I have never joined a VW club, but my wife drives a beautiful ’69 Beetle, and I’ve been to my share of swap meets and spent a lot of time around VW’s and VW people. Many of THEM seem to feel that many of US are not REAL VW people because we chose to “hide” our car’s “true identity” under a kit body. If you express an interest in air-cooled performence most of them will warm up to you. Personally, I have chosen to use VW emblems on my MGTD, and will have a personalized license plate which reflects my car’s Germanic heritage. When I tell air-heads this, they seem to get it; a TD kit is no different than a Manx which is to say a VW re-body. I love air-cooled VW’s myself, and maybe that shows.
Michael