model A (although the owner wasn't sure exactly what year it is, the title is for '31) with a chopped top, a 302 Ford V8, and some sweet pinstriping, all sitting on a '32 Ford frame and bias plys. I love all of the little details like the structural wood and fabric in the roof, flat green paint, dropped axle with hairpins, and the lakes-style pipes. Probably one of the oldest cars I've seen around Golden this year, and definitely one of the coolest.
Ford Thunderbird: I've got a couple more DOTSBE cars here for ya. The first is a beat to hell old Thunderbird I caught being transported on a flatbed, parked in front of this creepy industrial building. Whether its destiny is a full restoration or The Crusher, we can only guess.
Volkswagen Transporter: The second car is a newer VW Bus with a wikkid flame paint job, photographed near where I found the MG previously. The paint and aftermarket exhaust give it cool points in my book; however it also looses a few points because of the PRNDL between the seats. From the stickers on the back window, I infer that the owner (or previous owner) is a Christian, works on power lines, and has been a student at the Colorado School of Mines for the last three years or so.

I found this Volks in a Northern California self-service yard while searching for a parts-donor Midget for my 20R Sprite Project (found the Midget, but it had been stripped clean). Yes, its last owner painted a big pot leaf and the word STONE on the side. You've got to admire the screw-the-Man spirit behind the paint job; let's hope the driver miraculously walked away from the wreck (or, better still, that the influence of 19 bowls of Northern Lights caused the parking brake to be forgotten, with the van rolling unoccupied down some Trinity County fire trail and into a tree).


At first glance, I wasn't quite sure what sort of object had been struck by the bus. Light pole? Utility pole? Tree? Ah yes, a tree… and here's the evidence that it was a redwood tree. That's like a Hummer being destroyed in a wreck with an Iraqi oil refinery!

I found this bus in the same neighborhood as the incredibly low Transporter, but I'm pretty sure it's not owned by the same guy. For one thing, it could still be lowered another few inches and- theoretically- be driven; the Low VW Guy probably gets vertigo when driving a vehicle at such high altitudes. Some bodywork might be a good idea, but overall it seems quite solid.


Once again, my lack of Transporter expertise means I need to grab a model year at random from a possible range. I can tell we're looking at a 1963-67 here, so I'm picking the middle year from that range. VW experts, help me out here!

We've seen many roof-rack-equipped Transporters in this series, including this '56, this '57, this '60, and this '66. Since this chalkboard-patina example is parked at the beach, I suspect its roof rack is often used to secure boards, sails, etc., leaving room for the bongs wetsuits inside.


Look, nice view of San Francisco through the windshield! And, of course, we must have my usual Old VW Disclaimer: I chose 1959 as the model year of this bus more or less by picking numbers out of a bong hat; I know it's got to be in the 1956-62 range, but that's the best I can do. Experts?