Another VW concept from Alex, a VWCP forumer (Beetle324) from Angeles, Pampanga. A true-blue VW fanatic, Alex and family own a nice collection of vintage air-cooled VDubs. Most interesting for me and the subject of the latest concept vehicle is cinCo or “Number 5″.
cinCo was Alex family’s first Beetle. They acquired him in 2007 from Joel of Cainta. It was love at first sight and he was already sporting the yellow color when they first visited him for viewing. The wife readily agreed to buy cinCo and the road to restoration began.
Wanting an airconditioning system to make the drive more comfortable, the first item on the agenda was to bring cinCo to VW guru Jimmy Galvez of Arantea Ave. Upon inspection by Jimmy, he told Alex that it would be better if they fix the engine problem first before installing the A/C. The main problem was that the engine stalled. Jimmy diagnosed a half inch saddle in the crankshaft pulley. Alex decided to do it right the first time and went for an engine overhaul. That should ensure another 30 plus years of driving pleasure. They had the engine rebuilt and rebored back to standard specs at Precison, including the dynamic balancing of all the rotating parts. Upon opening the engine, they found it to be in a sorry state. It was so worn out, the main bearing housing was shot. It took more than two months for cinCo’s surgery and recovery but Alex and family had numerous visits to Jimmy’s haven for VWs in Pandi, Bulacan.
Time finally came for the Aga family to drvie cinCo home and it really felt great drving him…smooth and responsive engine… feels like heaven! So they had him like that for a couple of months until my kids wanted a makeover.
Here’s the story…………..
A collaborative effort of Alex’s 3 kidudes; Viggo, Siergi and Moisev. At first they wanted a Herbie replica but Dad felt a Superbeetle wouldn’t look right as a Herbie because Herbie was an early beetle. Since Viggo was eldest, he wanted his number, 23 to be included in the design. Siergi, meanwhile recalled that few months back they watched the “Bee Movie” and he said that it would be nice if we had a stripe and black painted the hood and lid just like the asses of the bees in the movie since ours is a super”BEE”tle. Moisev retorted “Yes dad, dapat meron black just like the bees in the “Singing Bee” naman of Cezar Montano’s show. So after all that brainstorming, I had it painted yellow and black. After a week they delivered it back looking more like a super”BEE”tle.
Personally, Alex didn’t like any numbers beacause they’re way too big and looked like numbers on the spanish deck but we had it like that for a couple of days. One night my youngest whispered to me before sleeping “Dad, bakit ako walang number sa beetle? Akin nalang yung superbeetle” and I replied ” Ok, tomorrow when you come back after school, your number would already be there”. Alex says “In the darkness of the night, I saw his eyes glow and he repeatedly kissed me.” Moisev slept soundly… snoring the night away.
The following day, Alex had a DIY project. He went to the mall and bought two cans of black spraypaint and had a machined cut reflectorized number “5″. Rush, huff, puff… in three hours, he was done. When Moisev arrived home at about 3pm, he saw his number and gleamingly told his Lolo “talagang love ako ni daddy ‘lo” ALex said “He called me at my office and as usual “memuladas ya”.
Late in the same afternoon when Viggo arrived, Alex called him and said “Vigs, your brother wanted the Superbeetle so I had the number changed” and he casually replied ” No problem dad, mas ayus ya pin linto kanyan eh, kaku nemu ing fastback”
Alex said, “ok no problem!” Alex was laughing inside and he said to himself “it’s really nice starting them young”
