TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:11 pm

I would like to debut Valentine. I have four VW's and she is the oldest and interestingly enough the most solid of them all. She drives very tight and sure to the road. No rattles and fairly quiet. I am the third owner purchased her 8 years ago. I have registration documentation from 1956 until the early 90's.

The story I received from the previous owner was that she was purchased by an LA cop for his wife as a Valentine's Day present. The Wolfsburg birth certificate shows December 17, 1955 shipped on December 29. Instead of LA the delivery location is shown as Washington. The initial registration shows a date just before February 14th. The initial loan was from the LAPD credit union. These facts match the story.

According to the registration trail Valentine stayed in the family until 1991. It was handed down to what was probably a daughter in the early 80's. From what I was told the second owner installed a type III engine that blew up after only 300 miles of use. The side shelf on the drivers side was broken at the 90 degree bend which appears to match up with the story.

All of the electrical works on Valentine with the original 1956 wiring. Pretty amazing considering all my other cars have had to have a wiring transplant after so many years. All of the switches are correct screw terminal. The engine though not original is correct to the month and year. No body work has ever been done to Valentine. she has had some spot respray and the front hood was apparently from another car with darker green underneath. I have redone the interior since the cloth headliner was dust to the touch. The upholstery scheme matches the original as close as I could match. All the glass is original except the windshield.

The floor pan is absolutely amazing with even the battery tray being immaculate. When I was redoing the brakes some of the undercoat was peeling off the pan and the paint on the underside of the pan is still bright and shiney!

Valentine has not had a radio in its entire 56 years. The only accessory is a parcel net above the sun visor that she came with. I believe the hubcaps to be original. I HAD to install a cruiser pedal because my extra wide foot was not clearing the brake pedal when accelerating.

At the moment the only issues are with the horn, while the brush and wiring are working I am having trouble locating a working era correct screw terminal horn. The window channel at the top of the drivers door likes to come down occasionaly even though it has been reglued several times. The original dimmer switch internaly disintegrated this past summer and I have purchase a correct replacement that has not arrived yet.

She is not for sale otherwise I'd have put this in the classifieds. I am having way to much fun putting her to work getting me to work! She is missing a few tidbits like the carpet heat ganish rings. I have both the original and the WW repops but have not installed either one. I made the mistake when changing title at the DMV of removing the yellow on black plates and having a set of black on yellow YOM and had it titled to that. Later when I wanted to go back to the plates showing on the registration cards since 1963 I was turned down by the DMV.

Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:16 pm

Sweet car.

Enjoy it.

Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:17 pm

Very nice car. I found a 56 that looked like night and day compared to that.

Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:30 pm

Very,very nice. Enjoy!

Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:31 pm

Here is a view showing some of the patina on Valentine.

Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:53 pm

The name serves her right.. She must be a cousin to us.. Thats cool you have all that documentation on her.. Good luck and keep posting pics..

Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:05 pm

Very nice!! Looks like they restored the interior,it just looks too good to be OG,unless that is mint seats & carpet. Body is cherry! Nice score man. 8)

Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:07 pm

man what a score! i wouldnt change a single thing on that car. wouldnt paint it, wouldnt do anything but drive it. keep the dark green under the hood, it tells her story.
perfect patina!

Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:41 am

"The original dimmer switch internaly disintegrated this past summer and I have purchase a correct replacement that has not arrived yet."

>>I have the same model, but missing the correct High/Low beam dimmer switch. Not even sure what the correct one looks like. All I know is that it should be a screw terminal type.
My 56 is Oct/Nov 1955. Would it be too much to ask you to PM me and send a photo of what the correct dimmer foot switch looks like?
Thanks, Mark<<

Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:02 pm

I would try another DMV if you want to put back the black plates. If you have original paperwork showing the plates are original to the car you should be able to put them back on.

Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:35 pm

Very Nice! Congrats!

Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:59 pm

2,000 miles since September and we are both still as happy as clams!

Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:12 am

That is one fine looking oval...Love it! 8)

Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:19 am

Wow! What a sweetheart!!

Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:03 am

That's lovely.