1958 VW Beetle
- Wednesday, 12 November 2008
- 1 Comments
Peter Harvey is a man on a mission - a mission to preach the gospel of originality,
and to tell you naughty kids out there that there's nothing big or clever about lowering your VWs and putting big engines in them. And don't even get him started on rat look...
Peter's probably not the only one to have noticed a decline in the number of stock
VWs we've featured in VolksWorld in recent years, but there's a perfectly good
explanation for it: they're running out, simple as that.
We've long advocated Stanford Hall as one of our favourite VW events of the year but we can't be the only ones to have noticed that it's the same cars turning up in the concours d'elegance year in, year out. And it's the same story at Stonor Park and BVF. The occasional new one turns up, of course, like Peter's car here, and it's a joy to see, but the reality is there are fewer and fewer people undertaking this kind of project and less and less chance of finding a car like Peter has here.
"I've been into VWs since before I left school," he told us. "I can still remember
buying my first VolksWorld, issue number 9, with a blue Wizard Roadster on the
cover. I can't say what sparked my interest in VWs, I've just always loved the
Beetle... particularly the early ones, they have so much vintage charm."
Having bought a '69 1500 in 1991, Peter did what we all did back then and took it to
Bug Jam and Beetle Bash and got thoroughly into the early '90's vibe. A year later
he'd changed it for a '66. "The Resto Cal look was just taking off around then and,
being young and wanting to be trendy, I lowered it - at this point I should apologise to the 'pre67vw' crowd, it's never going to happen again!," he laughed.
For the full story check out the December 2008 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 31 October and then available through back issues.
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November 29 19:15
GERALD HOUGH
Just to show how classic an icon can be. The car sits well and does not need modifying to follow the various fashions of the last 20 years. Also how refreshing to read in this months magazine that a moified beetle has retained original equipment for conversion back to a standard car. As an owner of a Marathon beetle I am agonising over whether to fit a disc conversion kit upfront. Decision time, Should I totally rebuild the existing brake system from scratch or fit the kit. Been thinking about it for 4 weeks now and no nearer a decision. Good job its too cold to work outside for any length of time.