VW FUNFEST 2023

One weekend yields a lifetime of memories! • Courtesy of Mid America Motorworks

Effingham, Illinois became a hub of VW enthusiasts on June 16 and 17 as Mid America Motorworks hosted Funfest for Air-Cooled VW 2023. Volkswagen lovers from around the globe gathered to celebrate the iconic air-cooled VW.

The festival grounds on Mid America Motorworks’ corporate campus welcomed VWs of all shapes and sizes, from Beetle to Bus and everything in between.

Passionate owners were more than eager to share stories, swap tips, and display their prized possessions. The air was electric with the sound of engines and the friendly banter of like-minded enthusiasts.

Funfest offered activities to keep attendees entertained throughout the weekend, including Volkswagen history trivia, a stein hoist competition, caricatures by artist Dan Wild, an exhaust sound-off competition, and more.

The swap meet provided a treasure trove of memorabilia, spare parts, and collectibles. Family fun was in full swing, with activities for the kiddos including a towering inflatable slide, bounce house, obstacle course, T-shirt tie dyeing, a sack race, and more. Food trucks and vendors served barbecue, hot dogs, donuts, shaved ice, and more.

The entertainment featured a live DJ, VW-themed movies, informative seminars, and Q&A sessions with industry experts including Darby Milnor (The VW Doctor) from Midwest Autosavers, Erik Elmauer of the Herbie the Love Bug Collectables Museum, and Bill Hickmott of B&D Custom Performance.

On Friday evening, hundreds of VW owners lined up to take part in the road tour that wound through the beautiful countryside and around scenic Lake Sara before cruising into downtown Effingham. After the VWs rolled in, they were greeted by Mike Yager, founder and chief cheerleader of Mid America Motorworks, along with crowds of local spectators.

All weekend, VW owners were able to kick back, relax, and enjoy each other’s company in the warm June sun. The

Mid America Motorworks has the coolest stuff! How about this extremely rare ’47 Plattenwagen? Only three are known to exist.

Volksmart shopping area buzzed with attendees lining up to receive event goodie bags and tickets to win incredible prizes donated by EMPI and Dan’s Dune Buggies. Others shopped event deals on VW merchandise and parts. Inside Volksmart, key pieces of Mid America Motorworks’ MY Garage Museum were on display, including one of the original Herbies from the 2005 film Herbie: Fully Loaded.

Mid America Motorworks also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the New Beetle, a modern-day water-cooled classic that captured hearts with its charming design and irresistible personality.

Funfest for Air-Cooled VW 2023 captured the hearts of vintage Volkswagen enthusiasts and left them yearning for more. From the vibrant display of restored and custom vehicles to the road activities and competitions, live entertainment and seminars, mouthwatering cuisine and treats, and memorable road tour and parade, Funfest created memories that will be cherished for years to come.

Water-cooled

By David Zemla

Trace the custom VW scene back to its origins and you’ll find men and women toiling in dimly lit shops using basic tools and making air-cooled magic happen. The killer Baja that inspired yours? Likely built in a humble residential garage. Most of the ’80s Cal Look cars? Garage built, with an unabashed passion and creativity that is alive and well today. Each issue we’ll highlight a deserving builder, their space, and their cars. If you have a VW problem and like many of us are self-medicating, drop us a line. We’d love to feature your cars and your space. Email dzemla@gmail.com, DM @airkooledgarage or tag #garagebuiltvws

This issue’s Garage Built column comes to us from the Great White North and is our first Canadian builder. Annie began her VW odyssey like a lot of us, as a teenager looking for a cheap car. Her ’71 Super Beetle would last two years before Annie, off to college and in need of more modern transportation, would hand it off to a father/son team looking for a project car. Not surprisingly, that childhood commuter would haunt her well into adulthood. (Don’t lie, the same thing happened to you!)

Flash forward to current times and Annie is a married adult living a somewhat normal life when the VW urge returns. Her husband stoked the aircooled embers back to a full-fledged flame by locating the car she is currently restoring.

Annie, who grew up working with her hands, says, “I have no formal mechanical training, but wrenching has always appealed to me. I’ve done woodworking, plumbing, and electrical, so the Bug wasn’t a huge stretch.” In fact, Annie is a sought-after artist, building, of all things, high-end Star Wars props. There’s a sixmonth waiting list for her work.

Working out of a 20x30 space at her home in Alberta on the Western side of Canada, Annie started with a particularly rough ’69 Bug now named Helen Wheels (get it?). The car had sat in a field for far too many snowy winters and showed it in all the typical spots — and even in some that were not so typical. “The Bug was in bad shape,” she says, “but I felt a connection to it and knew it was going to be a test of everything I knew, as well as teach me new things.”

Annie has developed quite a social media following and does an amazing job of narrating her work, even responding to the many comments in her posts. She’s well into the resto and has completed the pans and channels using basic tools and a trusty Lincoln 140 MIG welder. She’s built a largely stock 1600 for the car and plans to run the trans as is. Suspension will be factory based, with the exception of disc brakes.

“I’m probably at the tail end of the metal work, have recently replaced the entire package tray, and am now forming my own patch panels,” she says. “The process is tedious, but satisfying.” Like a lot of us, she already has a second car on the back burner (she says it’ll get the Baja treatment when this car is finished). Annie’s story is particularly inspiring as she tackles the daunting tasks of a resto and shares her experiences along the way. We encourage you to follow her antics on Instagram @annies_vw If you also have a garage full of VWs you’d like to share, drop your submission to dzemla@ gmail.com or DM David @airkooledgarage.