Let’s Talk Dubs Bill Tsagrinos

If you're familiar at all with Arizona or the southwest, you have for sure heard of Chirco Vw. Joe Cihrco started the business in 1984. As a teenager he met a neighbor that had a classic Volkswagen and he would go hang out one day that neighbor gave him that Volkswagen. His family built a shop and he started Turco Vw 16,000 ft.² of Vw heaven. In this podcast, we talk about the last 40 years of being in business. The customers he's met. The cars he's purchased and sold. From split windows to double cab. He also has connection to Dean Lowry famous drag racer from the 60s and 70s. At Churco they do everything from maintenance to full restoration. It's obvious you can hear in the interview. The love that Joe still has for this hobby of great people and great cars. When one of his suppliers stop selling wholesale fiberglass buggy Part needed. Joe decided to manufactured them himself making him one of the only manufactures for Baja buggy parts and five VW parts selling on eBay to shipping parts around the world. Joe has experienced every aspect of the Vw hobby. He'll be surprised to hear where some of his mechanics Hale from but it totally makes sens, a good podcast with a great guy! 
 
www.letstalkdubs.com
www.vwtrendsmagazine.com
www.rosswulf.com
 

On this episode, George and I discuss the upcoming show season Southern California which events we will be at. We discuss Zorba the Ghia  and Spike's Vintage Restoration process with  the restoration. Its moving fast for sure. Bill almost has the interior re-done due to camera Color That's taking place. We reach out to John Limnios, the winner of the real Street class for the Volks group race in Samoa. 900 hp drift widebody bus being built by Kenny Pfitzer. Lots of cars coming down for one crazy weekend this year. We also discuss a special trophy for cars that will be debuting at one crazy weekend. Is George going to trade his bus for a stock 58 single cab? We talk about Bill's trip in the next few weeks to the UK for the Cal-look Caravan 2024 that's gonna go from bad Camberg to Chimay Belgium. We also review a few of the podcast that just came out John Maher, Ron revere Russell with old speed and more. We read some listener emails and also of course give some shot outs. its a fun episode.
www.letstalkdubs.com
www.vwtrendsmagazine.com
www.rosswulf.com
https://www.callookvw.com
 

Autohaus! The name that is synonomus with VW aftermarket parts. Started by Ron Rosevear in 1968. Starting as a small stereo shop in Buena Park California. Ron decides to buy some chorme VW accessories and they started selling like hot cakes. We find out about thier business stratagies. Who drew the world famous logo. How they started as a parts re-seller and then on to a VW empire with brands like Race-trim and fiberglass manufacturing. The connection with Paul Schley. Armorall and so much more. A business pioneer with a vison to teh future. Theres also a connection about Micky Thompson. The first VW Trends magazine with their 40 page catalog included. Bruce Meyers ex-wife tries to get him to make some kits of the Manx SR. So many stories you'll love the history and behind the scene to our hobby.
 
https://www.letstalkdubs.com
www.vwtrendsmagazine.com
www.rosswulf.com
www.thewagen.com
 

John Maher is known to some people as the drummer for the early punk rock band the Buzzcocks. Starting in a punk band in the beginning of the punk rock era is pretty legendary. He also happen to be at the same place in the UK in the early days of when Volkswagen dragracing started to takeoff. John, after being in a band had an engine mishap (done by another shop) started repairing Volkswagens and soon after started rebuilding engines. His competition started at his first VW event when he entered the engine pull competition. Soon after he was building competition race engines on to building his first oval window drag car studying the pages of hot VW's magazine to see what was happening in the US. On this podcast you'll hear a lot about the early days of drag racing in the United Kingdom. Lots of good information and we go over what John's favorite engine build. Why did he move to Isle of Harris and more. Although he's living on the isle of Harris off of Scotland. He still builds engines to this day, so if you're needing an excellent motor built, check him out at johnmarracing.com 
 
https://johnmaherracing.com
www.letstalkdubs.com
www.vwtrendsmagazine.com
www.rosswulf.com
 

Some projects are more extreme than others. When buidling a custom VW, how far do you go? Well, if its an all out project and you team up with illegal speed shop prepare for it to go crazy. This project started as a brainchild of one of their customers that laid dead in another shop for about 10 years. It was put up for sale and when Harrison saw it, he reached out to the owner to talk about the project and he ends up, convincing the owner to bring it to illegal speed shop and get that project finish. Already started on a full frame down the center, they went forward and full tubed the whole car moving the seats back for the driver who 6 foot eight. This thing has it all 400 hp TDI motor. Six speed manual transmission, C6 front brakes and cantilever rear suspension. Harrisons' a hard-core VW guy and we also talk about his 64 Beetleand some of the cool ways that he slammed the living crap out of it and drove it static. Check out their YouTube channel on the link below and give them a follow on Instagram. I believe these guys will be around doing some cool stuff so be on the lookout. 
https://www.illegalspeedshop.com
https://www.youtube.com/@Illegalspeedshop
https://www.instagram.com/illegalspeedshop/
www.letstalkdubs.com
 

Transaxles have always been a shifty subject. With less and less people rebuilding them it seems the world is getting smaller in the world of transaxles. Ben Berniklau is a second generation transactional builder. His father was half owner of one of the largest transaxle rebuilding shops in Riverside. He learned how to build tranny mostly on his own after not listening to his dad and following his heart and being in the VW industry. Working for several different shops and learning how to build transaxles because he was always good with his hands. We always hear their VW stories and we get to hear the trail as how he learned to build trans axles. Now today he's the owner of Benco transaxles in Riverside California. He personally has built hundreds of transmissions over the years. His years of experience in dealing with parts alone give him the insight as to what parts work and what parts don't. With an industry leading five year, unlimited mileage warranty on his trans axles we peel back the layers and a him lots of questions specifically pertaining to your transaxle needs. from diff covers to shift forks bearing covers and axle tube and castings. We talk about it all. What are some of his favorite trans axle combinations for gearing and what he thinks about five speeds. He'll also change your gears for free for the life of your transaxel.
https://bencotransaxles.com
www.letstalkdubs.com
www.rosswulf.com
www.vwtrends.com
George's Youtube channel
LTD Youtube Channel