Around 2002 I was at a local meeting with my 1303 VW beetle, which had a 2,4 ltr type 4 engine conversion. A then ‘stranger’ came to me and we spoke about my car and of his plans for his germanlook bug to be. He then showed me a few pictures of individual OHC type 4 cylinder heads. I was totally in awe and could hardly believe those were real. He appeared a super nice fellow and a brillant CNC operator and fabricator by trade and had acquired the old heads and casting molds from a customer of his in the racing scene.
He had contact with another friend who was very good in CAD design and who could digitize the original molds into 3D drawings. This was around 2003-2005. We made steps and even had a (then super high tech) head printed (in the USA) to check if our upgrades to the original designs fitted with the valvetrain parts and if everything moved freely. It did 😊

From 2005 onwards we were ready to think about how to make an actual head: should we have it machined from a piece of alu billet like several new VW heads were made at that time?
Due to the form of the design, some area’s deep inside the head were not accessible for a CNC milling head, so that option was out.
As we had a head 3D printed, 3D alu printing seemed like an option as well. That was until I asked for quotes of alu printing at that time… So, basically the only feasible way to had them made was the casting process. Making new molds was however not an easy task, again due to the complex form. Several solutions were explored and foundries contacted.
During this period it was also clear that significant investments were needed to have molds made, with risks attached that it might not work out as intended. This coincided with ‘life being in the way’ of the project for a few of us, so developments came to a halt. After about 15 years I had enough courage to suggest to the group to take over the project by myself and fortunately they granted me the project and we could work out a deal. This was early 2020.

After some searching I came in contact with a local foundry who also helped me draw and produce professional new molds for alu casting. They also seemed too have awesome CNC capabilities to make billet parts.