Last year I bought a new fun car, after some back and forth I settled on a 66 Beetle.

This is the third beetle I’ve owned (EER 439D), previously having a 1972 early looker (EJN 484K) with 1600cc Single port engine and a 1977 1200cc (SRT 969R) both of which were my daily drivers and I covered many thousands of miles in them.

My Old Bugs:

This one left the factory in 1965 and is a 1966 1300cc model, it featured in Volksworld in 1994 and had a load of work done to it in 1998, It was “restored” around 2009/2010 and fitted with a large race engine however since then it’s barely covered any miles.

1994 Volksworld and the original restoration:

1998 – 59,998 miles – Receipts from LR super beetles show that it had a lot of work this year.
2010 – 70,337 miles – Fully restored, body off and resprayed as race car with large engine fitted.
2012 – 70,469 miles – MOT Mileage.
2024 – 70,658 miles – When I purchased it!

I bought it with a few issues that needed sorting before it hit the road, the massive engine and rear suspension had been removed prior to my purchase, the supplied axles were wrong and the brakes looked like they came from the bottom of the sea.

I also had some of the scratches touched up and the heating reinstated which had been welded up, I had a 1600 TP engine (originally from a late Mexican Beetle) fitted with twin 34 ICT webbers.

Thanks to DK Autos in biggleswade for getting it back on the road and Julian at parts emporium for supplying many missing items It’s now a lovely car which is fun to drive, has good heating and has a great interior. I’ve already driven more miles in the last few weeks than it has covered in the previous 14 years.

As it is now: