Just a shot I got to take of a Porsche Targa 4S, I fell in love.

At this time last year the VW Community suffered a great loss. In order to pay tribute to Alexi I asked a good friend of his to say a few words.

In honor of Alexi with love from Tobias and Danielle Aldrich.

On January 29th, 2011, we lost a great friend, Alexi Derochambeau. As a community, the support that was given to his family during this difficult time was quite impressive. Friends traveled to honor Alexi and pay their respects to the wonderful things he had done. His parents were thrilled to see how many lives Alexi had touched and became all the more proud of their son.
It had been quite apparent to his parents that Alexi had an overwhelming passion for all things Volkswagen. Before he passed, Alexi had been working on some innovative upgrades to his MK3 and the project was not quite finished. His parents, knowing how much it would have meant to Alexi, decided to see the rest of the work carried out.





This was no easy task. There were many final decisions to be made. Notes with Alexi’s ideas and thoughts scattered about. Different parts to the project were in the hands of vendors and friends alike. The goal was to be sure that the MK3 was finished precisely the way Alexi would have wanted. His Mom, Nancy, kept in touch with friends and made sense of notes and ideas that would become “the master plan.”
Nancy wanted to be able to trailer the car to the majority of the VW shows in the Northeast. She wanted to continue to allow the community to admire Alexi’s work and ideas in person. The first goal was to have the car rolling and in proper shape for The New England Dustoff. Each Sunday for weeks, many friends would gather to slowly pick away at the project. Vendors were contacted and pieces of the puzzle began to fall together.
While working on the project, Alexi’s parents and friends decided to set up a website in remembrance of Alexi and all the things he has done that have influenced us all. The site, Foundation-Blue, shows a chronicle of the various stages of the MK3 project. There are shirts and accessories that are for sale in memory of Alexi. The funds go toward monies needed to complete the project as well as transfer costs to get the car to shows.








Fortunately the Alexi-mobile was able to make it to several events this year. It saw The Dustoff, Dubs in The Sand, Vag Fair, and H2Oi. The car was on full display at each show and admired by many. At each event, Alexi’s father, Mark, presented the “Alexi Award.” The award as given to the vehicle that Mark viewed as something innovative and creative and most importantly, something Alexi would have appreciated.





As the year continued, more work on the project was completed and the details began to fall into place. The big reveal, where the most change was apparent, was of course at the mecca, H2Oi. Alexi had designed his own 3 piece wheels and submitted the design to Matt Crooke over at fifteen52. The wheels were first seen by the public eye in Ocean City. To say that they drew a bit of attention is an understatement. It was truly great to see the progress the car had made and how proud his parents both were. This is a wonderful group of people to be a part of, and the support that Alexi’s family and friends receive is an obvious example of this. We miss our friend every day and every event, G2G and VWfiends video reminds us of what a great guy he was. Cheers to Alexi.

Thanks to: “MK1Tink” Chris Johnson, Banchwerks, Euro Auto Source, fifteen52, and countless others who has lent a hand or support to foundation-blue.