Jo and myself (Si) here, The story started when I passed a garden with a beetle half covered up and I decided to knock the door to see if I could purchase him.
A deal was struck and I brought the old boy home. Have now owned Old Horace for about 12 years. He is a 1962 Beetle with loads of charm and Character. Essentially he was a rolling shell and very roughly painted in Army Camo style - no windows or interior or engine. I painted him black, welded him up and fitted a 1600 twin port motor and ran him like that for a few years.
He had a genuine oval window grafted in - but the plan was always to put back the original window frame. I managed to source a rear frame and glass on Vzi, and grafted it in. I was also able to source a genuine Golde ragtop clip from Pete Morley to graft in when I'm feeling brave. We are hoping to turn him into a genuine Herbie replica from the original Walt Disney film - the Love Bug (1969) And use him as much as we can.
After running 2 different 1600 twin ports - I decided to swap to my favourite Beetle engine - the 1500 single port which came out of a South African Split Window microbus that had a Subaru engine swap. It has original VW J tubes and moulded in blank offs on the fan shroud, and is mated to the 1200 gearbox.
I recently sourced and fitted a period correct tow bar, and no sooner had I fitted it - that someone ran into the rear of him. All fixed now, and without the tow bar it could've been much worse. He is slightly lowered, and has gas shocks and rolls on the original steels.
The latest addition is towel rail bumpers that add to the Herbie direction he is slowly becoming. He regularly attends the West of Scotland VW Club meets in Glasgow, and he even made it into the Club calendar for 2020.
We love him and hope to complete him as Herbie in 2020.
All the very best Volksfolk from Bonnie Scotland.
We look forward to seeing the progress in 2020! - Team JK
