Seems like yesterday Andy W

AW wrote:

,still a few of the old fellas about but not many:

kevsplitty wrote:

Oh I don't know! There are still lots of us out there still enjoying our VWs. It's just getting more difficult to work on them, its easy enough to crawl underneath but its almost impossible to climb out and stand up again!!:lol:

rudolf hucker wrote:

My dad owned MRT 308 for most of the 70's only sold it to John Miller later. John wanted to do a straight swap for a 56 oval but dad said no,he returned with a 72 Marathon which at time was very modern:d ,dad again said No as paintwork on it was'nt great,he returned again with Marathon & money for respray! As MRT 308 was our only car used every day,dad let it go.
My dad paid £90 for MRT ,had it 15 years. He got it off a chap called Philip Kett from Walberswick Suffolk,where the small local car garage collected it from a dealer in kent,after it came over to Dover,think Philip was second owner of it in the village.We only live about 10miles from there & the local garage is still going,now run by the son of the fella who collected the bug.
I say to dad often wish you kept it but he always says,kev every year my holidays were spent working on the bug to keep it running through out the year,he used to take it to most shows but when people started bringing them on trailers & he got docked points for having mud,cow s**t under the wings as it was used allways,he said sod it & never bothered anymore.
He still goes to shows now,got a 73 bug,T25 bus,still a few of the old fellas about but not many:( My dads name is Maurice Goldsmith by the way:wink:

kevsplitty wrote:

Hi Kev.:smile:

MRT although the first known 'new' RHD VW to arrive in England, has alas never been accepted as official.

The first 'official' imports were the batch of 945 units imported by VW GB in 1953. The first one of the 1953 945 VW GB batch to be loaded onto the dock would be the first 'official car', and probably an oval too, I think that official imports began in June 1953 the oval era. These cars were all official dealer sales.

MRT 308 did not go through a dealer, it was a private order from a worker within the VW factory for a relative in Walberswick, Suffolk, England. It was driven all the way to this address on German registration plates from Germany where it was already registered. So, when registered here it had above the norm delivery mileage, and it could so be argued that it was a 'pre-owned car', and so not new, although this was the only use prior to UK registration as far as I know.:mellow:

Rattletrap wrote:

Thats my dad just after he got it,parked in my nans garden:d You must have got that pic off a post i put up somewhere. Just rang dad he said yes you are correct,it went to a german dealer near the border in Karlsruhe,dealers name was John Gramlin he thinks,from there it was driven over,he said it had the dealers stickers on the crotchcoolers but over the years these wore off. John Miller claimed it was the first RHD built for the uk later,dad did'nt realise:smile:

kevsplitty wrote:

Sorry guys prob my fault it got side tracked to MRT,ive just joined & as it was in my family for around 12 years was lovely talking about it,did'nt realise.

cheers kev.

kevsplitty wrote:

Sorry guys prob my fault it got side tracked to MRT,ive just joined & as it was in my family for around 12 years was lovely talking about it,did'nt realise.

cheers kev.

kevsplitty wrote: