Today we had a blast! We set up a meeting with a young guy called Kyle from Palmdale. We got to know him via www.lovebugfans.com. Since the age of 12 he owns a VW Bug which he transformed himself into an awesome Herbie replica. Here you can see Kyle with Read more…
“The News Review” – a weekly newspaper here in Ridgecrest, California – brought out a nice story about us and Herbie “The Love Bug” going around the world in today’s issue. The article is written by Linda Saholt.
Finally we got the right shocks for Herbie. We ordered four new ones by Monroe (made in the US) – Domi’s favorites! It was as it used to be here in the Mojave desert a nice and warm day – great to work outside. The reason why Domi likes the Read more…
We got a brand new blog: www.herbiesworldtour.com Herbie is fully reloaded and we are back on the road in order to explore the world together. As we are members of “DLV Aircooled Community” you’ll still find our latest posts of our ongoing trip around the globe on here too.
Domi installed the new lid lock in the back. He was able to lock the hood after that but he couldn’t unlock it again because the pin wouldn’t go inside totally, so Domi guesses. We spoke to “ISP West” where we bought this spare part and we are so thankful Read more…
Herbie and the camper are doing quite well now. So we’d be ready to go to South America. But we decided to stay in California for Christmas. We turned on some Christmas lights and people who pass by are enjoying the show.
It was an amazing photo session with our Herbie at the Trona Pinnacles – a National Natural Landmark just outside of Trona, California. Don’t get bored! You’ll just see big stones, train tracks and a VW Bug Herbie replica from 1963.
As we’re planning to go to South America we bought a new engine lid lock including keys which we didn’t have.
Domi was pretty disappointed when he inspected the package he received yesterday. We ordered four new shocks for Herbie but the ones we got are obviously a very different type.
Modern day Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Commercial/Promo, starring a 1963 Karmann Ghia.
December 2, 1983, Domi was born in Vienna, Austria. Until the age of fourteen he was living in a small town called Weidling, which is a part of Klosterneuburg, where he moved with his family afterwards. Domi was raised together with his five brothers and two sisters. Read more…
Herbie was taking his first ride after installing the new starter. Today’s destination was Inyokern, the so-called “sunshine capital of America”, a little town with less than a thousand inhabitants just outside of Ridgecrest.
Today we got our new starter. We bought it on the internet for just 50 bucks including shipping. I would say this is very cheap for a in the US remanufactured starter by Bosch (made in Germany). There was not only the bushing included, even a warranty and a year Read more…
We got it as a gift for the premiere of “Herbie – Fully Loaded” at a drive-in theater in Gross Enzersdorf in August 2005. That drive-in theater is originally called in German “Autokino Center Wien” and is by the way the only one of its kind in Austria.
Domi always carried at least one VW Bug service manual with him on our travels around the globe. Now he got two of them. Both were presents by two of his best friends – Bernhard and Friedrich. As an example: How to adjust the valves correctly.
The original starter from 1963 fell apart. Domi already ordered a remanufactured one and took the old one out. With Zainab’s cosmetic mirror it was much easier to check if the fly wheel is doing well.
We got salt and pepper as a present from a so-called “snowbird” in Somerton, Arizona. The term “snowbird” should describe people from the US or Canada who spend a large portion of winter in warmer areas. They often carry their homes with them as campers like “salt and pepper” or Read more…
Today I drove to the next gas station here in Ridgecrest, California, to get something to drink for Herbie and I was surprised how cheap it was. I just paid 2.99 bucks per gallon which would be normally 3.79 in this town. A gallon has 3.79 liters, so one liter Read more…
We wish all of you “Happy Thanksgiving”! As we are vegetarians we won’t eat a turkey so we’ll have organic Medjool dates by Berryman farms in Bard, California, raw Californian almond butter and New Mexican pine coffee.
This is how my jeans look like after working three weeks on the car.
We forgot posting a well done German written article by Verena Eissner-Eissenstein in WIENER, an Austrian magazine, about our journey across Europe and the experiences we got while traveling around the globe. You can the article also on the following website: www.wiener-online.at/2011/08/herbie-gibt-gas/
In 2010 and 2011 we traveled all across the 48 continental United States. Before we started we bought a road map where we high lighted every route we took. As an example you see Arizona (below) – one of our favorite states so far – with all the yellow high Read more…
Today Domi had to find a “new” fly wheel for Herbie because the old one was worn out and he wasn’t able to order a new one because they stopped producing the old small ones Domi would need. Our friend Michael helped Domi with taking him to different junk yards Read more…
There is always something to do for Domi. At that time he did a paint job on Herbie’s hitch. It is an original one made by ‘Westfalia’ (in Wiedenbrueck, Germany) from 1970 – especially built for VW Bugs.
Herbie visited again Randy’s garage at Sherman E. Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest, California, in order to take his engine apart the last time. There was a little gap between the cylinder number three and its head which was leaking oil. So we have to fix that before taking Herbie Read more…
The following pictures are showing VW Bugs Domi owned in the past and he has sold for different reasons. My first car after I got my driving license: A black VW Bug 1200L (34 hp) from the early 1980ies built in Mexico. My second Beetle: A 1200L in mars red Read more…
It looked like a major surgery when Domi took all engine parts off to tighten the 16 bolts of the cylinder heads.
Our VW Bug had to be aligned again – meaning the tracking and the camber got adjusted.
Sunset in Arizona Sunflowers in Nebraska Niagara Falls, New York The Alamo of San Antonio, Texas Salton Sea, California
Herbie has an engine with the original 1200 cc (34 hp) and we are just using fully synthetic oil like 5W-50 (see below) which is a perfect one for classic cars as air-cooled VW’s.
It was just a little tiny thing what created a mess: The clips of the pressure plate fell apart during pushing the clutch. Thanks to Susie and Michael we got to know Randy who is working at the auto garage of Sherman E. Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest. So we Read more…
We had to change the shaft of the pedals because the hook for the clutch cable was totally worn out.