An update I feel is on order, having introduced myself to the forum a little while ago and then said nothing since.
A lot has happened since then in fact. To start with I looked at Rich Oakleys lovely South African 58, it’s a lovely car and unsurprisingly it was snapped up quite quickly after I saw it, but my heart was really set on an Oval and a Black one at that. My first and most significant Beetle was a 55 (56 Model) Oval, De-luxe Saloon in Black with a Red interior. It was beetles of a similar specification that I lusted after when visiting the shows so I was very interested to hear from Nick at VW Heritage when details of just such a car had been submitted to them for inclusion on the Cars for Sale section of their website.
Pictures were studied and after a couple of emails and telephone conversations with the seller a trip to Northants was arranged to view the Bug. Nick and I made the trip up from Sussex a couple of Sundays ago and took a look at the Beetle which turned out to be everything I was looking for and probably a bit more!
The most important thing for me was the soundness of the body work and the general originality of the car. There have only ever been one or two minor welding repairs and all the important areas – quarter panels, A posts, chassis, doors and sills remain incredibly rust free. The body work is straight, there being no evidence of any past accident damage and it drives beautifully.
On the down side, the gear box jumps out of third in over run and the original 30BHP engine has at some point been replaced with a later Mexican lump (yuk!).
But I was in love, the work needed to bring the car up to good standard is just about the amount that I wanted in terms of taking on a project and in the mean time the car is driveable and road legal.
So a deal was done and Nick and I made the return trip to Northants to pick up the Beetle last Sunday. It must be 20 years since I have been behind the wheel of an Oval so the 140 mile trip back to Worthing, mostly on the motorway was faced with not a little trepidation! I needn’t have worried though because the Bug motored along effortlessly, although it’s difficult to know at what speed because the speedometer is wildly optimistic! The steering was tight and precise, there were no rattles or creaks and everything worked as it should, I was in Oval heaven.
The semaphores were a little worrying though, when I last drove 50s beetles back in the 80s I had working semaphores but I think the roads were quieter and slower and I also think there must have been more old cars around as the little trafficators, whilst thought of as cute, were not entirely unknown to motorists back then. It was very evident though that to drive safely with trafficators in 2008 you have to supplement with hand signals and constantly be on the guard – and assume that others on the road simply haven’t seen them, add this to the mammoth oval blind spot and driving really becomes quite entertaining! It was surprising though just how quickly I dropped back into it, I even found myself double-de-cluching into first.
Closer examination of the beetle since it has been back home and safely ensconced in its new garage has revealed no hidden nasties, in fact the car gets better every time I look at it. The history of the car is a little sketchy though it seems that it was owned for some considerable time by either the original owner or an early owner, it seems to have come on the market several years ago and in that time it has been through several sets of hands so is known to others on the scene. Overall it has faired very well and despite changing hands several times remains very original and unmolested. The only pity is that it clearly had one or two period accessories fitted such as door pulls and passenger side sun visor and these have been removed and presumably sold on, there is also a tantalising half story about the original engine having been with the car until very recently. Alas though I think it is now gone for ever.
So, I am already starting to collect up the parts needed to embark on a “sympathetic restoration”, my intention is not to make this car a concours contender but to keep as much of it as possible original whilst tidying up all the rough edges and preserving it for the future.
I’ll keep you up dated…
Mike
Edited by user
15 years ago
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Reason: Not specified
July 1957 UK supplied RHD Oval. 1972 World Champion Beetle. 1978 UK supplied RHD 1303LS Cabriolet. 1973 UK supplied RHD 1303s.