I saw a VW Beetle advertised at Tunbridge Wells for £250 and went to inspect it accompanied by Eric and Lee. When I saw this particular example I knew it was not for me. It was about the first Beetle I had seen which did not have glossy paintwork. I offered the owner £200 pounds which he rejected, so we came away. When we were back in Eric’s car he asked me, “What would you have done if he had accepted your offer?” I had to admit that I didn’t know.
However, on the outward journey to view this car I had noticed another Beetle at Fairthorn Garage on the A21, but I did not know if it was for sale. On the return journey we called in at this establishment and sure enough, it wore a price tag of £275. I knew at a glance that YBY332 was exactly what I had been looking for. The proprietor and I soon agreed terms and I returned a few days later to collect it. I was not far into the homeward journey when I saw another Beetle approaching. To my surprise and delight I noticed the driver raise the fingers of his right hand, without taking his hand from the steering wheel. I followed suit and soon realised that this was the customary salutation among Beetle owners.
On reaching home I discovered that the colour was described in the logbook as green. This can’t be right, I thought, having considered it to be off-white. On closer inspection, though, I had to admit that it was a very pale, jade green. This was a 1960, 1200cc, 30 B.H.P. Beetle with a recorded mileage of 64,494. The bodywork and interior were pristine in spite of being seven years old. This car was everything that other Beetle owners had been claiming for years. Solidly built, warm, easy to start and utterly reliable. When the snow came down and other vehicles were either not taken out, or became stranded at the first incline, the Beetle just carried on as though it was a warm, dry summers day. In motoring terms, this commitment to the VW brand was the best decision I ever made.
The next vehicle, or group of vehicles I must tell you about, was where I earned my living for nearly twenty-five years.
In April 1963 I took up the post of driver of a Mobile Library, employed by Surrey County Council and based at Godstone. In view of the size of the vehicle it was garaged, by arrangement with London Country Buses, in Godstone bus garage. The first mobile I drove was built on a Karrier chassis, which had been lengthened by eighteen inches in the wheelbase, with a further similar extension to the overhang. On this chassis was built a body 26′ long, 7′ 6″ wide and 10′ 9″ high. It had a forward-control cab, which also doubled as “behind-the-counter” space for the library function.
The engine, a Commer six cylinder petrol unit of 4 1/2 litres capacity, was installed on its side under the cab floor. At about 120,000 miles this vehicle was replaced by a more modern design. This new one was built on a Bedford VAS coach chassis, once again lengthened and carrying a body of similar dimensions to the Karrier. It was “powered”, if that is the right word, by a Bedford six cylinder petrol engine of about 3.6 litres. I collected this brand new mobile library from Surrey County Council’s engineering facility at Ewell and Susan (my wife and the Librarian-in-charge) and I set off to go into service.
After about a mile we came to a slight incline and I began to go down through the gearbox on a stretch of road which the old Karrier had always romped up in top gear! This was very alarming, as I knew I was stuck with this for years to come. I also knew that at least once a week I would be faced with ascending the 1:6 Titsey Hill. In the event I adopted the strategy of building up as much speed as possible on the approach to this hill and getting as far as I could before changing all the way down through the gearbox and finally into first! We then sat back and suffered the embarrassment of acting as a very slow–moving chicane all the way up this mile-long hill.
There was a feature of the braking system fitted to this chassis, which I must also describe. This was the transmission handbrake, an external-contracting drum brake fitted to the propeller shaft ahead of the differential casing. If you stopped on a hill and applied the handbrake, when you took your foot off the footbrake the wheels rolled until the “play” was taken up in the final drive. This could be several inches if parked on a steep slope.
The last of the mobiles assigned to me was another Bedford, but this time a much more acceptable machine, with a diesel engine and “spring” brakes.
I was retired from Surrey County Council, through “permanent ill-health” in 1987.
In 1972 I married Susan, and we then had two Beetles in the family. She was the owner of a Savannah Beige 1967 VW 1500, thought by many to be the best Beetle model ever built. It was certainly an excellent car, and we finally sold it with 187,000 miles on the clock, several thousand of those having been covered with a caravan in tow. To return to the 1200 Beetle, I took it to 130,000 and then gave it to Lee. He put another 130,000 on it before selling it in order to buy an Audi Coupé. During the time it was in Lee’s ownership he took it back to its birthplace in Wolfsburg and it aroused considerable interest in Germany. This puzzled Lee for a while until he called in to the premises of Autohaus Lottermann in Bad Camberg. This VW dealership was known worldwide for their restoration work on old VWs and Lee was shown around their private collection. The proprietor’s son then looked around Lee’s car and pointed out that they did not see many right hand drive models!
Our replacement for the 1500 was a 1973 VW 412 Variant. This model and its forerunner, the 411, collectively known as Type 4, was thought by many to be the Cinderella of the family, but that is not the view of anyone who has owned one. “Variant” was the term used by the manufacturer to denote an estate type body. There was also a saloon version.
Our “412” was Texas Yellow with a black interior. The engine was of flat-four configuration, located under the load space at the rear. It was of 1700cc capacity, air-cooled, with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel-injection and drove the rear wheels through a four-speed gearbox. There was coil-spring independent suspension at all four corners; the front being by Macpherson-strut and the body was of unitary-construction.
Interior heating was by fresh-air, drawn in at the rear by an electrically-powered fan and heated by the exhaust manifolds via heat-exchangers at each side of the engine. This warm air was further heated by a petrol-electric heater, before being blown into the interior through strategically positioned outlets, in the foot wells, the dashboard and under the windscreen. The interesting feature of this system, however, was that the heater operated independently of the engine. It drew its fuel from the car’s petrol tank and ignited it in its own combustion chamber by a combined glow plug and spark plug. This device would continue to run whilst it had a supply of fuel and air, even though the engine was switched off. It is important to point out that the combustion-air was exhausted via the unit’s own heat exchanger and to atmosphere through its built-in exhaust pipe. The previously mentioned fresh air was passed over the other side of this heat-exchanger before going on to heat the interior.
The load-carrying capacity was enormous, with the usual estate car space behind the rear seat, plus a capacious boot under the bonnet! When I rebuilt the kitchen at home, we carried all the flat-packed cabinets, electrical hardware, plumbing requirements and the kitchen sink in one journey and we didn’t need to fold down the rear seats! It was also an excellent tug for our caravanning holidays. We bought the 412 with 80,000 miles on the clock and when we sold it the reading was 185,000.
A new phase in our Volkswagen ownership now began. In VW enthusiasts parlance this was the acquisition of our first “water pumper”. In other words our first water-cooled model, a 1984 Series 2 Passat CL. It was dark blue, with a 4-cylinder engine of 1784cc displacement and a 5-speed gearbox. When we bought this car it had covered 52,000 miles and was in pristine condition, both inside and out. I changed this for another Passat, two years younger and a GT model but this was possibly the least-liked of all our VWs. The suspension was slightly lower than on the CL, there was a small increase in power and it was fitted with what the manufacturers termed “sports seats”. These were too long in the cushion and made clutch operation difficult, unless the up / down, forward / backward adjustments were absolutely correct!
The next model in our line-up was a 1985 Golf GL 1800cc in metallic blue and was a great favourite, especially with Susan. It was easy to see, in the light of ownership, why the Golf is so sought-after and consequently commands a good price on the second-hand market. It had, however, an Achilles heel, which it shared with the two Passats. They were all fitted with the same 1.8 litre engine and all had the same Pierburg 2E2 carburettor. This last was an invention of the devil, with water, electrical and vacuum connections all over it. It was probably reasonably well-behaved when new, but put 50,000 – 60,000 miles on the odometer and you could begin to expect problems. Engine idling at no less than 2,500 r.p.m., means that you probably need to replace the “waxstat”. Uneven running and lack of power for the first few minutes after a cold start and until the engine has reached operating temperature, indicate a burnt-out electric choke-heater element. Heavy fuel consumption and rough running, at operating temperature? Ah! the part-load enrichment valve diaphragm is ruptured and leaking excess fuel directly into the induction manifold. Small-bore vacuum pipes that become disconnected, split or blocked. Temperature / time valve failure or a blocked rocker cover breather pipe also add to the fun with the 2E2. I even bought “The Book of the Carburettor” to help me to understand it!
I eventually declared that I would no longer be tormented by Mr Pierburg’s troublesome device. I therefore started searching for a replacement car, with a pretty clear idea of what it would be. I found it one evening when Lee and I stopped at a fish and chip shop in Sevenoaks. As we walked back to his car, I spotted a 1991 Volkswagen Passat Series 3 on sale at a garage. The next day, Susan’s ???th birthday, we both went to have a look at it in daylight. It was finished in metallic silver, had a boot spoiler, which added enormously to its “presence” and was very roomy inside. What I really liked, though, was what was absent under the bonnet. No Pierburg 2E2! In place of carburation, this 4-cylinder, 2 litre engine proudly wore Bosch “Digifant” multi-point fuel injection. The recorded mileage was 82,000, which was a perfectly acceptable figure for a VW and so, after a little haggling we agreed terms and took delivery a few days later. At that mileage I thought it wise to ask them to fit a new cambelt and the car was serviced and a new M.O.T. certificate supplied.
This proved to be an excellent car, of respectable performance and with a decent-size boot. The interior space, front and rear, was generous to say the least. With the front seats pushed back to the fullest extent there was still ample leg-room for rear-seat passengers. It served us well for several years but then became Susan’s car when I decided to buy a car to give Sarah and myself mobility when Sue was at work.