Some 1,300 Volkswagens and 8,000 enthusiasts from around the world met at Mid America Motorworks in Effingham, Ill. to celebrate Funfest for Air-Cooled VW 2012. The three-day event honored the 1972 Volkswagen milestone of surpassing the Ford Model T as the most-produced vehicle with the 15 millionth Beetle rolling off the assembly line, securing its place in automotive history.

We're looking for knowledgeable and enthusiastic people to join our online team. Depending on your location, we have the following positions available immediately:

In or around Irvine, CA:

• Content Production
• Online Marketing Assistant

All locations:

• Content Contributor

If you think you are qualified in these areas, please send a resume via email to jobs@automotive.com. Please include the position(s) you are applying for. If you are inquiring about a Content Contributor position, please include a writing sample.

What would you do with an extra twenty to thirty grand? Take a trip around the world? Use as a down payment for a house? Buy a new car? How about restore an old one? That's roughly the amount world-renowned West Coast Classic Restorations (WCCR) charges to transform a rusted out vintage Beetle into a show winning, trophy car.

It all started in August 2002, with a bunch of street-driven VW owners, eager to find out how much horsepower and torque their engine would deliver on a dynometer. The cars entered in the friendly competition were separated into two groups, namely "Turbo" and "Naturally Aspirated." By the end of the day, the respective winners of these classes had displayed some impressive numbers, respectively 281hp (Robert Hemphill's street-driven '69 Sedan) and 177hp/161ft-lbs (Bill Schwimmer's Cal Look '59 Ragtop).

It's interesting the way some people progress through the VW hobby. Time and tastes evolve inevitably, and many times the fire of youth is replaced with more conservative values reflected in a given enthusiast's choice of project platforms. Take Southern California-resident Robert Reese as an example. In his youth he was an avid proponent of street performance, but lately his tastes have shifted toward the vintage end of the hobby. Where once he got his kicks from ripping down the street in a holistically modified Cal-Look racer, he now derives far more pleasure from cruising that same street with a modest 25 horses under the decklid.

Finally, we can honestly say that the Super Beetle is done. We've included all of the parts that we can find that will fit on our Super Project '71 and we've tried to cover each step in as much detail as these pages will allow. Although we could have easily filled each of the 18 issues that this series covered with the details of this project, we were forced to show you the important elements of the project and leave some of the mundane to your imagination, your innovation and your resourcefulness. Judging by the nearly 1200 emails and letters we received over the last 18 months, telling us that we did a great job covering the various aspects of this buildup, we are fairly confident that we've done something right.

This is really where the car starts to near completion. This is the exciting time of any project, because, at the end of this story, the project is as good as done. Provided we had a battery and the coil was hooked up to the distributor (and a couple of other small things we'll cover in the final installment next month) we could drive away, knowing we have a perfectly restored 1971 Super Beetle.

On a glass-bottom boat tour you're likely to see some fish, no doubt; and depending on where you are touring, the odds are good you'll see one or two types of fish dominate the waters around you. In Southern California you'll see Snapper, while in the waters off the East Coast you'll likely see Cod swimming around you. The funny thing is that all the fish look the same, but if you fix on one and really look at it, you'll notice subtle differences, small stripes or a dot pattern the other fish don't have or different color eyes and smaller fins. Suddenly, a school of fish lose their anonymity and become several hundred individual fish merely swimming together. However, in our industry, at our shows and in this magazine, the dominate school of fish is the Volkswagen Beetle, each one looking exactly like the other but individual enough to have personality, charm and a certain level of appeal all on its own.

Basically, there are no two ways about this: You can't install the fresh air fan and vent ducting system without installing the fuel tank and the evaporative emissions control system at the same time. There are a couple of steps that dovetail between the two installations and it all takes place in the close confines of the trunk. In addition to that, make sure all of your knobs are in place and that you've installed the dash-mounted ashtray. After the fact, it is nearly impossible. Not surprisingly, there isn't a wealth of information regarding the evaporative emission control system on the 1970 and later Beetles, except for the general explanation in the Bentley book and a short how-to about fixing a fuel leak at www.superbeetlesonly.com. Other than that, you're really on your own, and hopefully you took a bunch of before pictures when you tore your Super down to a shell. You didn't? Oh, well, don't worry because we did.

So you're at home minding your own business when a package arrives at your doorstep. Inside is what you've been waiting for, but upon opening the box, you immediately faint from fear. What did you see, nothing but a complicated, confusing, confounding collection of copper, connections and colored wires. Pulling out the bag, the now uncoiling mess on your workbench equals 392 feet of wires that all have to go into you car. Like baby snakes, there are 101 wires of various colors with 214 spade connections, and that means there are 21,614 possible ways to install a wiring harness...but only one right way. But don't worry, we'll help you sort through the mess and find that one right way. Granted, it isn't easy, but with patience and a clear head, you can do it and it should only take you the better part of the weekend.

Having a painted car back and finished in your garage is a great feeling and it is a turning point in the project, a milestone to signify the peak of the struggle to make this Super Beetle into a beautiful, yet functional, road-worthy Volkswagen. As far as the project is concerned, it is all downhill from here, albeit, not easy, but more rewarding.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: We like small shows, quaint gatherings of friends and family all interested in the preservation and celebration of our Volkswagens. More importantly, we like to relax. Who cares who has the best interior or the best paint? Trophies aren't necessary to merit out the great from the good (they're all great), and we can't remember how many times we've stood in front of a beat-up Bus or a well-driven Beetle and admired the years of wear and tear. Volkswagens are meant to be driven and this is no more typified than at OEBC's 5th Annual Spring Picnic held at Featherly Regional Park in Yorba Linda, Calif. That's not to say you won't find a host of beautiful cars at this gathering; it just means that the people who attend have a better appreciation of their cars as transportation rather than trophies themselves.

There are a couple of things that most people don't want to do to their cars, such as transmission rebuild, paint and body. Surely towards the top of this list is the headliner, as there's some myth that it is the one of the most difficult job in any restoration. Now, granted, it is difficult, but not impossible for someone at home to tackle themselves. There's really no special tools needed or any classroom-learned skilled necessary--although experience certainly is on the side of Octavio Gutierrez, owner of Octavio's Kustom 1 Upholstery shop in Orange, Calif., a secret source of not only great custom and classic interiors but for overall restorations. For an example of his work, check out the feature of Santos Lagunas's 1963 23-Window Bus we showed you in the November 2003 issue of this magazine. Truly remarkable talent.

How do I paint a car is a looming question for most everyone reading this magazine. Since we were finally at that step in our project, we towed it down to Deuce Kustoms in Placentia, Calif., where we learned a few tips of the painting trade. The car in question is, of course, our favorite Super Beetle project car, ready to receive a new coat of Kansas Beige paint. But Ryan, you exclaim, we can't see the actual color of the car because these pages are black and white! Don't worry, you're not missing much, as Kansas Beige is as about an exciting color as regular beige. However, if you want to see the shiny stuff, check out this portion of our series on line at www.vwtrendsweb.com.

Contrary to popular belief, there really are people out there who actually like finished cars. There's a yet more radical bunch that prefers an even, consistent color and shine. Yeah I know it sounds strange, but it's true.

For me, patience isn't a virtue I practice on a regular basis. When I want something, I want it right away and I want it just right; it has to be a vision of perfection in order to make me happy. Although perfection is stamped all over this '66, Tom Enriquez of Hacienda Heights, Calif., has that one thing that makes it easy to come by: a willingness to take it all in stride. He wouldn't even consider this project as finished, saying "I'm still working on it."

Finally, after a month longer than we planned, we reached the end of this mini project of building up the ancillary parts on a stock 1600 engine. Not surprising, but this is something that could have taken anyone with the right tools and the correct parts (ones that fit, we mean) no more than a full afternoon to complete. However, the industry being as it is, we ran into some problems with last-minute parts that we had to run out and buy. Not to worry, as we were able to make do with OE stuff.

If at any point in your restoration or buildup, you're interested in upgrading your wheels to something more than stock, you'll have to consider several factors in keeping the wheels under the fenders and from rubbing during a turn. To quote the Bentley Manual when it pertains to the front axle, "A change in any single element in the geometry necessarily leads to change in the whole system." This holds true to most anything you do to the front end, and by narrowing the beam to accommodate larger wheels and wider tires, you've altered the original intent of the design.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: Paint is like the final frontier for a lot of enthusiasts. They know it's there; they know how it got there; but they're not sure exactly what is there and why. When cars first came out over a 100 years ago, they were so unique that the color of the paint was least important--you could get any color Ford Model T you wanted as long as it was black. Paint was applied to car bodies for the sole purpose of rust and corrosion prevention. If it wasn't for oxidation, automobile paint may have never been developed into what it is today.

The craftsmanship involved in the construction of some custom VWs doesn't cease to amaze us. Not surprisingly, a small fringe of our readers will always find something to hate about these unique creations. While they politely acknowledge their disdain, we like to keep an open mind and show the diversity of the Volkswagen hobby in our pages. After all, VWTrends wouldn't be of interest for long if it only featured 100 percent stock VWs...

Last March, California Dragway and Irwindale Speedway, Two Southern California Tracks, Welcomed a Pair of Events Quite Different From Each Other. Let's Find Out More...

Finally, we're on the right road again, as our beloved Super Project '71 is safely in the hands of the trusted folks at Deuce Kustoms, a well respected auto restorer and customizer not only in the Volkswagen community (they just finished Clyde Berg's latest drag car) but also in the Hot Rod, custom trucks and classic car arenas. If you need it done, they can do it, and they can certainly handle a stock-color, no frills paint job on a mild resto Super Beetle.