OK here it is. This was my Uncle Lew's '59 Actic White '59...'60 model, registration 115 AHO.

I had fond memories of this car...in fact it was the motivating force in my belated aircooled VW interest. We used to cruise the prom at Bournemouth in it in the mid to late '60s.

My Uncle died in 1980 and all was forgotten about the car until 1996 when I was looking for a Beetle to restore or at least to buy one as I now had the time to devote to the hobby...only water cooled VWs 'till then. In a conversation with a cousin I learnt that my Uncle's '59 was still in the family and apparently “in the back of a barn” near Gatwick Airport for the previous 6 years.

They made it sound like a good candidate for my first resto so I asked Dave Cantle if he’d come with me to give it the “once-over.” When we got to the farm we were taken to the barn but instead of it being “in the back of a barn” it was round the back of a barn…in long grass, open to the elements for the previous 6 years. One of the windows had been left ajar so not only was the exterior shot so was the interior.

It was very sad…the car had sentimental value for me but it was obvious it was just too big a project for an introduction to the aircooled hobby.

Anyway here are the pictures:













On the way home Dave told me about another ’59 in the Hants Club and it had a Judson Supercharger! A WHAT? I bought that one instead.:roll:

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You should feel ashamed of yourself

No I should'nt, but you should. :roll:

Steve posted that he had bought the car, end of.

YOU were out of line by then going back and picking bones about it on a public forum. I think a magazine editor should simply know when he is stepping (albeit slightly) over the line thats all. Its simply a lack of common courtesy to the new owner.

And I am not stupid enough to know that there have never been any other arctics, I just pointed out that there is a little extra value in that colourscheme as well you also know and that as such it cannot be valued the same as say a re-reg'd black 60 and the cute plate added to the package a little more too. I never gave a price to anyone just that I would value it slightly higher than most other 60's in principle.
Obviously according to you and the seller some other people felt the same way as I do.

Yes, there are always a couple of nice og paint cars that come up for sale each year for less than you would spend restoring others like this one, but once you filter out cars with og plates AND an interesting colour, they dwindle right down to maybe 1 or 2.
You know that a car does'nt have to have og paint to still have the X factor. I am not going to argue with people who would rather play denial though. I am too busy.

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John,

That's not the car I broke.

Rich.

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Well Dave and I did think about parting it out ourselves but unless you have the storage space to do the job properly I could see it getting in the way for a long time.

It was sad but the car was rusted through in just about every panel underneath as well as what you could see on top.:(

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wow, all this banter over a little arctic '60. I have one myself - have had for 10 years in 2 weeks 😮 arctic/arctis colour RHD and with a lovely og Hills plate. She's beautiful but would never have thought such a car could create such strong comments. You all obviously know each other quite well so I probably shouldn't be typing here but just loved to see another RHD arctic '60

paint is a bit faded these days..

I Know this car well and would happily take it over an oval any day, truly amazing that its suvived so well, this is one of my fav. bugs ever

They have a amazingly nice bay too, some people get all the luck.


Seb

Mike Pye has an interesting article in the back of this months volksworld given the previous posts on this topic about valuations etc

What is it with the UK VW forums

I know its been a while since this all took place and I was not even going to bother responding but I thought I owed it to Ivan to. I appreciate all the helpful info that I was given by most of the postings so thanks again. However I have been put off of contributing or posting on VW forums yet again by what happend .I would just like to say this.
I have been a keen VW fan since I got hold of Volksworld issue 1 back in the eighties and have been a distant admirer of the scene on and off since then.I kick started my love of VW's again when about five years ago I picked up another copy of volksworld and decided the time had come to build a nice bug. All this has been done spending probably thousand of hours researching on the web as a quiet admirer and mainly on a US site namely Germanlook.com. All the info was great but I never posted much as I didn't want to embarrass myself with my lack of knowledge.However my ameture postings where all received kindly and all the members seemed helpful and friendly.Then I discovered VZI I spent ages again before plucking up the courage to post and placed an add, straight away some t**t slags it off as I hadn't gone about it in the correct way.I then posted another add with some more bitchy comments so I just thought wtf.I then discovered pre 67 that seemed to have a more mature knowledgeable group for people but yet again I get people digging other members out and jumping to conclusions about business that has got f all to do with them.For the record it was both a surprise and an pleasure to see Ivan round my place as although I don't know him I have a lot of repsect for him .I told the guy who came with him the that I had not made up my mind on the final price as I was not sure of its value.As Ivan said if someone offered 3k for it then bight their arm off for it.I was offered 3 k for it so that was what I went with. His friend did not put a deposit on the car. I texed him twice and told him the situation and he didn't even have the courtesy to respond.I know this is all pretty trivial but It just puts me off getting involved on these sites. Why are there so many nosey, miserable, bitching and bickering f kers on here.

😞

What is it with you Anna?
Where does the finger pointing stem from?
YOU!

The only reason I happened to be viewing that car is James Peene is currently looking for a Beetle.

He lives about 12 miles from me and to save him some money and to do our little bit to help the environment (or so we kid ourselves) I give him a lift into the office every day - so when I saw an advert for this car (James was off that day) I forwarded the link to James as I thought it might fit the bill.
He liked the look of the car and arranged to see it that evening - weirdly - rather than some kind of conspiracy theory - the only reason he went that evening was that the car was about 3 miles from our office.

I WAS ONLY THERE BECAUSE JAMES WAS GOING TO SEE THE CAR I AND I HAD TO TAKE HIM HOME!

I was simply doing a colleague a favour.

Anyway, James had £2500 to spend. The car 'was' £2500.

On inspection; the bonnet, front wings, passenger door, decklid, front valance, spare wheel well, rear inner wings above the torsion bars points all needed replacement or welding. The carpets and headliner were hammered. The front bump stops had disintergrated. The engine was 'unknown'as was the rest of the running gear.

It needed a lot of work.

James offered £2500 for it - Graham said he wanted more. As forum 'experts' have gone into advisory-mode

I told Graham, I saw it at £2500 (But not of my money as I wasn't interested - I hadn't gone there as a prospective buyer). I told him if it was mine and someone offered me £3000 I'd rip there arm off!

That was my opinion on a car I'd seen up close.

YOU kindly put down prices for the car and that was your opinion. the difference? You'd never seen yourself.
And I am out of order?
Well sorry - but to suggest I have an arrogant opinion, or that this car was the find of the century, or that the cars we feature on the cover of the magazine have any bearing on this thread is absolute codswallop.

You should feel ashamed of yourself, you're putting down the hard work of people who have very enthusiastic about their hobby - the hobby you suggest you share.


I am sure that the world would be a brilliant place if no one had to fit a single repro part on their car. And I will be very amused if you eat your own words and fit a repro part to your own car.

Equally, let's see if Steve - who bought this car over the phone after a 25 minute conversation/description from me ever fits a repro part to it - I hope he doesn't otherwise he'll have fallen out with you in the process!

You might want to ask Steve if the advice I gave him on the car was honest and if he's got any problem with me - or in the same breath whether the seller Graham has? I do not think you will find either have.

Equally - bear this in mind - this 1960 will have welding, it will need a lot of parts and the paint it grim.

The colour is unusual - but not unheard of. We've had one on the cover of VolksWorld - and guess what? It hadn't been welded!

It's ended up with the right person - as he'll restore it. Graham sniffed it out and was always going to use it simply to raise a profit - he was honest about that and there's nowt wrong with it.

Welcome to the forum!

Why are there so many nosey, miserable, bitching and bickering f kers on here.

Because that's pretty much what an internet forum is :lol: (not just VW forums, but ALL forums)

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geedub,i can give you site addresses where they will rip you apart first and ask questions later.
This is a very friendly site and very very little of this happens here.What can be misunderstood as bitchyness is usually two friends taking the p**s.
However i can see where you are coming from on this occassion,but as i know and like both parties involved,i will not express my opinion here.

What is it with the UK VW forums

...Why are there so many nosey, miserable, bitching and bickering f kers on here.

I'm sorry "geedub" but I have to agree with Rob and "50 Karmann", in general terms it's the way of Internet forums because they are to some, places to vent their day to day frustrations without having to face the people they're attacking.

There is much less of this on Pre 67VW than virtually any other UK based VW forum. From my experience it's tightly moderated and that's where other forums fall down.

Moderation doesn't mean removing disagreements or contentious points, there's room for both in an adult discussion. Having said that some are better than others in making their points in a diplomatic fashion...some just come out with it and call it as they see it.

There's more good hearted banter on this site than any other I've seen. The incident you make comment on is very much the exception than the rule.

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Ok thanks for your reassurance In pre 67 I will give it some more thought thought when and if I decide to post again. I just think its a shame that whenever you get a scene/club of any description you always get members who think they are above everyone else and know everything.It just puts the likes of me and other people wanting to get involved off. Its unfriendly and unhealthy for the scene.I will leave it at that.