1958 Volkswagen Beetle
Discussion
Afternoon all,
As you may or may not know, I'm a bit partial to old Volkswagens, and already have a '73 1303 - see thread here amongst others in the fleet.
A few weeks ago on a Saturday, I was sat in the sun on the roof terrace of a pub in Putney, looking at old SL Mercs on the phone (for a friend of course). Suddenly a little VW popped up. It was love at first sight, and after emailing the seller on the Monday morning, and him replying with lots of photos, a deal was done.
Fast forward to this bank holiday Monday, and a little Beryl Green Volkswagen rolled off the transporter outside my office.
She's a late 1958 car, originally exported to Mozambique, so is African spec. This is based on US Deluxe spec, but features no screen washers and a few other differences. It's right hand drive with kilometres on the speedo.
Originally registered to Mr Jose in 1958, he imported the car with him to Portugal in 1978. At this point the rear lamps were changed to post-1962 types, as Portuguese regs in 1978 required orange turn flashers on the rear.
Mr Jose ran the local bicycle shop in his village near Braga in Northern Portugal, and cycled to and from work daily, keeping the Volkswagen garaged and only breaking it out on odd occasions. Later, the Beetle was sold to his cousin, and then I purchased it.
It's an original unmolested survivor car with no seat belts, no syncromesh on 1st, no fuel gauge (reserve tank), original engine (numbers matching), and just 40,130 kilometres on the clock.
No real plans for her as yet... The bumpers need to be removed and painted silver inside as there's some rust in there, and i'll remove the add on wheel trims, and go back to painted steels with the chrome domed centre hub caps.
First outing will be dubs in the park in Bracknell this Sunday!
As you may or may not know, I'm a bit partial to old Volkswagens, and already have a '73 1303 - see thread here amongst others in the fleet.
A few weeks ago on a Saturday, I was sat in the sun on the roof terrace of a pub in Putney, looking at old SL Mercs on the phone (for a friend of course). Suddenly a little VW popped up. It was love at first sight, and after emailing the seller on the Monday morning, and him replying with lots of photos, a deal was done.
Fast forward to this bank holiday Monday, and a little Beryl Green Volkswagen rolled off the transporter outside my office.
She's a late 1958 car, originally exported to Mozambique, so is African spec. This is based on US Deluxe spec, but features no screen washers and a few other differences. It's right hand drive with kilometres on the speedo.
Originally registered to Mr Jose in 1958, he imported the car with him to Portugal in 1978. At this point the rear lamps were changed to post-1962 types, as Portuguese regs in 1978 required orange turn flashers on the rear.
Mr Jose ran the local bicycle shop in his village near Braga in Northern Portugal, and cycled to and from work daily, keeping the Volkswagen garaged and only breaking it out on odd occasions. Later, the Beetle was sold to his cousin, and then I purchased it.
It's an original unmolested survivor car with no seat belts, no syncromesh on 1st, no fuel gauge (reserve tank), original engine (numbers matching), and just 40,130 kilometres on the clock.
No real plans for her as yet... The bumpers need to be removed and painted silver inside as there's some rust in there, and i'll remove the add on wheel trims, and go back to painted steels with the chrome domed centre hub caps.
First outing will be dubs in the park in Bracknell this Sunday!
Dr Interceptor said:
I paid €7500, plus shipping back to the UK.
Hard to place a value on though really, I've insured it for £15k.
Top shopping, sir!Hard to place a value on though really, I've insured it for £15k.
How did you manage to get the history for it?
Also, are the period parts, like light lenses, available, unless they're not legal in the UK?
Any plans for it, other than registering and using it - albeit using it very little?
That's been used <700km / year!
RC1807 said:
Top shopping, sir!
How did you manage to get the history for it?
Also, are the period parts, like light lenses, available, unless they're not legal in the UK?
Any plans for it, other than registering and using it - albeit using it very little?
That's been used <700km / year!
The seller told me the history of the car - which I've had to take his word for to an extent, but it all seems totally plausible, so I have no reason to disbelieve it.How did you manage to get the history for it?
Also, are the period parts, like light lenses, available, unless they're not legal in the UK?
Any plans for it, other than registering and using it - albeit using it very little?
That's been used <700km / year!
I'm not going to change anything, period parts are available but all the bits on the car have such a lovely look about them, it would be a shame to fit anything new. The rear lamps for instance:
I've done the HMRC Nova bit (which is pretty painless), just waiting on the V55/5 to be posted out from HMRC, then I can register it, and hopefully get a half decent plate for it.
It's lovely 
Some might moan about the back end being unoriginal and that but as you say, it's obviously been changed some time ago and everything's bedded in nicely and aged into the rest of the car, so why change it? Unless you're going for 100-point concourses just enjoy. Besides, having snowflakes on the back is asking to be rear-ended
You'd genuinely be better off with specially trained fireflies
I'll look out for it at Bracknell this weekend
Some might moan about the back end being unoriginal and that but as you say, it's obviously been changed some time ago and everything's bedded in nicely and aged into the rest of the car, so why change it? Unless you're going for 100-point concourses just enjoy. Besides, having snowflakes on the back is asking to be rear-ended
You'd genuinely be better off with specially trained firefliesI'll look out for it at Bracknell this weekend
Took little 'Beryl' out and about at the weekend - runs so sweetly for something so old! Had a lot of very lovely comments too everywhere I stopped.
At the Hogs Back Brewery picking up supplies for the beer fridge....
....and back on the drive, with the 1303. 15 years between them, but very different cars.
At the Hogs Back Brewery picking up supplies for the beer fridge....
....and back on the drive, with the 1303. 15 years between them, but very different cars.
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