Travis Russon's '55 Oval Ragtop
- Wednesday, 20 August 2008
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Some people, it seems, are destined to spend their lives in Volkswagens. Take Travis Russon from Chandler, Arizona: “I was born into it. My dad and my uncle are huge Bug fanatics and, when I was born, I rode home from hospital in a '65 Bug!” That was 36 years ago and, since then, he’s rebuilt a '69 Beetle and now owns this magnificent '55 rag top.
The car itself was bought for Travis by his wife Shauna as a birthday present in 2004 but, as you can see from the side panel on p41, it wasn’t quite the perfect rust-free base car we all dream of. In fact, it looks a lot more like what we often have to contend with here in Europe. The sunburnt, surface-rusted interior suggests it had spent many years languishing outside with no windows and Travis confirms it had sat in a field in Colorado for more than 20 years. The material that comprised the now much sought after three-fold rag top was long gone (though the mechanism was still in place) and the combination of being left open to the elements from above and sitting in grass below led to some parts of the car, such as the floorpan, the bottoms of the heater channels and the front and rear crossmembers, in a very poor state, while other often rotten areas such as the inner wings, rear body mounts and the spare wheel well were in great condition.
At some time in the past it had been shot at, attacked by vultures – VW vultures that is, who had snaffled the tail lights and decklid – and played host to some desert critter that had made its home under the bonnet. All the interior trim had decayed with time, but other than all that the car had remained remarkably intact, right down to the Golde sunroof handle and all the dash trim, including a pair of period VDO fuel and temperature gauges that had been fitted either side of the speedo. More importantly though, at least as far as Travis was concerned, it was a free car, and a free three-fold rag top one at that.
For the full story check out the September 2008 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 08 August and then available through back issues.
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