VW friends

I once tried to explain human nature to my girlfriend’s friends, on the eve of me flying to Sweden to stay at someone’s house I didn’t know, but who had helped me buy a Beetle from an old man locally and put it in his garage so we could service it together before I made the long drive home.

Lou, one of the aforementioned friends, was convinced he was a serial killer. “Why would anyone help someone they don’t know like that,” she asked. My answer? VW people.

Along similar lines, Paul Iozzio – the owner of this awesome Notch – met Charles Mizer when they were both employees of Boeing in Wichita, Kansas, in 1996. Due to a shared interest in VWs, they became great friends over the next 20 years.

Ever the resourceful chap, Paul also had a job at Sole Designs Auto Body & Paint in Wichita at the same time, painting all kinds of air-cooled VWs, and his ambitions didn’t stop there.

“I had a dream of working with Chip Foose on the TV, he recalls, “and my dream came true in January 2006, then again another three times, culminating with the ‘Hot Dog Fred’ 21-window build that you guys may have seen on TV or the internet.”