Libsyn Directory

Ep 369 Wide Eye Baja Kit with Burly Burlile

Release Date: 08/15/2026

Ep 376 Bill & George talk winners of OCW and details of the weekend

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

Bill & Geroge talkk about the specfic cars that were built and winner of OCW 26. The events broken down. Lots of details that you may not have realized behind the scenes and some of those supported One crazy weekend. We also discussed where a lot of the cars came from and potential opportunities for next year. Show shirts available here

Ep 375 One Crazy Weekend Wrap up show with Joey G and Spike

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

What an incredible weekend! This week on Let’s Talk Dubs, I’m joined by Joey Giordano from Werkstat Restorations and Andy Finch from Spike’s Vintage Restoration to recap One Crazy Weekend 2026 in Las Vegas. We talk Baja builds, preparations for a 600-mile road trip to the show, and the Wednesday-night Baja cruise down the Las Vegas Strip. Then we dig into the Baja trail run—how it went, what stood out, and the stories that came out of it—before reliving the rest of an unforgettable VW weekend. There's also the poker tournament, the strip cruise, the car show and poker run. Oh, I...

Ep 374 VWTraders.com Chris Picco

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

Finding the right vintage Volkswagen or that one hard-to-find part should be part of the fun. For longtime VW enthusiast and collector Chris Picco, searching classifieds on a phone often felt harder than it needed to be. From his home in Ontario, Canada, he decided to build the kind of marketplace he wanted to use. Chris created **VWTraders.com**, a free Volkswagen classifieds site designed to be easy to browse and open to buyers and sellers around the world. It’s his way of giving back to the hobby and helping VW people connect over the cars and parts they love. In Episode 374, Chris joins...

Ep 373 EFI for the Stock guy Danny Foerster with Foerster Performance

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

Danny Foerster has spent years working in the automotive industry, specializing in fuel injection, tuning, and programming. As an air-cooled Volkswagen enthusiast, he saw the need for an EFI system that was reliable, easy to install, and truly designed for the everyday VW owner. The result is the Forster Performance plug-and-play fuel-injection system. In this episode, Danny explains how he developed one of the most comprehensive EFI conversions available for a stock Volkswagen engine. The goal was simple: create a true “set it and forget it” system that works right out of the box. No more...

Ep 372 Luft Ziegen Interviews Danny A & William Noguera

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

Back in June at the Luft Zeigen show I had an opportunity to sit down with Danny a a.k.a. Danny Alvarez one of the old-school lettering guys that let a lot of cars back in the 80s cars like red alert, bad temper, bad temper too and many more. We sit down with Danny talk about what it took to get into the business with lettering and how that all started and some of his history short interview it's pretty good. Also, William Nera fresh out of death row, and now on the path to make things better he's got a new book out where he works with trying to help solve murder cases. Good to see him trying...

Ep 371 One Crazy Weekend 2026 UPDATE

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

On this weeks episode I discussed where we're at with the car show. We stopped selling spaces cause we wanna make sure everybody's got plenty of room if you're planning on coming and you don't have a room still come to the show there's plenty to catch up with and plenty to do. From the poker tournament Thursday night at 6 PM in the poker room. Then on Friday early morning at 7 AM the Baja rally to Goode Springs. Friday at 3 PM, the Ross Wolf bowling tournament. Friday night strip cruise. Saturday morning the car show from 8 to 2 PM. And then at 5:30 the world famous let's talk dub poker run...

Ep 370 Barts parts David Harner Bakersfield

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

This week we put one more piece together with the bakersfield crew V-Dubs LTD. October 1987 was the month the "Chamange Notch" graced the cover of VW Trends Magazine. It was a really cool notchback sitting on some cookie cutters with a 1904cc engine. Dave showed that car for a while until the fatal run with California Highway Patrol changed the future for that car. Some say the car ended up in Japan some say the car is here who really knows but it's a wild story. We talk about starting from the bottom as an employee at Barth parts. Being overlooked in the succession plan and as fate would have...

Ep 369 Wide Eye Baja Kit with Burly Burlile

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

First came the “Bug Eye” Baja kit, pioneered by Miller-Havens and helping launch a whole new look for off-road Volkswagens. But the evolution of the Baja Bug was just getting started. After finding success with the Sandwinder dune buggy, Don Rountree and R&H Fiberglass turned their attention to fiberglass bodywork for the Volkswagen Beetle. Around 1972, Sandwinder introduced what would become one of the most recognizable Baja Bug designs of the era—the “Wide Eye” Baja kit. Instead of mounting the headlights close together in the nose like the earlier Bug Eye kits, the Wide Eye...

Ep 368 Air Cooling Engines with Jake Raby

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

Air-cooling a Volkswagen engine has always been as much science as it is art. For decades, enthusiasts have debated which fan shroud cools the best, what compression ratio is ideal, which cylinder heads run the coolest, and how today's fuels affect engine temperatures. This week on Let's Talk Dubs, we're joined by one of the most respected names in air-cooled Volkswagen engine development—Jake Raby. Jake shares the incredible story behind the extensive cooling research that changed the way many enthusiasts think about building reliable, high-performance air-cooled engines. Beginning in...

Ep 367 Bill's thoughts on So Cal month & Brian Reed DKP II

Let’s Talk Dubs a Classic VW Podcast

More Episodes

First came the “Bug Eye” Baja kit, pioneered by Miller-Havens and helping launch a whole new look for off-road Volkswagens. But the evolution of the Baja Bug was just getting started.

After finding success with the Sandwinder dune buggy, Don Rountree and R&H Fiberglass turned their attention to fiberglass bodywork for the Volkswagen Beetle. Around 1972, Sandwinder introduced what would become one of the most recognizable Baja Bug designs of the era—the “Wide Eye” Baja kit. Instead of mounting the headlights close together in the nose like the earlier Bug Eye kits, the Wide Eye moved them outward into the fenders, creating the classic Baja look that would influence countless builds for decades.

But there’s a lot more to the story.

On this episode of Let’s Talk Dubs, we dig into the history behind Sandwinder and the people responsible for developing these early fiberglass kits. We hear how a sponsorship helped open the door, how the success of the Sandwinder buggy led to new opportunities, and how Burly became involved in designing everything from a ’32 Ford-inspired kit to the now-iconic Wide Eye Baja kit.

It’s a fascinating piece of early Volkswagen off-road, dune buggy, and Baja Bug history, from the days when builders were experimenting with fiberglass and creating designs that would permanently change the look of the VW Beetle.

If you’re into vintage Baja Bugs, Sandwinder buggies, early fiberglass VW kits, desert racing, off-road Volkswagens, or the history of the Southern California VW scene, this episode fills in an important chapter of how the Baja Bug evolved from the original Bug Eye into the Wide Eye design we still recognize today.

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