Ovalbug
  • Ovalbug
  • pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter
17 years ago
This is a bit of a long-shot but am wondering if there's any way that I will be able to work out where my oval was sold from originally in 1953?
According to its Birth Certifcate my car left the factory on 24/9/53 for delivery to VW Motors London, but the registration was issued by Surrey County Council , the plate being *PH.
The DVLA haven't been of much help, the only documentation they have dates as far back as 1974 when their computerized database was set-up 😞.
Would a potential purchaser have bought a car direct from VW in London and had it registered locally or does a Surrey plate mean it had to have been bought from a Surrey-based VW agent?
Of course the fact that it's Surrey brings Colborne Garages to mind, but I suppose I'm letting my imagination run away with me :lol: .
Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks!

:wink:
'63 Karmann Ghia RHD
'72 1302LS Karmann Cabrio RHD
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lifeintheslowlane
17 years ago


Of course the fact that it's Surrey brings Colborne Garages to mind, but I suppose I'm letting my imagination run away with me :lol:

Ovalbug wrote:



Not at all, at that stage (1953) Colborne Garages is quite a reasonable assumtion.
John.
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Rich Oakley
17 years ago
John's right. The dealer could have been Colbourne Garages in Ripley, but there was probably more than one dealer in Surrey at the start of sales. By 1955, there were dealerships in Ripley, North Cheam, Epsom, Farnham and Croydon. All cars entering the UK at this time would be delivered to one of VWs distribution sites- VW Motors for London, William Arnold Ltd. for Manchester etc and then passed onto the dealers for sale.
47 Beetle, 56 UK Karmann Cabriolet, 56 UK Beetle, 57 UK Type 2, 59 UK Beetle, 66 UK Fastback.
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Ovalbug
  • Ovalbug
  • pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter
17 years ago
Thanks gents for that info, does anyone know if Colbournes retain any records etc from their early years? I know they were VW/Audi dealers until relatively recently..........

:wink:
'63 Karmann Ghia RHD
'72 1302LS Karmann Cabrio RHD
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lifeintheslowlane
17 years ago

Thanks gents for that info, does anyone know if Colbournes retain any records etc from their early years? I know they were VW/Audi dealers until relatively recently..........

:wink:

Ovalbug wrote:



I don't think Colborne will be much help...unless of course you promise to buy a new car from them, in which case the salesman's wife would be only too pleased to have your babies as part of the deal.

My old '59 Beetle was sold by them secondhand in 1962 from their Woking salesroom but luckily I had most of the car's documentation anyway.
John.
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Ovalbug
  • Ovalbug
  • pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter
17 years ago



I don't think Colborne will be much help...unless of course you promise to buy a new car from them, in which case the salesman's wife would be only too pleased to have your babies as part of the deal.

My old '59 Beetle was sold by them secondhand in 1962 from their Woking salesroom but luckily I had most of the car's documentation anyway.

lifeintheslowlane wrote:



Cheers, with JLT 420 and the associated history of Colbourne with VW in the UK in the early days suppose it was wishful thinking that they might have retained their records for posterity!
Looks as if I'm not going to get any further with this then 😞 , though can't grumble too much as have spoken to the owner from 1965-2007 and know pretty much all the car got up to during that time :wink: .

'63 Karmann Ghia RHD
'72 1302LS Karmann Cabrio RHD
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RoRoVw
17 years ago
You may be able to track down the original dealer through the old Surrey County Council records. The previous owner of my 1963 1200 found that the old West Riding of Yorkshire archives had all the original registration number allocations saved on microfilm. By giving them the original registration number they were able to send him a printout of a hand written page showing to which garages individual registration numbers within a particular range had been allocated. I think it cost him about £5 or so. Surrey may be able to offer a similar service. Its worth a try.
Cheers Rob.
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Ovalbug
  • Ovalbug
  • pre67vw Junkie Topic Starter
17 years ago

You may be able to track down the original dealer through the old Surrey County Council records. The previous owner of my 1963 1200 found that the old West Riding of Yorkshire archives had all the original registration number allocations saved on microfilm. By giving them the original registration number they were able to send him a printout of a hand written page showing to which garages individual registration numbers within a particular range had been allocated. I think it cost him about £5 or so. Surrey may be able to offer a similar service. Its worth a try.
Cheers Rob.

RoRoVw wrote:



Thanks Rob ; I do have a book about how to trace the history of your car (it was published in 1990...) and in that it stated that all of Surreys records were 'presumed destroyed'.
However that was a long time ago now and who knows what information might have been unearthed since then, so think I've nothing to lose by going down that route, cheers :wink: .
'63 Karmann Ghia RHD
'72 1302LS Karmann Cabrio RHD
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Rich Oakley
17 years ago

You may be able to track down the original dealer through the old Surrey County Council records. The previous owner of my 1963 1200 found that the old West Riding of Yorkshire archives had all the original registration number allocations saved on microfilm. By giving them the original registration number they were able to send him a printout of a hand written page showing to which garages individual registration numbers within a particular range had been allocated. I think it cost him about £5 or so. Surrey may be able to offer a similar service. Its worth a try.
Cheers Rob.

RoRoVw wrote:



Sorry, but all *PH registration number records for Surrey were destroyed in the late 1970s.
47 Beetle, 56 UK Karmann Cabriolet, 56 UK Beetle, 57 UK Type 2, 59 UK Beetle, 66 UK Fastback.
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