’65 Karmann Cab

In our experience, most people who are now in their thirties and have been into VWs in the UK since the ‘big bang’ occurred here in 1986, have followed a similar path. You know the kind of thing: a stock 1300 or 1500, then a mint green ‘Cal Looker’, maybe a Wizard, perhaps even a Buggy. But few got into Split Beetles. Back then, they were the preserve of the restorer. Parts weren’t readily available and, for some reason, they just seemed out of reach. Ovals were something people, myself included, coveted and aspired to, but Splits were, well, just a bit too old and cranky.
Not so Phil Jarvis, though. Having done exactly what we’ve said above, starting with the Texas Yellow ’72 1300 in which he passed his driving test in January 1986, he worked his way through six Beetles over the following five years, including a slammed Cal Look Wizard in 90’s peppermint green (“Should I admit to that?” he laughs today) and a 1302LS Karmann Cabriolet. But then he bucked the trend completely and bought himself a 1952 Split. Not just any old Split, either, but a Standard model. “It was my only car at the time and, despite the fact that it had cable brakes and a 25-horsepower engine, I drove it all the time and loved it, but it was slow, a little, er, basic on the inside and not exactly ideal for picking up girls!” Consequently, it got moved on to Mervyn Young at Mr Beetle in Norwich and, to all intents and purposes, forgotten about and replaced with a more useable 1300.
Then, when it came time for Phil to fly the family nest, he moved to London to seek his fortune – something he eventually did rather successfully with his business Office Storage Solutions. The 1300 was sold when he made the move and setting up his own business meant VWs dropped further down his list of priorities for a few years. However, having established the business, Phil was able to move out of London again to somewhere a bit less crowded and indulge his passion for VWs once again.

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the July 2009 issue of VolksWorld

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