Its been a long time coming.
My dad bought his 1967 1500 New from Ashford near London.
It was a special. He asked for Black (special order) and US Spec bumpers, the interior would be Indian Red, he also bought White WEGU mudflaps and a few other assesories including a wooden gear stick knob with a VW logo on the top. At this time accessories would have been sold by VW although they may not have originated direct from VW.
My Dad had many happy years driving his beetle, he tinkered with it and did things to keep it on the road, one of which was to cut a hatch in the rear pancel shelf to get to the starter terminals!!
He had a crash and the front quarter had to be replaced (all done by VW) The clutch cable guide needed to be replaced and so VW cut a hole in the central tunnel to re-attach it.
After around 14 years of ownership he sold the beetle, it had done its job and at the time was looking like an old car alongside renaults and Morris Itals!!!
The Car was sold and forgotten for a while, but like all good cars my dad always wondered where it was and what happened to it.
I myself never forgot his beetle and in 1989 bought my own beetle, I did heater channels and quarter panels, the works. I wanted it black like my dads old car but was told not to as it would be the worst colour to paint as it shows up all the imperfections, I painted it red.
In the summer I bought the car we had a brief but amazing meeting of chance, at a show we saw my dads old car, it was still black at the back but in primer at the from. A quick chat to the owner and two pictures and off it went, so many questions but the guy was on his way home so we didnt stop for long.
Years and years went by, I sold my beetle in 1996 and thought my days with beetles was over.
However.... In 2004 I went to Stanford Hall, while there just looking around at all the cars I came across VW Heritage stand and found an interior swatch book..to my amazement at the time I found that I could buy Indian red interior and panels. Now this was always a stumbling block for me, you see I had always hankered after building a replica of my dads car but the interior was always an issue. The interior is the bit I remember from my earliest memories, to get that wrong and it would not be like my dads car...but now it was possible.
That year I bought FPR936E a white 1967 1500 Deluxe. Over the next 4 years I restored the car to my fathers original spec
Black
Red Interior
US Spec Bumpers
When complete I took a picture of it in Hounslow which is in the exact place my father took a picture of his way back in 1967 when he had just bought it (outside my grandparents old house)
I had put a few forum posts up over the years asking about my dads car OPL505E wondering if it had survived, I lost hope when the DVLA record showed that the car was last taxed in 1996. I thought that was the end.......Until last weekend.
I recieved this email
Hi Matt
Hope you are well.
I have been trying to track you down.
Just found your email addy.
I used to own OPL 505E I am the guy in the picture at santa pod talking to your dad (the pic with the green circuit board graphics).
Give me a call as I have a few bits from OPL you may want to put on your replica if you still have it!!
Regards Jason
Wow, I gave jason a ring straight away and had a chat about the car.
He had it for a few years and spent his early twenties making it into the car he wanted, it ended up green with shaved door handles. He remembered the hole in the rear parcel shelf and the hole in the tunnel as VW had not replaced the whole cable guide thus making clutch cable a time consuming affair.
Then he said "I have a few bit left of the car!!" He had the original gearstick with the wooden gear knob that my dad had bought all those years back!!"
Well today the bits arrived along with the gear knob. After a day of sympathetic restoration the gearknob is looking how I remember it all those years back.
To think of the journey of this piece of my family history has gone many miles and come back home, thanks a million Jason.
Jason also sent me some pictures of the car when he had it, he is a graphic designer and so at the time of purchase painted some cool flames on the front, it was in a magazine show section of VW Motoring and even did the quarter mile one year in....22 seconds! I think.
here are some of the pictures.
