Watch: Jay Leno Drives a Patina-Heavy ’55 Beetle

For all his Bugattis and McLarens, Jay Leno still has a soft spot for humbler cars, like the Beetle. This week, he’s featuring a 1955 Beetle that’s still wearing its original paint on his video-graphical web log (or vlog, as the kids say) Jay Leno’s Garage.

Although the owner’s added a lot of period-correct aftermarket parts, under it all this Type 1 still almost all original. From the engine to the paint, this Beetle’s been lovingly cleaned, but its originality has been painstakingly maintained. The result is a patina-heavy Beetle with oodles of personality.

Owner Matt Jacobson bought the Beetle on The Samba, and is the third owner to try cleaning it up. It was a lengthy process that involved scraping off new paint jobs with scotch-brite pads and plenty of care.

Meanwhile, inside, the seats were blown apart and the headliner worn. Unfortunately, the mohair headliner was too far gone to restore, but the seats, thanks to a talented upholsterer, were salvageable.

It’s a little sad to think that these once ubiquitous cars are now becoming rarer, but at the very least it means that people who are willing to pour hours of work into their Beetles are getting recognized for their good work. So we salute Matt Jacobson for his hard work.

The post Watch: Jay Leno Drives a Patina-Heavy ’55 Beetle appeared first on VWVortex.

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Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT

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