TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:33 am

Long story, but worth a read if you've got an hour to kill ;)

The first Notch I ever saw was in the late 80s when I was still at school. A chap called Brian Johnston from Leicester had an amazing original RHD '63 which he had found in a barn in Cornwall, South West UK whilst on holiday in 1984 (it was evenually featured in the Dec 1991 issue of Volksworld).

Fast-forward to 2007 and I bump into Brian Johnston at the Stanford Hall VW show. I enquire about his old Notchback as I hadn't seen it for a good number of years. "Do you want to buy it?" he asks! I buy it. It had been off the road since 2003, but was still in fantastic original condition.

I drove it home and haven't really used it since as it needs the brakes and starter motor sorting out (excuses: too many VWs to tinker with blah blah blah...)

Anyhoo, I recieved an email two weeks from somebody who works for Volksworld magazine. He had been on holiday last week in Falmouth, Cornwall and got chatting with the campsite owner about VWs. The campsite owner happened to mention that he used to own an old Blue VW Notchback, registration number 242 TRL and wondered if it was still on the road. James did some digging, found out that I was the owner and contacted me. I emailed James my phone number.

I then received a call from a guy called Alan Jewell in Falmouth. Alan told me the entire history of my Notchback upto 1984 when Brian Johnston purchased the car. Alan had two Great Uncles. They were brothers and veterans of the Great War. One of them owned a garage (Pollards Garage in Falmouth) which gained a VW franchise in the late 1950s and the other one, Frank Knowles, was a farmer. In mid 1963, Frank Knowles decided to buy a new 'VW 1500' (Notchback) from his brother at Pollards Garage. His Gulf Blue '63 model was delivered in October 1963 and was used until the late 1970s when Frank became ill, often carrying vast quantaties of potatoes around the farm!! When Frank was no longer able to use the car, Alan Jewell drove the Notch around in the early 80s until the lure of 'fast Fords' (as Alan put it), became too great. In Summer 1984, Brian Johnston was on holiday with his family in Falmouth and stumbled across the Notchback in Alan's barn. The rest, as they say, is history.....

Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:43 am

Looks well taken care of! How do the trunks look after hauling all those potatoes? :wink:

Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:31 am

great looking car! it's amazing to know that much history about your car: i'd kill to know mine.

please post some interior pics as well as engine shots.

Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:36 pm

Very cool history and story.

I have that issue of Volksworld, purchased specifically to read about that car.