The Bury Beetle Boys!
Stan Krawczyk • 7 January 2020
The Bury Beetle Boys! Welcome to the 80's!
Lets fire up the Quattro.... erm no hold on fire up the VW Beetle, phut phut phut tik tik tik tik tik cough!
I had to write this at some point, so boys if you are reading this, don't worry I look the biggest eejiot anyway!
Sometimes you meet friends along the way, who end up being your lifelong friends, yes the fools are still in touch with me. We met at school, went through college and beyond.
The photo shoot above was at Heaton Park 1984 (In colour!) my 1971 1200cc Beetle, Andy with his cool Triumph Dolly and Sean with his dad's Big Beetle 1303s MAX POWER!
I doubt they would let you drive on the grass today but they were easier times.
I am so glad we took these photos. Ok ignoring the erm duff 80's attire and even dodgier haircuts it was just innocent fun or posing if you will.
The Photo below was taken outside Andy (left) parents house maybe 4 or so years later after the one above.
We were the Bury Beetle Boys.
I even made a car sticker for us (in the garage somewhere). Later on even Andy H ended up with a Beetle however I seem to remember it being reminiscent to a garden shed on wheels?
My first car was that Beetle above, that or a Morris Minor? The Moggy you could put your hand through the cills whilst the Beetle was ok? I say ok it was a slightly less shed like.
I cut my mechanical teeth on that car and so began my lifelong love affair with VW Beetles and the air-cooled scene, being at its peak in the mid-late 1980's, finally I was on trend for once!
I had 4 Beetles over the years and the second one, I still have since 1987! I joked it would be my retirement project , ironically it probably will be?
It still fires on the button however due to its extended lack of progress, (it's being off the road since November 1990) I will probably convert it to electric power eventually.
The reason for Beetle power - my dad gave me £400 to buy a car. I ended up with the Beetle which I obsessed over, resprayed it in the street using aerosol cans, looked pretty good actually and drove everywhere in it.
I can still smell that Beetle only aroma. A heady blend of plastic, hot oil, fumes and cold metal, if metal has a smell but you know what I mean. The one in the garage smells the same!
My first job was thanks to that car. A friend John took me to a trimming place where I purchased some material to redo the seats and door panels. I sewed them all by hand which I had never done before. The day after I drove it to the trimming place said 'Look! Giz a job I can do that' and he did! People don't do that anymore do they?
Thank you Reg for being a superb boss and a gentleman.
(That interior is still going strong in my Garaged Beetle. The first one was written off by an eejiot in a Ford Sierra!)
Being a 1200cc it was under-powered. I left my heel on the accelerator pedal and it found its own speeds on the motorway, it could just about do 65mph!
The second one was a 1300cc and the best I have ever owned, why I will never sell it.That can do 85mph without breaking into a sweat on the motorway and heating so good you can melt shoes!
Then there was Colin, the man who taught me how to repair, fix change stuff on these cars when I got stuck?
A very big haystack of a man, fantastic flowery language but he was actually a gentle giant.
Irish parentage he could make swearing sound funny rather than intimidating.
His most famous phrase which me and Sean used to burst out laughing was ....
'Hey Stan you need to get the Sh** out of those idling jets!'
Sadly Colin passed away the other year. If it wasn't for his help I would have struggled with these rusty tubs. Thanks Colin.
A more involved VW motoring blog to follow later.
Below we have from the left Andy K, Sean, Damien, Andy H, me (plus quiff)!
Cornish Christmas Eve get away 2024
The Last Krawczyk - 200 years in the making.
Penhros Polish Village - end of an era
Mum's Polish Kitchen - Krawczyk stuffed pancakes - nadziewane naleśniki.
Keeping the website going...
Christmas eve 2023 in Cornwall
Christmas eve 2021
Popcorn the kitten, Ania's new friend
5 Years today since mum passed away.
Ukraine War 2022