Volksrod

Volksrod buggy

front

Side view

Volksrod is a British car brand.

Brand history

Warren Monks ran a glass business in Doncaster . Together with Edna Gardom, the production of automobiles and kits began in 1968 . The brand name was Volksrod . In 1970 David Taylor took over the entire company, renamed it Volksrod (Hartsdale Services) and entrusted Edna Gardom with the management of the vehicle division. In 1971 Edna Gardom took over the company, which now traded as Volksrod Concessionaires (UK) . Her son Trevor, who had worked since 1971, took over the company in 1977 or 1979 and limited himself to the vehicle sector. In 1984 Whitlee Engineering from Wellingborough took over the brand. John Whitworth was the owner, his partner either Andrew Leach or Alan Lee. When the partner left, Whitworth and Jeff Copson founded Whitworth Engineering (Volksrod) in the same place. Stuart Hopewell joined the company in 1991 and stayed until 1995, at which time it was under the control of Premier Moldings . In 1995 the company changed to JE Whitworth Motor Services . When Copson left the company in 1999, the name John Whitworth Motor Services falls . In 2002, Stuart Hopewell rejoined the company and acquired the molds from Premier Moldings, which were broke.

Production is still running. A total of about 490 copies have been made so far.

The export has so far been to France and Belgium .

vehicles

VW buggies are on offer . The base is the chassis of the VW Beetle . The seventh version is currently in production. Below is an overview of the designs, periods, approximate production figures, manufacturers and brief descriptions.

model	Period	number of pieces	Manufacturer	Brief description
Mk I	1968-1970	20th	Volksrod	Shortened chassis, free-standing headlights .
Mk II	1970	250	Volksrod (Hartsdale Services)	Shortened and uncut chassis to choose from, headlights integrated into the fenders .
Mk III	1970-1991	120	1970–1984 Volksrod Concessionaires (UK) Ltd. 1984-1990 Whitlee Engineering 1990-1991 Whitworth Engineering	Only small changes, only short chassis.
Mk IV	1971–	70	1971–1984 Volksrod Concessionaires (UK) Ltd 1984-1990 Whitlee Engineering 1990-1995 Whitworth Engineering 1995– JE Whitworth Motor Services	Variant of the Mk III with an uncut wheelbase.
Mk V	1991-1993	25th	Whitworth Engineering	Successor to the Mk III, redesigned front with free-standing headlights.
Mk VI	1993	2	Whitworth Engineering	These complete vehicles were created on behalf of a Portuguese house rental company, which ultimately did not accept any vehicle. Headlights were integrated into the fenders again.
Mk VII	2009–	3	JE Whitworth Motor Services	Similar to Mk VI, shortened chassis.

The Mk VIII appeared in 2009 as a variant of the Mk VII with a long wheelbase.

literature

Steve Hole: AZ of Kit Cars. The definitive encyclopaedia of the UK's kit-car industry since 1949 . Haynes Publishing, Sparkford 2012, ISBN 978-1-84425-677-8 , pp. 270 (English).
James Hale: Dune Buggy Handbook. The A – Z of VW-based buggies since 1964 . Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 2013, ISBN 978-1-84584-378-6 , pp. 186-191 (English).

Web links

Commons : Volksrod - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Volksrod Beach Buggies ( Memento from August 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Austrian VW buggy site

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Steve Hole: AZ of Kit Cars. The definitive encyclopaedia of the UK's kit-car industry since 1949 . Haynes Publishing, Sparkford 2012, ISBN 978-1-84425-677-8 , pp. 270 (English).
↑ ^a ^b ^c James Hale: Dune Buggy Handbook. The A – Z of VW-based buggies since 1964 . Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 2013, ISBN 978-1-84584-378-6 , pp. 186-191 (English).

[Kit_Cars-1] Steve Hole: AZ of Kit Cars. The definitive encyclopaedia of the UK's kit-car industry since 1949 . Haynes Publishing, Sparkford 2012, ISBN 978-1-84425-677-8 , pp. 270 (English).

[Dune_Buggy_Handbook-2] James Hale: Dune Buggy Handbook. The A – Z of VW-based buggies since 1964 . Veloce Publishing, Dorchester 2013, ISBN 978-1-84584-378-6 , pp. 186-191 (English).