Aircooled VW South Africa

Hey Volks

Seeing the recent threads of people looking for roof racks, I think it's time to resurrect this discussion.

A few months back I asked if anyone was interested in me making roof racks. There was some interest, but no one ready to put down a deposit.

I would like to start making roof racks to order, but only if there is a demand; I don't want to invest time and money with no return. I figure a full-length bus rack should sell for about R5k. I'm sure I can do shorter bus racks and Beetle racks for less, but I'd have to do more research to price them.

Is anyone ready to put some money down so they can be the first to own a custom rack? That's the only way I'll be able to prioritise building roof racks, given all the other demands on my time.

Discuss here or PM me. I'm keen to start work if the demand is there.

I priced a good quality rack from Volkspares the other day for a Beetle. R6,500. I had a look at one they had in stock and there is nothing on that rack that can not be produced here in sunny SA.

So, yes, at R5k for a BUS rack it will definitely be a good deal.

Fig,
There is a place there in our valley that may be able to assist with the pipe bending.......

Thanks for that info JH. R6.5k for a beetle rack!?

If there's enough demand I would probably want an industrial pipe bender to do bulk cutting/bending. But initially I'm planning on using the two hand conduit benders that I acquired recently.

I reckon I can build a rack from scratch using the racks I have as designs, but that would be a once-off. If there's demand for more than one rack I intend to start by making the necessary jigs. A bus rack will be easier to start with, but a beetle rack shouldn't be difficult to make.

I'm interested in a roof rack for the Notch, and one of those rack that sits on the boot. I would like to know a price and sort of what it'll look like, I can send a pic of the thing on the boot if you want.

Ron&Gill wrote:I'm interested in a roof rack for the Notch, and one of those rack that sits on the boot. I would like to know a price and sort of what it'll look like, I can send a pic of the thing on the boot if you want.

Hi Ron, for obvious reasons I'd like to start with a bus rack; maybe beetle if that's where the demand is. Since I have three different bus designs and one beetle design to copy it would be simpler to start with those. If that's successful, then I'd be happy to look at other designs.

FYI, this weekend I gave Bugger an unknown rack I have for him to test fit it on his squareback. If it fits there then it would probably also fit a notch and will be one more design for me to copy.

The boot-top racks were universal types, and probably much easier to find than VW-specific racks.

Fig - how much does the bender you have distort the tubing, and is this an issue?
There are places that do CNC mandrel bending, anything beyond prototyping type work this is definately the route I'd recommend. (Assuming that you'd be looking for a uniform shape to the tubing all the way along it's length?) If you have all the sizes, it's a far more reliable way of getting all the bends in EXACTLY the right place too.
Barry

I'm sure you're right Barry. Getting all the right bends in the right places is my biggest headache. My pipe benders are the old hand-operated conduit benders, which seem to work quite well, with no crimping or flattening of the pipe at the bends.

Well I would like something like those bekowa racks... so can you make something like that , i'll fit the wooden slats myself... what would the price on something like that be?

Fig just out of your head quick,what would a beetle roof rack go for?

Here's a (used) full length bus rack on gumtree for R5k:

http://capetown.gumtree.co.za/c-Cars-Ve ... Z145833897

If I do a bus rack it will be a copy of this one:

JohnHoffe wrote:I priced a good quality rack from Volkspares the other day for a Beetle. R6,500. I had a look at one they had in stock and there is nothing on that rack that can not be produced here in sunny SA.

So, yes, at R5k for a BUS rack it will definitely be a good deal.

Fig,
There is a place there in our valley that may be able to assist with the pipe bending.......

Bend-a-tube,there in sunnyrock,the primrose side of Greenhills.(the driving range)......about 600 meters from the bridge over the R21 towards Boksburg......they share the same number as every other company....10118

YvaneS wrote:Well I would like something like those bekowa racks... so can you make something like that , i'll fit the wooden slats myself... what would the price on something like that be?

Hi Yvanes

The BeKoWa roofracks are one of the unicorns of the ACVW accessory world. BeKoWa is an acronym for Bernard Korner Wansbek and the company was started in a village called Wansbek in Hamburg, Germany in the late 1920's. They originally produced bicycle racks for motor vehicles and later were started producing ski and luggage racks and then the roofracks like we know it today. They had quite a long run as the factory was in production till the late 70's before closing down.

I found my 9 slat 1953 (the rarest as they were for the split window beetles) rack after it was laying half buried in a friends neighbours garden for more than 20 years. It was rusted, but nothing that could not be reversed. After some cleaning, scraping bead blasting and powder coating it was as good as new. The wood slats were replaced with Balau wood and even the BeKoWa engraved clamps are still in good nick. I also uncovered the the metal BekOwa tag under the layers of paint, and then restored it, and scuffed it up a bit after it looked too perfect Sometimes these clamps can fetch the same money a normal roof rack does.. after restoring mine, I reproduced the Bekowa stickers from a BeKowa brochure I downloaded from the web.

Many other VW roofracks were copied from the BekoWa ones as they were made for all ACVW models. The Stirling roofracks produced in Durban many years ago were also copies of the BeKoWa racks, and were considered to be one of the closest to the BeKoWas...

Added some pics. and just thought I would add some info on BeKoWa.

How about a roofrack like the one on your dormy, but extended for a dc? Bit too early for that?

brianj wrote:How about a roofrack like the one on your dormy, but extended for a dc? Bit too early for that?

It's one I'd like to do. It's a good looking design and there's no reason not to do it in all lengths.

While my preference is to start with the full-length design pictured above, I will start with the design wanted by the first person willing to put a deposit down.

For the beetle volks, I have a Stirling rack to copy, which, as Muderick says, is quite similar to the original Bekowa rack.