Wills 54. Sold new at Ben Pon's dealership

[william metcalf]

I have been told many times I should post my story of buying my oval so I finally did. Not your standard car buying experience.

I first found this 54 in Kings Beach CA (North Lake Tahoe), back in 1990. There was this full on ghetto mobile home park there at the time. I was driving down the street in my 71 Super and looked over toward the mobile park. At the back end of the park was a construction dumpster that was parallel to the street. Behind the dumpster were some layers of carpets that were laying in a rounded like shape and I remember thinking "it kind of looks like there is a bug under there" and drove on by. This happened several different times. So one day I drove by and thought I should just go over and look under those carpets and see what is under them. So I got out of my 71 and walked over and lifted up the carpet layers at one corner and I saw an oval window!! My heart leaped. Kinda like digging for vw gold and finding a huge nugget. What could top it besides a KDF split. Ovals are my favorite anyway so I was now on a mission. So I lifted up other sections up carefully so as to not create any attention or cause problems. There were many layers of carpets , so it was sort of heavy. I was amazed that this car had just been sitting behind this dumpster full of junk. One of the car windows was open a little and so people kept stuffing the car with trash. You could not see very much inside. So I opened one door and I started to remove trash and throw it in the big dumpster and then I saw that glowing green dash. I just Had to figure out what the situation was with this oval. I began by knocking on the doors of tenants in the park and no one new anything. One guy told me to knock on a certain guys door there but that he was hard to find. After weeks or months of doing this I finally find this guy and he's a full on drinker. An old burned out hippy type. He was hammered and told me to find a guy name Sunny Dukes. He was too drunk to be able to tell me how to find Sunny Dukes. This was in the early evening just after it had gotten dark. So I begin knocking on the doors of houses in the neighborhood some days later. This takes more weeks or months and no one knows who this guy is. Finally someone says "oh yeah, he lives over there". I go to where they tell me he lives and he is this huge Biker dude. I mean textbook Biker. Tall, huge beard, bald, tatted, and he wore real Nazi Death rings. He had Harleys from the 1940s. He says "oh you want the 55 bug? ok, but im busy, come back at such and such time". wheeew!! ok Im getting somewhere with this. I was particularly stoked about it being a 55 when he said that. It turned out that some guy, owed some guy, some money, and Sunny was the guy to get the "guy " his money. The guy who owed money gave Sunny a 54 bug as part of what he owed him. They said it was a 55 , but I learned later on it is a 54. I go and see Sunny again and inquire about this oval. Sunny turns out to be one really cool dude. He says the legal owner would like to get $2500 for. It didnt run. It had no motor, some rust holes in the floor, hit in the back and in the front, no title, but did have a legally created Bill of Sale to go with it. It had Washington state plates that expired in 1977. We end up settling for $1700. I was still in college and had limited income, so he agreed to take 500 down and payments until it was paid in full. I kind of get to know this guy some more from going over to his place to make payments. He had this rep that he took not bull from anyone. You could tell, but he was cool for sure. Life has its way of throwing curve balls at you and you have to adjust to things like shattered careers and such. So I haven't restored it yet but the dream lives and progress is being made. Along the way Ive made good friends and got virtually all the correct parts for it. The one really cool thing about having waited this long is your desires about how to do the resto change. I don't have any regrets relating to the car. Its still a virgin restoration of sorts. I thought grafting in a three fold sunroof would be the way to go. I came to my senses and scrapped that idea thankfully. It wasn't until 2009 that I finally sent my VIN to Germany and learned that this car was built on Oct 2, 1954 and on Oct 4, 1954 it was shipped to Ben Pon's Automobielhandle in Amersfoort The Netherlands. Amazing!! Automobielhandle translates to basically "car dealership" in Dutch. Makes you wonder if that dude sat in this car, or even drove it around. I dont know of many or any ovals that came from Ben Pons dealership. Needless to say it is a keeper.

The dash paint is factory original. the steering wheel is a swap meet find. The speedo was stamped "rebuilt" and was a 1963 unit. So I found a 7/54 unit at the Seattle vintage meet in 1996.

even though the deck lid is hit pretty hard, the apron is actually in great shape except for the twin exhaust cut outs.

I like how the dust creates a blurred oval image. I had amazing good luck at the Seattle Vintage meet in 97 and found this correct (triangle underneath) hood for 150 and its not even cracked.

The trunk liner is original. Correct gas tank and cap came with the car. The wiring only needed minor repairs. I have a whole other front clip and a complete nos right side quarter panel from the A pillar to the nose.

The Front end is a 1965 unit for better driving and braking ability. The steering box is the original and fully rebuilt. The worm gear was in exceptionally good condition.

The original motor is long gone. The split case trans is still in the car. When I got the car, behind the back seat was the carb with a serial number closely matching the month of the car, intake manifold, fan shroud with a complete correct date code generator with big nut pulley and a round regulator. It also had the hold down strap for the oil tube on the generator strap. I did find an engine case that was cast 11 days before the car was built, some time later at a swap meet. There was also a box with hardware in it including the early style 36hp head nuts that are like Allen nuts. Nice!

also in the stable is:
April 1955 Single Cab. (bought it in 1999)
March 1964 Riviera Camper. (traded a big nut trans for it in 1992)
1971 Super Beetle, third owner. (bought it in 1989)

[Hefner]

Persistence pays, did you get the sunroof 'roofclip' with it as well?

Sunny Dukes doesn't sound like someone to mess with.
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1956 RHD Oval.
www.chrisgentle.com
www.customstreeter.com

[Undis]

[tattoo_5678]

really interested in the rest of this story and how it turns out...

[Black Betty]

As you probably know Pon is the Dutch importer of VW in the Netherlands (and who sketched the VW Transporter (T1)). Pon has a extensive 'library'. Perhaps Pon can give you some interesting information about the car.

[caseydenise]

great score
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Central Jersey Volkswagen Society - President

[German U-Boat]

Cool oval and even cooler story on how you got it...
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~Steven G.~
1957 Dove Blue Kombi

[stale air]

[Stetoppingphoto]

Very nice find! keep us updated

[Bruce MacDonald]

Wow, that is amazing. My Iceland Green 54 is shown in the birth certificate as being delivered to Pon's as well. There is a little plaque just above the engine lid catch that says;

Importeur voor geheel Nederland
PON'S AUTOMOBIEL HANDEL * AMERSFOORT
Arnhemseweg 2-14- Telef. 6545

Where the * is after HANDEL is a half size N on top of a half size V

The car was a 3 owner as near as I can tell and had had one repaint in a slighty lighter green but the painter must have masked off the plaque thank heavens.

At some point the car ended up in western Canada and was then brought to Toronto where I purchased it. The plaque actually gets quite a bit of interest at local VW shows.

p.s. If you look in my gallery you can see the plaque in the second picture down.
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Stop worrying about how much your car will be worth when you are dead and build it to make you happy!

[william metcalf]

Love the replies. Good stuff. You are so right about Sunny Dukes. You would not want to be on that guys bad side for any reason. But he was real cool.
I added more pics and added some comments.

I bought the three fold roof about 97. It came complete, Goldie handle, escutcheon,spring and all . I thought I was going to make the car's cool factor really increase but, being what it is, I came to my senses and the car stays as it is. even though im not using the roof. it wont be for sale until im genuinely ready to deal with that whole situation. My car is in storage out in the desert. nice dry air and cheap to rent.

My plan is to have the engine all correct. the only part I still need is the fuel pump, I have everything else. I will use my 68 transaxle with the correct rear og brakes. the front beam is from a 65 (has the steering damper and way better brakes and needle bearings at the trailing arms). I drove my friends 52 standard to the vw classic in LA back in 93 and that experience greatly changed my plan to go all og correct. We were in fear of our lives a few different times and I can handle traffic no problem. I had Lenny at West Coast Classics cover seats with Bedford Cord Cloth upholstery, correct for 1954. They look awesome.

[silvertonguedevil]

Great score and I love stories!
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-Greg

[Black Betty]

I live appr. a 30 minutes drive from Pon (in Leusden nowadays). If you want me to check something out about your car, let me know...

[Motorhead55]

My HOLLAND delivery '55 was delivered to Pon too.

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2007 Dodge Cummins Diesel 4x4 6spd stick
1939 WILLYS pickup
1967 Triumph Tiger Cub

[kdfwagon]

Fantastic story and find!!!
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Brianna's Grandpa

[william metcalf]

If you are willing to find out some history about my car from Pon's, it would be one of the best things I could ever ask for or expect. so YES!!!!

When I got it in late 1991, it had a Washington license plate and the oldest sticker I could unearth was 1972. There were also Reg cards in the glove box, 1968,69 and 70. I think the street was Ann Arbor st Seattle WA.

[aa390392]

Once again,
They lived happily ever after..
The end.
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getting grumpy & less tolerant!


55 ragtop
56 delux sedan
56 Kabriolet