heb 455 , the storry behind the car

[oval56]

hi enthusiasts,

first of all, the most know me owning only oval bug's of the years 56/57, pre ones i do call all prototyp's (door opening wrong, door lock wrong, doormechanism wrong, taillights with bad light, difficult brake mechanism ).

so i'm into the scene about 14 years know, and i never searched for one of the coachbuilt cars, but the last yeas, a bardoor or a early splitbus seems to be very interesting for me, but i never found one wich has fitted to my "visions". Also a kdf aera car was interesting for me, but to get one is also very very difficult.

but in this year, one telefoncal changed everything. A good friend of mine called me on a sunday late night, beginning with the words: hi andi, i do have a car on my trailor, i bought it just in this moment, but i have to sell it quick, do you know anyone who has interests at a hebmüller??... me: WHAT!??? you are jokeing.. he: No. itts no 455 januar 1950 stored since 1979

the end of the story, after 2 sleepless nights, i got the car delivered into my garage and we got an agreement on the price. a fair deal for both sides i tink, but to close al the roumors, no he did not get it for the price which the heb was advertised

so for the timeframe, i got the car in februar 2009(!) ind i was registrated for HO, and the car was not complete (some things are still missing) and some work ave to be don to get it streetlegal and in a technical good condition.

as i got the car, the original engien was not mounted, also frontbeam was changed to a later one, and gearbox is also a later one (bus nosecone(!)) ( in meantime i got an split frontbeam, and also i'm trying to geht the chrashbox for that car, becaus i love it to shift the old geraboxes :d ) also all fenders are original, a abarth 4 tip wa smounted, and a wrong fronthood, nothing welded beside a rearapron

you se a lot of work, baut i have done it by myself piece for piece.

welding one heaterchannel complete, rearapron, 2 boumpermountbrakets rear, and small pieces here and there, battery tray and finaly grinding the whole chassis, all wheelhousings to get the rust process under controll. also en rebuolt of an engine and a complete nwe harness has to be installed.

i had seval times where i want to give up, becaus the time was running, and waiting another 4 years was not accaptable for me.

so now, everything was welded, and i had my day (17 june 2009!!!)to dirve my car to the german tüv for a streetlegal approval, but my fresch rebuilt engine blows up, reason, glas from blasting (to defend myself, i had done 10 engines like that, every enginehousing was cleaned and is working toda, and on this engine i had also removed all oilplugs but i had no luck ) - all words wich came out on this day startet with f**k

okay, to solve the problem, i had splited an other engine case, checked a good housing, a good crank, useing a new cam, new bearings and gaskets again, but i did not have new zylinders so i put on the new damaged ones in hope to get teh engien running for HO (imagine, the machien was totaly rebuilt, new bearings, nos crank cam .... and was about 100km on street after rebuilt as the enginecrasch came )

pictures of the nightmare:

after some sleeples nights, i got the second rebuilt machine running in saturday 21.june 2009 (!)
details of the engine: 30 hp, bore 77,5 ( i will install the next days new (again) zylinders and pistons), stage 2 cam, nos heads , redrilled to get the 24hp engin tin fitted, 33mm inlet valve, 28pci dual carb setup, ihigher compression ratio, lightened and balanced flywheel, fram filter + okrasa spiral

so to get an end of this story, on 23 june i got it streetlegal, and got my licence plates. than 100km of testing and straigt to hessisch oldendorf :d

and today, 800km later, the engine still runs ( but i still have to change my cylinderes but they ar at the machineshop at the moment) and i love every minute driveing this car with a open roof :d :d :beer:

last but not least, i know, rims (original sprintstars chromed wit 135 / 165 tyres) and lowering (shortne frontaxle) ar really provocate the stock and original fanatics, but i do it for my own fun without destroying original parts from the car, i love the look and how it drives lowered. but for sure, the time will came when the car will get his original gearbox, and frontaxle on stock 16 inch tar cutters :beer: it is not my goal to provocate with this patina car, i just want to have a lot of fun, and i do also love original cars not lowered

the complete story is on my website, i think most of you know it
_________________
www.oval56.com

1956 Oval, 2364ccm typ4
1957 Oval Ragtop 1584ccm singel port modified
1950 Hebmüller, 1584ccm okrasa modified

DBK Germany!!!!!!!!!!
www.dbkvw.com

[mcdronkz]

Cool car, it even drives!

[scvw]

Nice car in a very nice picture location.
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58 Coral Red ragtop(Diana's car)
63 Ruby Red SC
67 Pearl White SO42
SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS

[lurkinstock]

Oval56,
Great story!!! You are one lucky sob to have that car fall in your lap. Amazing you got it together for HO. I saw the pictures of it before you posted the story of the car. I thought " Man somone sure found a beauty". The odds of finding a Heb on the east coast of the US like that are none. I would keep it the way it is and roll.
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" Southern Comfort Vintage Volks "
**The Grand Ole Dubs of the South**
52 split
59 single cab

[HENRY'S 51]

GREAT JOB! AMAZING STORY......

[kdf38]

Something I have wondered about since I first saw the pics of this car is
the "MIL GT" on the side. Did you get any explanation about that?

Mike

[Blinker]

WOW...Great find.
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World Famous D.B.K. Car Club

Der BlitzKrieg Kafers

[oval56]

[culcit]

Do you know any previous history of the car?

[oval56]

[Keith]

Amazing story and car. So exactly how good of deal did you get?
_________________
Formerly known in the forums as "OVALTEEN"

"I firmly believe that some villagers from Botswana could probably build a better road than PennDot."- Splitty

"If you do anything to your car someone will hate on you for it. People absolutely love to complain and find fault with others. Don't let it bother you. Just live and have fun."- Lind

[Sven53]

I personally think this car was "best of show" in HO this year.

Regards, Sven

[usariemen]

Again congrats for getting the car.
And for getting it ready for the show.

Getting a Heb is great anyway but this is surely not the worst.
It was nice meeting you. Next time mine may not be an empty shell
anymore.
Kind regards, Carsten.

_________________
Master of my domain!

[sunnybug84]

hey andi!

it was definitely the most interestig car on the show, something to look at

i followed your work on your homepage but had no clue it was a heb , so i was lookig for it at the vert section and thought you didnt make it to the show.... well until i accidently found it at the hebmüller section

very well done! i only saw you once and you where in a conversation i didnt want to pop in. but again great work! im still kinda jealous...

Bis dann Eike

[jshaddvw]

great looking car. i hope to see this thing restored back to its old glory someday. but in the meantime have fun with it.

[HansMartin]

why on earth restore it back to its "glory".

. it actually looks old compared to the restored pieces that look like they were made yesterday - patina is a good thing. if it had been a rat i would agree with you - but now ... very very nice car

[Patty B.]

Absolutely beautiful car as she sits--congrats!!

[jshaddvw]

[usariemen]

[oval56]