New Beginning, Same Aircooled VW Destination.

This little sketch represents a new beginning for this Blogger Blog.

Chirco.com is the place to get parts for your Bug or Buggy or Sand Rail...everybody knows that, but I'm not sure if everybody knows the full scope of what we do, and how we do it.

maybe we will use this blog to feature some product catagories as well as share some of the fun that is the Aircooled VW world of Chirco.com.

Note:  Our resident artist, Lemorris drew the sketch.  He's ok at it...he smells funny, but he's a nice chap.

Chirco.com got a Facelift for it's VW Parts site

Actually it got 7 face lifts with the drop pages Lemorris designed.

Chirco.com is made up of 7 drop pages targeted to our specific clientele.

Chirco.com VW Parts main page
www.chirco.com

Aircooled VW Parts
www.chirco.com/aircooledvwparts.htm

Performance VW Parts
www.chirco.com/vwperformanceparts.htm

Dune Buggy Parts
www.chirco.com/dunebuggyparts.htm

Sand Rail Parts
www.chirco.com/sandrailparts.htm

Baja Bug Parts
www.chirco.com/bajabugparts.htm

Super Beetle Parts
www.chirco.com/superbeetleparts.htm

Official Google Blog: Jump to the information you want right from the search snippets

Official Google Blog: Jump to the information you want right from the search snippets

Chirco Bugtoberfest 2009 The Interrogator Pre Show Ad 1

Great job Lemorris, Sean and Joe for putting together this video to help promote our 2009 Bugtoberfest. For more onformation, check out the thread in the Chirco Forum

Chirco's Youtube Video Views Are About To Reach 100,000

For the 6 months we have really been trying to use the power of video on Youtube to explain to our customers about the parts we carry in our eStore. For years we had the option of using photos and good text descriptions to show our online audience, but now we have upped our game. This is not all work though. Joe Chirco does the narration, while his comic side kick Don Wiggins does the filming. Don is very quick to let Joe know an error has been made. Joe is able to make it through most of the video's in one take with his 20 plus years of experience, but even the best get touge tied. Now with Lemorris Harris on full time and Sean Phills help with voie over audio, the sky is th limit.
Stay tuned for some real fun while we teach you about our parts.

Please visit our Youtube Channel http://www.youtube.com/chircovwparts

Chirco.com has now been on eBay for 6 years as 53Ragtop

On July 14 ebay user name 53Ragtop celebrated it's sixth birthday. Back in 2003 when our www.chirco.com marketing program was in it's infant stages, we wanted to find a way to reach new targeted e-commerce customers. Joe's father had been buying and selling his Packard parts with lots of success during the same time frame. So we figured we would give it a shot also.

First we had to figure out a user name. Joe Chirco has a March of 1953 beautiful black oval ragtop that is on display in our Tucson showroom, so 53Ragtop it was. Now six years later, we have sold over 20,000 items to some of the nicest people we have ever met that are now customers of the Chircoestore. I have to share with you that eBay has some of the worst policies and can be the most frustrating market places any business can deal with, but since their customers are so darn nice, we keep plugging along.

Here is a link to our ebay store -
stores.shop.ebay.com/Chirco-AirCooled-VW-and-Buggy-Parts

Why the staff at Chirco.com enjoys Facebook?

When we first started using Facebook, we thought it would be a good sideline way to assist in the promotion of our company and the Chirco.com estore. To get a business page you have to have a personal page first, so OK I'll sign up and see how it goes. Then it's off to uploading photo's and getting the information correct, web site, phone numbers, task, task,,,. Then, Ding I have a friend and then another. Know I'm starting to see what others are doing and share what I'm doing. What stared of as a business task has turned into an enjoyable part of my day, shot I even get updates on my Blackberry now. If you don't have a facebook page yet, give it a try.
If you do, please become a fan of our Chirco.com page and share with us
Here is my page.
Don Wiggins http://www.facebook.com/don.wiggins

The Staff at www.chirco.com taking time to relax

We have been very lucky to contiue to grow during these tough economic times. Hard work has paid off for us, thank God. It is all ways fun though just to take some time and relax on a Sunday.

Chirco Just Launched www.Seatus.com

Seatus.com is a new site we created since we were getting lots of calls about our suspension seats fitting into vehicles other than Dune Buggies and Baja Bugs. We chose Racetrim and Corbeau to be the primary vendors on this project. If you get a moment, check out Seatus.com and see the wide selection of seats for street, race and off road on the site. There are even seats made for UTV's and seats covers for Rhino's.

Chirco has just launched www.Carbkitus.com

Chirco Performance has been selling Weber and Empi's carburetor kits for vehicles other than Air-Cooled VW's to our local Tucson customers for years. With our mail order customers also asking if we carry these kits, we decided to prepare a full e-commerce site at www.carbkitus.com to offer carburetor conversion kits for other vehicles to all of our viewers. Building this site was a lot of fun and had us really look at how the carburetor industry has stayed the same over the years. If you get a moment, take some time and browse the new site at Carbkitus.com. We still have around 50 kits to still upload until it is complete. So if your other vehicle needs a new carburetor, you know where to go :).

Why the staff at Chirco.com enjoys Facebook?

When we first started using Facebook, we thought it would be a good sideline way to assist in the promotion of our company and the Chirco.com estore. To get a business page you have to have a personal page first, so OK I'll sign up and see how it goes. Then it's off to uploading photo's and getting the information correct, web site, phone numbers, task, task,,,. Then, Ding I have a friend and then another. Know I'm starting to see what others are doing and share what I'm doing. What stared of as a business task has turned into an enjoyable part of my day, shot I even get updates on my Blackberry now. If you don't have a facebook page yet, give it a try.
If you do, please become a fan of our Chirco.com page and share with us
Here is my page.
Don Wiggins http://www.facebook.com/don.wiggins

Volkswagen Beetle Restoration Parts Online

Joe and I were reviewing our Chirco.com site to see where improvements needed to be made.
Now please remember that the first Chirco.com e-commerce store was built in 2001. Technology has advanced over the years. Anyways, while browsing the site we came across some of the first generation photo's. It was just humorous since now we are putting video's inside of product pages and of coarse color photos. 

Bug Me Videos

We have been selling a Bug Me Videos recently. These videos are really very well put together and the narrator does not speak in a way that's over a beginners head. If you need a good way of learning and building confidence, we highly recommend them.

Vw Parts

This year is 25 years of selling air cooled VW parts here in Tucson Arizona. The amazing thing is 2008 is our best year so far. With all the economic turmoil out there, we are breaking our own records. We want to personally thank all of the great customers we have and say it is a pleasure serving you.

Vw Dune Buggy Fuel Tanks

So the weather is getting coolers and the sand dunes are starting to fill up. We are have a rush of buggy customers that are telling us they want to get a new fuel tank. The aluminum fuel tanks are what we have been recommending for years. It only takes a couple of flat strap welded across the rear rails of your frame to securely mount one of these tanks. If you have any questions about these good looking tanks, give us a ring.

Vw Fiberglass Dune Buggy

It is really cool that the fiberglass dune buggy craze is coming back. All one has to do is look at the prices people are getting for the on eBay and see that they are gaining in value. Folks are coming into our store here in Tucson and sharing with us that they are dragging them out of the garage and putting them on the road and parking the 4x4's. Since the parts for them are still readily available and inexpensive, why not. Here at Chirco.com, we hope the trend keeps going.

Chirco's new media page

Our Buddy Lemorris has put together a new site that is going to have all of our photos and movies from all of our events and other fun times. He has really put a lot of effort in getting the Media page toether.
If you have not seen it yet, take a look.
Thanks Lemorris.

The Mango Bus is going to Texas

This morning Jay from Texas came out to pick up his new Bus.
It's always fun selling these to folks who really enjoy the vintage VW cars.
I could see Joe was very happy for Jay.



Jay we hope you have a great time with this Bus and drive safe back to Texas.

Bugtoberfest #13 Sign up form. Oct 18th & 19th

http://www.chircoestore.com/catalog/bfest08/reg/bfestform2008.htm

Chirco continues it's tradition by making the Bugtoberfest 100% FREE
2 Days, 3 events, tons of fun!

Registration is free! Swap meet is free! Multiple car entry is free!
The Day before Cruise and the"Night before BBQ are FREE as well.

The day before cruise does benefit the American Cancer Society and there will be a
donation spot for Andy Ham at the BBQ and the show.
As usual Chirco will also have every item in the store at 10% off the day of the show!

This struck Joe and I as funny

Joe and I were reviewing our online presence, and I was sharing with him that I thought that it wasn't just other Air Cooled sites that we compete with. I shared with him that some of the monster automotive sites carry the same parts we specialize in. Similar to most chain stores carry spark plugs and other basic parts for Bugs. I was showing him one of the largest sites that has 24 hour live chat, so we started do some searches for items that could never fit an Air Cooled car. We were laughing like kids at some of the parts they had listed. Don't get me wrong, these guys are power houses of the business. It was just funny.

We put some vintage video's in the Chirco forums

httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=xm4OmiVH2J0

I thought these we very cool and wanted to share them.

Here is a link to part two.

Welcome Aboard Brian

A month ago I posted around the Air Cooled world that
I needed help in our receiving department.
Brian showed up the next morning and we hired him the same day.

Brian has been a customer of ours for around for years with two different beetles.
He is also a newer member of the Tucson chapter of D3 Daileydrivendubz.

Brian has quickly fit right into this nut house and is doing a great job.

Are you one of our friends on Myspace?

Chirco's Myspace page
Our Myspace page has been up for a few years now and it has been very interesting communicating with other air cooled folks out there. The Myspace environment is extremely creative and we're proud to be a part of it. If you have a Myspace page we encourage you to "Add" Chirco as a friend.

Have you seen the Chirco Forums recently?

Lemorris and I have been working in the Chirco.com Forums recently.

The stats for the forums have by far exceeded our expectations we had back in 1986 when we launched it. It now has over 2 million page views with over 18,000 posts by over 1500 members.

What we have tried to accomplish, is to make so our customer can find the articles to fix or upgrade their cars. Lemorris put together a banner campaign that links to the most popular threads that customers need. We have even found vintage video’s that show stock carburetor adjustments, valve adjustments and timing. If you have some free time, please surf around.

We are branching out to main stream shopping sites.

This is a new market for us, but with so many new e-customers out there
we felt it was time to share our items on a more traditional site.

Chirco has been on eBay for over 5 years with great success.
We love having e-newbies and e-pros a like find us on what has to be the coolest place to find items. It is never boring trying to find new customers.

We have started reconiditioning our used parts

It is a fairly easy process for most parts.
Once the part is determined to be usable,
it gets put in the parts washing tank
so all of the old debris and grease comes off.



The the part is then dryed off with an
air gun and put into our new sand blaster.
Our new sandblaster is very powerful and really get the job done.



An average part take only a minute or two
to get any surface rust and old paint off.
When it comes out of the sand blaster it's bare metal.



Once it comes out of the sand blaster it is inspected again for flaws.
Then depending on the part it is either painted black or primered.



The finished product is a nice looking used German original part.

Another New Chirco.com! It just keep getting better.

Lots of the new Chirco.com is similar to the previous version.
But what we needed to give our customers was more bells and whistles.
The new Chirco.com has plenty of those. The biggest thing our customer wanted was a wish-list option. This allows a user to create a much larger list of items than they can either afford or currently need. Then they can chose when to take portions of there wish list and transfer it to their basket when they want and the remaining items stay recorded for future use.
The new site also shows what other customer have purchased while viewing a product. What a cool feature, so now portions of the site is being created by our customers. Our customers can also write short reviews on the products they have purchased to be helpful to others.

We have been told that the search features are easier to use and the articles are found faster. The whole project took about two months to complete, fortunately we had some help from some great people.
I hope you can take a look and also enjoy it.

Modern Online Technology in action.

When we built the new Chirco site, we added a forum so our

customers could ask questions about our parts and how to install them.

It really took off and now we have our customer sharing with other customers.

Searching the web, there are great forums to be found.

Here are just some of our favorites.

AZ Baja.com

Lowlife VW.com

The Samba.com

D3 Club

Hoodride.com

Volksrods.com

Kustom Coach Werks

Cal Look.com

Resto-Cal UK

Super Beetles.com

Shop Talk Forums

Steve found a VW Trends article about us from 2001

To see the article full size, Click here

Chirco was in Vochomania Magizine from Mexico

One of our customers from south of the border brought

this issue of Vochomania.

Ok, We have a Myspace page,,,,,

If you also have one, please add us as you friend.

Chirco Myspace Page