VOLKSWAGEN DERBY
Name: Luke Beckley
Location: Evesham, Worcestershire
Three words to describe yourself?
Judging by what most people tell me, ‘off my head’ would be it.
But from myself, Hard-working, motivated, and determined.
How long have you been in the scene / interested in VWs?
I bought my first car, a mk2 polo ‘breadvan’, at the age of 14 and that's where the interest started
What sparked your interest in VWs?
As above I bought my first car at the age of 14, a 1990 mk2 polo which I bought as a project to ‘do up’. I wasn't looking specifically for a vw, I just wanted something old to tinker with as I’d always had an interest in cars from a young age, and came across this car just by chance, and that’s where the vw addiction began.
Aircooled or Watercooled? Why?
I’ve always been more of a watercooled fan than aircooled, although there is no real reason why
What’s your daily drive?
My daily drive is my bready and has been since i passed my test in 2015
Anything else in your collection?
As well as the Derby and the breadvan, I also own a mk1 caddy pickup (long term project), a mk2 polo transfer which i’ll come to in the next section, a mk1 LT35 car transporter, and a mk2 polo saloon which will be the next big project after the caddy.
Are you working on any interesting projects right now?
Currently I am working on a mk2 polo transfer which I imported from belgium in 2021. The transfer is a coachbuilt breadvan as such with a french built fibreglass van body (basically an older and more boxy looking mk2 caddy if you’re trying to visualise it)
Alongside this I am also slowly restoring my mk1 caddy pickup, and next yeat plan to build something a bit more custom out of the polo saloon.
Anything still on the wish list?
There's just too much to list, the dream would be to have a huge car collection of concourse, custom, and even prototype vehicles. There’s many old vw’s I’d like to own, and am also a fan of old american muscle and pickups.
Other than BVF, which VW events do you attend?
I try to do as many shows a year as I can
If you could only go on one roadtrip, where would it be and what would you drive(VW)?
I would probably drive to Wolfsburg as I’d love to go around the museum, and of course I’d have to go in my bready!
What does the future of the VW scene look like to you?
The future to me is looking rather worrying. With prices of everything going up and more and more of a push to go electric, I feel it may start to push people away from buying/ building cars, and maybe affecting the future of shows too. Don’t get me wrong there are still plenty of cool and big builds going on and I don’t see this happening any time soon, but I do see it happening at some point during my lifetime, and it’ll be a sad day when it comes! Or maybe I'm just being pessimistic and the future will in fact still be bright.
Vehicle Details:
How long have you owned: I bought the derby in 2018 as a restoration project
Model: 1980 Volkswagen Derby
Engine Size: 1.3
BHP: 66… and that’s 26 more than stock!
Wheels: ats pepperpots in 13x6 with 145/60/13 maxxis tyres
Colour: Florida blue
Modifications: On the exterior the car has a colour coded Kamei front splitter, an Auto-plas rear louvre, Polo N tail lights (this gets rid of the reverse lens), and the pepperpot alloys.
Underneath, the car has TA Technix air suspension, a Polo GT rear axle which has an integrated anti roll bar, polly bushes all round, camber adjustable top mounts, and caster correction blocks on the front anti roll bar.
Engine wise it has an early mk2 polo 1.3 with a 5 speed polo GT gearbox, a webber 32/34 carb, and electronic ignition conversion.
Special Feature(s): It’s not really a special feature as such, but my favourite thing about the car and the reason I bought it was because of how immaculate the seats are. They are 40 years old and still look like new, all because the original owner always had seat covers on them. The other thing that is special to me is that it still has the steering wheel cover that the original owner fitted.
Instagram profile @luke_vdub_beckley
