1956 VW Beetle Oval

Now here’s a car that’s right up my street! Not only is it a Cal Looker, or ‘Old Speed’ as the owner likes to call it, but it also has a ragtop, an Oval rear window and it’s beige!

I was all over this car when it arrived at the VolksWorld Show 2008, and for good reason. From the outside it was pretty much what I was building at home, apart from the fact this is far cooler, being an Oval. Naturally I had to know more. Dorothee Patriarche is the owner of this 1956 Beetle and had driven, with her friend Jonathan, all the way from Meise, Belgium just to show the car at Sandown Park here in the UK. Considering her car was only completed the night before, that was a pretty brave thing to do.

And so the conversation began, and after a lot of gesticulation and even more broken French (on my part) I managed to find out a little more about Dorothee and her Beetle.

It was 12 years ago that Dorothee first got into the air-cooled Volkswagen. At the age of 16 she had admired her neighbour’s Bug and it was then that she decided she wanted to own one. That year she asked Father Christmas is she could have one and, lo and behold he only went and got her a 1973 1300 – she must have been a very good girl!

She went on from owning that to a ’69 1500 and now the Oval is finished she is currently working on restoring a 1965 Notch – a girl on a mission! It turns out that the Oval project had lasted 10 years, on and off, and was made possible with the help of three friends, Philippe Fonseca, Vincent Fonseca and good friend Jonathan.

What was interesting to learn was that the shell and floorpan are not the original pair – the shell had been spotted in a barn on a vineyard in Bordeaux, France and the chassis was found in a chicken farm somewhere in Belgium. Both were of 1956 vintage, so made for the perfect union. Also of interest was the ragtop. Although you can’t tell (I certainly couldn’t) the original body didn’t come with the sliding sunroof it now boasts. It was thanks to Vincent’s skills that the original Goldie roof section was grafted into place so seamlessly to give Dorothee the much sought after combo of Oval and ragtop!

For the full story check out the February 2009 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 29 December and then available through back issues.

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