Third time lucky – ’55 Oval Cab

These days it seems you're nobody if you haven't got a Split, but not that long ago it was Ovals everyone lusted after. Now, if the gang here at VolksWorld HQ are to be believed, it's so-called early big windows that are the hot ticket, but then they're just saying that because they haven't got Ovals or Splits, like real men. Ever since seeing Samantha Oldbury's lowered, green and cream Oval at one of the German Car Company open days in Hadleigh all those years ago I've been an Oval man - there's just something about their simplicity and the inherent flow of the body lines that works. To my mind, the Beetle's design peaked here and went downhill ever after. And I'm not alone in thinking that. Elvis would have had an Oval if he hadn't bought a Beach Buggy and it's a little known fact that James Dean was on his way to buy an Oval when he stacked his 550 Spyder. Peter Biesman of the FlatLine Lowriders club is another who feels life isn't complete without a Beetle built between August ‘52 and August ‘57 in his life and, like all self-respecting Oval heads, he's had a few of them - in fact one at least of every year, including tin tops, rag tops and a couple more oh-so-desirable Karmann Cabriolets. "I owned a '54 and a '57 convertible before, but both were not the right cars at the right time, so they got sold on again," he told us with a grin. "But after a few years of Slambulance driving [yep, the cool cat built that bad boy, too] and having no Oval to drive, I was really dying to get a Beetle back on the road. So when I got the chance of making a deal on buying a '55 Convertible I jumped at it!"

For the full story on this car make sure you pick up a copy of the January 2010 issue of VolksWorld

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