yeah, i know that i dont drive a ranger anymore. sorry guys, but you are the ones who made this website so appealing that i had to stick around even after i sold my last ranger. if you all werent such a decent crew, i would have left by now.

on to the point of the thread.

i just got back from my only vacation of the year. a few of my friends and i meet up in Helen, Georgia every may for a Poker Run. we cruise around 120 miles and stop at five predetermined locations for food and photos and to draw a card. the driver with the best hand wins at the end of the day. last year the winner got new ported and polished heads. this years top prize was a high performance 1.25:1 Scat rocker assembly and a dyno run at a local guys shop. he builds type 4 motors for beetles and boxter motors, used to build A-10 turbines in the airforce, and has a helluva alot of guns (my kinda guy!!).

so here is how my bug sits at the moment. i should have rethought my choice of tires for the trip as large rear tires and mountains dont exactly mix too well but the car didnt disappoint. the mild tuning ive done to the 40hp motor handled the mountains and the magnum sized rubber quite well.



my clutch however did not fair so well. my lady looks on as i do my manly duty of a mid-trip clutch repair.



here are a few other rides from the trip, all in all there were 63 of us this year. we anticipate 70 next year.











one sad note though, my buddy Mark brought his '64 single cab.



very rare trucks. he just got it out of the shop where he had the entire brake system replaced and the motor rebuilt. the truck climbed the mountain wonderfully. the 2 mile descent, however, taxed the drum brakes heavily. the drivers side read wheel cylinder exploded from the heat and pressure of such a decent (and Marks failure to pump the brakes in addition to down shifting) and he swerved off the road. God was with him b/c the truck flipped 4 times on level ground. you can see where he skidded and bounced.



had it not flipped, the truck would have careened off the side of the mountain. Marks wife was thrown from the truck on the first roll and landed on the other side of the truck after it stopped on its 4th roll. this photo is from the night before the wreck when she was warning Mark that they should have brought the bug. she didnt trust the truck, she thought it was too heavy and untested to make the trip.



imagine how high she was thrown for that to have happened.




i was right behind them. we flipped the truck back over and loaded the truck onto a trailer. by the time Mark and Christine got out of the hospital saturday night (with only bumps, bruises, and cuts!!!) the truck was safely tucked away in a friends shop awaiting a new body that we will find soon enough.

aside from the wreck, it was an amazing trip. everywhere we wnet people rushed to the sides of the street to see us cruise by. even the cows ran to the fence as we were waiting on traffic to clear for a left turn (i swear!!).

 

hmmm.... i have no idea why the one photo shows up so small. does anyone know how to resize it? its late and obviously ive screwed it up somehow.

 

Wow thanks for sharing thats pretty neat! Someone was looking over that couple for sure..

I like the idea of the five stop best in hand. cool.

 

are you using photobucket?

 

That thing held up pretty good for being rolled.

Nice pics!!

 

pretty cool man to bad about the wreck

 

cool bunch of bugs. that sucks about the truck. glad to hear they werent hurt bad. you guys ever check out the "volks folks" show up near chattanooga tn?

 

some of us go. ive never been. i rarely have a free weekend to spare for shows. id love to go to it, plus my grandmother lives in rossville so i could always stay with her - and enjoy some REALLY good cooking.

 

yup

 

That is one sick Notch! Looks like a good time, hopefully my Ghia will be back on the road soon, I miss my aircooled!

 

aw man! that looked like a ton of fun... i love car oriented cruises! that sucks to hear ab your friend, i'm glad everyone was safe, now get that puppy back on the road!!!

 

Mark is in no hurry to bring the 64 back to life, he said this will give him time to work on his type 34 Ghia. for any of you who dont know, the type 34 was designed to be the luxury model for volkswagen in the 60s. you could buy 2 bugs for the price of one. NO t-34's were ever manufactured here in the states which makes them pretty rare. of the 1500 imported there are an estimated 380 to 400 left so ..... i pretty much hate Mark right now . i never knew he had one.

 

^^^that bastard! lol

 

I like that black bug with the prostars

 

BTW, Warren, Cute Ferret! I got 4 and love 'em!

 

MORE PICS OF THE VOLKSROD PLEASEEEE!!!

 

i have 4 as well.

they are quite the handful!

i wish i had more photos of Marks (not to be confused with the guy who totaled his 64 truck) bug. he came up from florida to cruise with us. next time you are in the magazine section of walmart or some book store, look at the hot vws mag. i know his car has been in at least 4 of them.

*edit* i found Marks post on his build at Volksrods.com

http://www.volksrods.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14062

 

those are some beautiful v-dubs there... glad everyone is okay from the wreck since it sounds like it could have been much worse

 

some cool looking VW's in there. I love those single cab trucks and the buses are sweet too!

 

well, jon finally got video of the poker run up.



this is on the way to the area where the wreck occurred. you will see me following Mark in his truck.

 

sweet pics, i had a 72 super bettle, but i always wanted to get my hands on either a notchback, or a fastback, my ex's friend almost sold me a squareback

 

Did you come through Blairsville? I saw two convoys of VW's go by while I was working, 15-20 of them.

 

looks like fun i cant wait to get my 67 vert finished so i can drive it

i have a truck just like the on that rolled and mine was rolled a one point in time as well but the damage was nothing like that glad to see they were ok

 

i loved my old VW. Im so jealous. Great trip and good looking aircooled classics.