South
Africa to Yorkshire
This is the story of my yellow Beetle.
It was made in 1972 in the Uitenhage
Volkswagen factory before living the
rest of its life up until 2016 where
it was exported to the United Kingdom
in 2016. Here it lived in Devon for
a year before being bought by an owner
in Yorkshire.
My
passion for air-cooled VW's started
at Harewood house during VW Festival
2016. Here, I stumbled across a two-toned
grey and white Beetle. This car instantly
became my favourite at the show, however
unfortunately I was only 15 at the time
and after a quick search at insurance
prices for first time drivers for a
classic Beetle this dream suddenly became
very unrealistic.
Fast forward 18 months later, I had
begun the search for my first car. Of
course, the obvious Corsa and Polo were
some of my options, but they all seemed
boring. This search soon reignited the
dream of one day owning a Classic Beetle.
A couple of days and searches later
I found myself staring at a bright yellow
Beetle located in Pickering, Yorkshire.
After a few phone calls and messages,
I soon found myself agreeing a date
to go and view the car. Two weeks later
we set off too the meeting point which
happened to be a small barn hidden deep
down a country road, here I found myself
for the first time sitting in a Beetle
(whether you can class this as a barn
find or not, it was a still a pretty
cool setting to see your first car).
The decision to buy the car was a no
brainer and we returned a week later
to bring the car home.
The journey home happened to be my first
adventure in my car. During this journey
we encountered a few of the quirks owning
a beetle had to offer. The first being
how to put the lights on, turns out
we drove all the way home with full
beam on but after studying the lights
they proved to be as good as a candle.
The second being the faulty fuel gauge
and the horn being wired up to a random
button on the dashboard which we discovered
whilst going down the M62! Finally,
the car after making it to the last
hurdle of our street, slowly began to
die as we drove home. Luckily, we managed
to start her back up again and we got
home in one piece.
The
car then had a good check over the following
morning and to our surprise we didn't
not find any rust within the common
areas. The car mechanically only turned
out to need a good service and spark
plugs changing. Soon after learning
to drive in it, I passed my test which
soon saw me drive to college the following
day. I can still remember the faces
of my friends in the car park as I rocked
up in a bright yellow classic car.
From this point onwards I have used
the car every single day. From the coldest
day in winter right through to the blistering
hot heat and to this day, it has not
let me down once. This still proves
that you can use these cars as a daily
without worrying about breaking down
alongside the benefit of enjoying the
car itself and seeing people smile,
point and wave as you drive by.
Being a South African Beetle, over the
past few years I have encountered several
problems ordering the correct parts
as they are truly a mix of parts, consisting
of an early chassis and late body. In
2018 I attended VW festival again, this
time in my own beetle which was a very
proud moment for me as a couple of years
previously it seemed like an impossible
task for a teenager. As of today, me
and the car have attended several shows
including VW Festival, Elsecar at the
Races, Spring Dub, Wakefield Classic
Car show and many others, including
many future shows.
Since buying the car I have made a fair
few changes. The first of which being
the drop spindles to lower the front
of the car. The rear has also been lowered
to a suitable height. Since the Beetle
is being used daily, I've added a radio
and adequate speakers. The heating has
also since been reconnected and vents
replaced which has helped me during
the winter months. Recently, I've also
discovered the Beetle had a bay windowed
camper's wheels fitted. These have since
been changed back to wide 5 smoothies
which original hubcaps fitted. Also
fitted recently is a standard width
adjustable beam so the front could be
lowered slightly. To this day the car
is still being driven as a daily and
will be in the future.
Louis
Emmerson
