| Author |
Message |
The Sad Emoticon
Samba Member
Joined: June 24, 2006
Posts: 111
|
 Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:49 am Post subject: The 1951 RHD Beetle That Shouldn't Exist |
 |
|
Hi. I just found this to day by accident and I thought you guys might be interested in it--An Australian found an old wreck of a split in a workshop in North Melbourne, brought it home, and realized that even though it was from 1951, it had right hand drive--something that, according to the article, wasn't present in german Beetles until 1953.
Source
| Quote: |
If Mark Holyoak ever crossed paths with "Dirty" Harry Callahan, you could be pretty sure a fight would ensue. That's because when Harry uttered the line, . . . "you've got to ask yourself a question - do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" Mark would respond with a truthful, "Yeah mate, I reckon I do".
Such a response wouldn't amount to undue cockiness on Holyoak's part. You see, not only does he own one of the oldest VW Beetles in the country - a German-built, right-hand-drive, 1951 split-window Standard model - it's also one of the most mysterious. Why? Because German right-hand Beetles weren't built until 1953.
"It was just sitting in a corner of a workshop in North Melbourne. It had come from Canada," says Holyoak of his first sighting of the car, in 2001.
"Nobody knew at that stage how rare it was. To me it was just a split. If we had known what it was then, I wouldn't have bought it because it would have been out of my price range."
It wasn't until Holyoak, who owns and runs a VW workshop in Melbourne's south-east, started pulling the car to bits that he realised he'd got more than he bargained for.
"I thought someone had already converted it, which was good because it meant less hassles," he says.
"But as I got further in I thought 'hang on, this thing's RHD and has always been RHD'. It was odd because I knew VW never made RHD splits in Germany in 1951. It shouldn't exist."
If anyone should know, it's Holyoak. He bought his first VW, a 1961 Karmann Ghia that he still owns, at the age of 14 and restored it by the time he was old enough to drive. He has owned and tinkered with countless others over the years, including a flawless 1961 Beetle ragtop, sold to finance the 1951's resurrection. He even restored a 1961 Ghia as a birthday present for his wife (they met when she got her Beetle serviced at his workshop).
Just how Holyoak's '51 came into being is uncertain, but he has done extensive research. "We think it was part of a test batch of 200 cars that geared VW Germany up for right-hand-drive production," says Holyoak, who has contacted a gent in Britain who has another mysterious RHD Beetle, thought to be the only other remaining example of that batch of 200.
"They were sent to Canada to be used by the military and were meant to be destroyed after that, but apparently some fell through the cracks. There's nowhere else it could have come from."
Holyoak is chuffed to have his hands on what might be one of only two 1951 right-hand-drive German Beetles left in the world, but he shudders at the memory of converting the rusty wreck into the show-standard form it's in today.
"It was a full-on 18 months," he says. "When we got our hands on it, it was a complete mess. My wife is very supportive of the things I do, but with this one she said I should bury it in the backyard and grow plants out of it.
"The worst part was when we went to take the gearbox out of it and everything just collapsed around it. That was as close as I got to thinking, 'We can't do this'. I just didn't know where the hell I was going to get a good '51 floorpan from."
Serendipity, however, stepped in again, this time in the form of a customer who had four brand-new brake cables sitting in their boxes in his garage (standard Beetles used cable brakes instead of the hydraulics of Deluxes and later models, and finding replacements isn't easy).
"That was a big part of what we needed to put it right," says Holyoak. "All we had to do then was convert a later hydraulic floorpan into a cable one, meaning we finally had a proper '51 pan to work with."
Once that matter was sorted, the build-up continued, with panel magician Ron Patterson and trimmer Adrian Vantongeren putting in the hard graft to bring the '51 to what it is today. The original 1100cc 25 hp engine was replaced by a later 1200cc 40 hp flat four (Holyoak still has the original but has baulked at the cost of restoring it), topped off with a genuine period Judson supercharger, which boosts power to about "60 or 70" horsepower.
The engine, the unique wheels, the carpet and the lower ride height are the only non-original aspects of the '51, and can be easily reversed should Holyoak ever wish to conform to true authenticity. Otherwise, everything is just as it would have been when the car rolled off the production line.
Given the '51's age, rarity and value, it's hardly Holyoak's first choice for regular driving. Indeed, it isn't even registered. But with snatchy cable brakes, agricultural suspension and no seatbelts, that's probably no bad thing.
"It goes really, really well but doesn't stop or handle," he says. "Even if I put seatbelts in, it's not going to matter because there are only two clamps to hold the seat. It ain't real safe!" |
Picture of the car is on the article page.
_________________
Deutscher Klassiker, nicht japanischer Plastik! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
coad 
Samba Scapegoat
Joined: September 12, 2002
Posts: 7568
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TeamSpatula
Samba In The Rain
Joined: February 03, 2004
Posts: 5221
Location: WNC
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
all that story, you'd think they'd at least include a dash or interior picture...
_________________
<---Air Cooled Search & Rescue Team - STICKERS & T-shirts for sale!
1981 Diesel Rabbit
I NEED A CAMPER!!!! (1971 is ideal but will consider other years)
http://www.TeamSpatula.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gary
Person of Interest
Joined: November 01, 2002
Posts: 17069
Location: 127.0.0.1
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| TeamSpatula wrote: |
all that story, you'd think they'd at least include a dash or interior picture... |
You can just make out the steering wheel through the driver's side quarter window. It is visible on the passenger side.
_________________
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
notchback
Insensitive Jerk
Joined: December 16, 2003
Posts: 7024
Location: Behind the Zion Curtain
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:45 pm Post subject: Re: The 1951 RHD Beetle That Shouldn't Exist |
|
|
| Quote: |
"Nobody knew at that stage how rare it was. To me it was just a split. If we had known what it was then, I wouldn't have bought it because it would have been out of my price range." |
Just a split? 
Some people.
_________________
| zeen wrote: |
| Arguing with johnnypan is like mud-wrestling a pig. After a while you realize he just enjoys playing in the mud, winning the contest is not the point. |
FU#3 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
IN2VWS
Samba Member
Joined: January 29, 2006
Posts: 2549
Location: Australia
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
Haven't seen this car at a show down here yet.....
Here is a pic from a magazine of the ID plate.
_________________
( ⫏ ⫐ )
(ọ\ ¡ /ọ)¹⁹⁵⁴ ¹⁹⁵¹ ¹⁹⁵⁸
(⦷ ⥢ Ĭ ⥤ ⦷) 𝗞_𝗔_𝗥_𝗠_𝗔_𝗡_𝗡 𝓖𝓱𝓲𝓪¹⁹⁵⁶
⨴⨵--⊗--⨴⨵ 𝕊ℙ𝟚¹⁹⁷³ |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fig
Samba Member
Joined: August 17, 2000
Posts: 1080
Location: 26.15°S, 28.2°E
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Factory RHD split Beetles were assembled in South Africa from August 1951.
_________________
fig
Kaapse Kombi Kult
"Don't make a fuss, just get on the bus ..." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bruce
Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2003
Posts: 17573
Location: Left coast, Canada
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Icy wrote: |
You can just make out the steering wheel through the driver's side quarter window. It is visible on the passenger side. |
No, you can see the steering wheel through the passenger's side quarter window. It is clearly on the driver's side.
_________________
| overheard at the portland Swap Meet... wrote: |
| ..... a steering wheel made from a mastadon tusk..... |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jason C
Samba Member
Joined: June 14, 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Portland Oregon
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Bruce wrote: |
| Icy wrote: |
You can just make out the steering wheel through the driver's side quarter window. It is visible on the passenger side. |
No, you can see the steering wheel through the passenger's side quarter window. It is clearly on the driver's side. |
Too funny. 
_________________
Throw me a bone here. All I wanted were
sharks with friggen laser beams attached to their heads.
64 Bug |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
