This is "The Hornet",  a 64 VW that has been modified so that not only is it a great economical vehicle for driving in the city and on the highways, but it is an excellent and comfortable car for beach travel  of which I do a lot for my work on Coastwatch. 

VW's are 2 wheel drive, but are excellent on the beach and soft sand tracks because they are light and the engine weight is right over the rear wheels which provide the drive. The ride in a VW properly set up for the beach is about twice as comfortable as the best 4WD and the fuel economy about 4 times better. I have  owned "The Hornet" for 18 years and such is it's comfort, economy and reliability, I have over a period of 5 years, undertaken a total refurbishment of the vehicle to extend an improve it's working life which includes:

• Body back to bare metal and repainted with 2 pack epoxy finish
• New 1641 engine with heavily ported head and higher cam for more torque
• A dual throat Webber carbie
• Points replaced with electronic ignition
• 4 into 1 tuned length ceramic coated exhaust
• 5 speed gearbox with a lower first gear and closer ratios than standard VW box
• CV conversion for vertical rather than swinging rear suspension
• Adjustable shock absorbers
• Air bag conversion with both on and off road settings
• Country Buggy front end with adjustable torsion bar for height setting
• Disk brakes on all 4 wheels
• Conversion from 6 to 12v electrical system

This work has been done by John Alder from Volks Engineering, who in my opinion knows more about VW's and off road converting them than anyone I know.  He is famous for his Kombi off road conversions and mine was the first beetle he had done for about 15 years.

Before you try to contact John to do similar work, he has told me that mine was the last VW off road conversion he wants to do, as he is now deeply involved in building Formula Vee race cars.  If you are after a fast Formula Vee, John is building a new car from scratch called "The Rapier", or if you want one tuned and prepped for race days, he's the man to see, he is a genius with all things VW.

The adjustable shocks and Air Bags were supplied by Tony Sloane from Opposite Lock at Newstead and the final air bag setup was done by the crew at The Air Bag Man

I am extremely happy with the performance of the car since all this work has been completed.  Despite it's excellent ground clearance for off road work, it handles like it's on rails on the highway, and the disk brakes work like a dream. 

Off road performance is equally impressive.  The gearing is perfect and when the airbags are set to off road mode, the comfort of the ride and the ease with which the car handles the conditions is nothing short of amazing.