VW Squareback Maintenance Run

If you spend any time in Huntsville, AL, it won't be long before you have an orange VW Squareback sighting. For folks living out just a bit east of the city, out towards Gurley, Robin and Greg Cox's Square has even served as a navigation landmark - at least when they lived just off of 72 by the 24/7 Fitness Center.

Now they're off in the country, so if you're drooling over this Dub and it's in their driveway, you'll have some 'splaining to do, because you'd be trespassing! But when this juicy Squareback's out and about, feel free to stare - and drool.

In this video, you'll see RC giving the engine some attention. It's a new engine for this car, the successor to an engine that died... badly. We won't talk about that. What we WILL talk about is why the krew's spending time on a non-client Dub.

This VW Square is near and dear to the Airkooled Kustoms shop because it's kool (of course)... but even more, because its owners are family - not by blood, but by choice. It's a pretty frequent occurrence that the shop's lift, or a krew member, is spending some dedicated time with the ride of one of the 'pack' (we do love our dogs, and they seem to have some pretty on-track social structures).

We're about to take what might seem like a weird left turn here, into the heart of the shop.

Even though you might expect the environment at Airkooled Kustoms to be like any other auto shop, you might be surprised. Sure, there's the ever-present round of "that's what she said" jokes, there may be some outdoor peeing, and the guys rib each other a lot (a sure sign you're liked). But it's really a shop where family is everything - and we take care of one another (but never rescue each other) - and that means we are truly THERE for each other, encouraging each person to stand in their own greatness and to truly show up and choose "in" each day.

In the shop, there are no secrets. They say that it's our secrets that make us sick - and the shop is no place for that kind of sickness. The commitment to transparency and presence that happens in an environment like this is part of what's at the root of the excellence the shop creates. That sounds woo woo, right?

Until you think about it for a second.

What do we do to these Dubs - at least the ones that come in for a full restoration? The process begins by stripping them down to bare metal, revealing all their flaws, dings, and the cancer of rust. Nothing hidden. That's the ONLY way to ensure that when we rebuild them, we do it so they're truly whole again. You can't just slap Bondo onto a rust bucket and call it good. It might look decent (at 50 feet, going 50 mph past you) for a while - but it won't last. See it now?

The Airkooled Kustoms shop is more than a shop, it's about more than the Dubs. It's about family. Many of the cars we build are heirloom projects - vehicles that are so much a part of a client's childhood memories and dreams that they simply HAD to be built. Many of our clients become part of the AKK family (literally and figuratively). We give each other a hard time (ribbing with exceptional skill, got to say!), create space for each of us to show up and be amazing, and have each others' backs with the ferocity of wolves when needed.

And if you find your way into the shop as our client or krew... that's what you'll see.