LOLA: Kicko Salazar's Show Girl

For this year our first featured car is a 1974 bug owned by Francis “Kicko” Salazar.

Kiko is the youngest member of BatVolks. He joined the club last year January 3, 2009. So it has been a year now since he embraced the BatVolks way of life: camaraderie, fun, friendship and love for air-cooled VWs.

Before he got his ’74, he previously owned an “unidentified bug”- it is due to the bugs identity crisis. The body says it’s a German CKD (complete knock down) assembled here in the Philippines, but the registration says it has a Latina origin which is Brazil. Kicko got tired of thinking how to make his “unidentified Bondo-bucket” a head turner but still after a few good sums of money… he decided to sell it.

The amount he got from selling his previous bug was used to purchase another bug, but this time it is a 1974 Brazilian beauty. With a stock 1600 power plant and stock tranny, it is nonetheless a good daily driver from San Luis to Batangas City (that’s 60-70k kilometer per day!). Handling is good on all four corners with stock 165/80 R15 tires shod with white wall inserts on stock rims.

Paint is two-tone metallic blue and off-white. The same color scheme inspired the stock interior panels and seats. There are three (3) stars on the lower skin the rear quarter panels inspired by Kicko’s tattoos behind his ears. Vintage-style roofrac provides carrying pleasure for beach picnics and skimboard gimmicks. Hang-type air-conditioning unit is installed to keep the ride cool during summer and driving around the Metro. An “old-skool” looking radio provides reggae music via its USB and Micro SD ports, imagine a Sapphire radio with volume and tuning knobs but with a twist!

I told Kicko that his Latina Bug should have a really sexy name… Lola (Low-la). Do you still remember the Barry Manillow song Copa Cabana’s opening line? … “Her name was Lola, She was a show girl…"