Fix My Dub.: How to visualise your future Dream Car

Hello everyone, welcome to my first "VW Related" post, I hope you like it.

So I was outside working on my bug the other day as you do, just minding my own business. Scratching my head, trying to show the neighbours that I can at least look like I know what I'm doing.

I see a guy across the road who I've never spoken to before but obviously lives opposite me. (We only just moved in 3 months ago.) And he is walking straight towards my house holding a bag of something.

"Hi, my name is ..... (I can't remember...I know that's really bad, but whatever)... I used to have a VW type 3, but I wasn't able to find the time to give it the attention it needed so I sold it. Anyway I'm clearing out my bedroom and I've got about 2 years worth of 'VolksWorld' magazines if you want them?"

"Err...Yes! Now get off my Property!"

"When you set out to build any car, the most important thing is to have a clear image of what you want to achieve in your head. It doesn't matter what style you are going for, you just need to know what it is that you want...as one of the main reasons that restored or modified cars end up as unfinished projects is because people change their minds partway through." - Volksworld April 2011, Pg 7.

That was the very first thing I read as soon as I opened the first of about 20 magazines. It immediately caused the doubt in my own head "Would I ever finish my Bug?" It was hard to think what I wanted to achieve as an end result.

So I did a bit of snooping around and found a couple of resources on the internet to help visualise a project.

Here is a short-list of what I came up with:

#1 BusSelecta - http://www.busselecta.com/ - This is really good website and has plenty of options for whichever car or bus you have and want to pre-visualise. There are plenty of options for customisation, especially for the beetle. Pretty much anything you can think of, you can achieve a rough idea using this website.

#2 Beetle Generator / Bus Generator - This is an app currently only available for the iOS series (iPhone, iPad, iPod). First, the Beetle Generator, is currently a little more limited to customisation options. You can mix up any colour you choose using the colour sliders and there is also an ageing option, so that you can get an idea of rattier versions of your project. You can fit the car with a variety of after-market wheels and rubber, as well as modifying the stance of the car before saving the image into your . I have heard that the creator/s are looking to update the Beetle Generator soon, but that still proves to be seen.

For 69p, you can't really go wrong, and it really is beneficial if you are like me and find it hard to see the light at the end of the very long tunnel! Also, as you can see, the quality of the pictures is amazing!

You can get Beetle Generator from the app store by following this link:

Next, Bus Generator is exactly the same as Beetle Generator, except, you guessed it; it's for buses and campers! There are plenty more customisations for the Campers (windows, side doors etc) but at £1.99 it is up to you. Put it this way, I have both and I don't even have a bus/camper.