Description
Very complete and original 1962 Beryl green VW Beetle - first registered in Sweden and imported to the UK a few years ago. I purchased it in July 2024 after it had been imported to the UK.
I think it's just about fair to describe the bug as original unrestrored or a survivor. It's never been welded and has no rot, the original underseal is intact and even the wings are original with no rust in the headlamp buckets. It's numbers matching too - on its original engine and gearbox. It is absolutely solid.
It has the original Scandinavian cloth interior which is in stunning condition along with its green mats original door cards, original carpets and one of the last cloth headliners with no tears, and the original green running boards. It came with the steering lock ignition and also has early Volvo seatbelts fitted which was presumably a dealer option back then. It's retained the original toolkit with cloth roll to match the interior. It has obviously been very well looked after all of its life.
The previous owner replaced the rear gearbox mounts, steering disc, fuel lines, wheel cylinders, flex hoses, shoes and rebuilt the master cylinder. They also replaced the engine flywheel oil seal.
Since owning the car, I have carried out addtional work to deal with all the remaining niggles:
I've had the engine and transmission out - replaced nose cone bushes - now with an oil seal, detent plugs and axle gaitors, so there are no leaks.
I took the engine down to the case but didn't split it - it had a burnt exhaust valve on no. 3 so I replaced all the valves, virtually no wear on the barrels so just glaze busted and re-ringed. Virtually no wear on the big end journals so no reason to suspect the mains, so I just replaced the big ends. I replaced the engine bay rubber seals as the engine was out. The engine fires immediately, even when cold and the heat risers on the inlet manifold function correctly so ice does not get a chance to form and the car can be driven straightaway.
Everything works properly - thermostat, heater controls, washers and wipers, choke, courtesy light, horn, quarter lights, window winders, lights and switches etc, the heaters are awesome. It is a joy to drive - no squeaks, rattles, knocks etc and it's quiet and warm inside. It has the smoothest steering wheel I have ever known, so I assume no one has ever driven it wearing a ring. I have also fitted RHD Hella headlight lenses but will include the original Bosch LHD ones.
Exterior wise, I had the wheels powder coated semi gloss black and then I painted the outers in the correct colours - Olive centres and Opal white rims in 2K. They are fitted them with Pirelli 155HR15 Cinturato CA67s which are more or less period correct and drive great.
The car was resprayed many years ago, not very well, with the windows in. There is some patina on that paint and there are a few stains and it is quite dull, so from a distance it looks fine but up close you can see some marks and discolouration - the roof is the worst area - pictured. I chose to leave it that way as part of its story and it doesn't actually look that bad in my opinion. I just give it plenty of wax. You could very easily just respray just the exterior and have an incredible car. This is really the only thing that lets the car down and is the reason for the price tag being below £10k.
It comes with great documentation - some original purchase docs and detailed service history from around 1970 to date. The bulk of the mileage (130k) was covered between purchase and 1998 and from then on it was seldom used.
It is a genuine turn key car - I've been on multiple long trips in it with no issues. You could drive it home, any distance.
It could be left as it is as a survivor, resprayed to be one of the best examples in the country, could even be a cheap resto cal by just replacing the front beam and dropping the rear a spline.
