The Work Begins!

So now Harry was finally mine and safely at home.

So the first thing was to get him serviced and any mechanical bits sorted. So off to GSF I went to buy a new exhaust, and the bits required to service him. Unfortunately I was still very new to Aircooleds at this point so I didn't fancy trying to do any of it myself so I took him to my local garage where they sorted his brakes and gave him a full service.

Next was to order all the bits that would make him shinier!

So Stainless Steel Towel Rail bumpers, new hubcaps, red TMI doorcards to match the TMI seat covers already fitted, TMI door Pulls, TMI rear parcel shelf from VW Heritage, new carpets from Spirit of the 50's, Underlay from C&C and some POR15 were all ordered, Also bought were some new door seals to make him watertight.

Whilst we were waiting for these to arrive we set to work giving him a good wash and polish and ripping out the crap Bathroom type carpet and POR15 the interior floors to give them extra protection.

Harry Arrives!!!

On January 21st 2007 I went and collected Harry.

This was my first ever proper drive in an Aircooled! And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, he drove really well, although determining the speed was difficult as he still had his KM/H speedo fitted.

However DISASTER!!! Just outside of Cardiff, smoke starts billowing out his passenger side front wheel, his brake had been binding, caught fire and melted the wheel bearing grease.

Luckily a week earlier I had bought RAC cover in readyness so a quick call to them and eventually they turned up! The RAC guy checked him and said "He's OK, he'll be fine to drive", my reply was ummmm, have you "checked the wheel bearing?" he checked it, the grease had been melted away "ahhh" he says "I'll order you a tow truck"

FOUR hours later the Tow Truck arrives, after being sat on the side of the M4 with no heating in a car without even door cards fitted, with sporadic snow storms coming down!

So eventually we finally get Harry home about 10pm, unload him from the Tow Truck and put him at the side of the house.

Heres how he looked when he arrived home, a bit sorry for his self:

Do I/Dont I Buy Harry???

My hunt for a Bug began in earnest in early January 2007.

Then on the 19th January (just after my Birthday) I went to view some bugs in Swansea, some at FBI VW and a black one which was eventually to become mine.

So on a cold drizly January day, myself, my girlfriend Gem and my friend Lucy (who has a Vdub or 9 ;-) ) went to look at these Welsh Bugs. The ones in FBI VW were nice, but just not quite right for me, so we went to View Harry, he was a bit faded and had no interior except the seats and a horrible bathroom type carpet, he didn't even have any door seals, he was however the right price and looked nice and solid, I needed to think about things and had another bug to view on the Saturday so we told Spencer we'd let him know. As we left Spencer drove off in Harry, with us behind him, and he looked so right, in the back of my mind I knew he was the 'one'.

So we drove 200 miles to the other side of London on the Saturday to view what looked a nice bug in the pictures, however it was a big disappointment when we saw it, dodgy heater channels, a sunroof sealed shut, and evidence of lots of filler under the paint. All for the same price as Harry. That made my mind up and as soon as we got to a services I rang Spencer and told him I wanted Harry and would be up to get him the next day!

A little about Harrys Dad

I have been into Beetles and for as long as I can remember, I've ALWAYS wanted my own Herbie!

My VW obsession truly began in 2004 when I bought myself a 2001 2.0 New Beetle (I needed a reliable modern car as I was doing a 150mile round trip to/from work), which was then named 'Gertie' I spent a lot of money on her changing bits etc etc and became a member of the New Beetle Club Evvo (http://www.evvo.co.uk/).

Then after owning Gertie for Two years attending several shows etc I decided I wanted a change and bought this:

VERY VERY fun to drive, but apalling build quality and leaked like a sieve, after ownig it for 5 months, over half of which it was in Mercedes with them trying to fix the leaks, I decided enough was enough and rejected it getting most of my money back.

I then decided I had to get another VW!

So in September 2006 I decided on another New Beetle as I still required a modern Daily driver and couldn't afford to run two cars. But this time I wanted something special so after several weeks of searching I managed to find an 11,000 mile V5 Sport Edition New Beetle in Silver, or 'Archie' as he became known.

After owning Archie for only two months I got promoted at work and they gave me a company car, A Mini Cooper! So now I could FINALLY afford a classic bug! After selling Archie in late December 2006 my hunt for a classic bug began in earnest!

Harrys Origins

Harry was born February 5th 1958 in Left Hand Drive guise, in the Wolfsburg factory in Germany.

He came with a few optional extras, a larger 75amp 6V battery, larger rear reflectors in the rear lights and a laminated windscreen.

He was then shipped off to Sweden where he was undersealed and an Eberspacher B2 Petrol Auxillary Heater was fitted.

He spent the next 47 years living in Sweden in and around the Borlänge area, with the last Swedish owner living in Rättvik. I have traced her contact details but have not yet contacted her for more information about his Swedish history.

From what I can glean from his Swedish rear number plate that he came with, is he was last used in Sweden in 1994, then he was laid up in a barn for 11 years until the 4th March 2005 when he was imported into Swansea (Wales) by FBI VW.

Harry being rescued from His Swedish Barn!

He was then bought by a guy called Martin who had him Resprayed, and his lovely original interior (below)ripped out and a not so nice Flower patterned one fitted (EEK!!!).

Harry was then laid up for another year or so as Martin was away a lot working so didn't get to use him!

So in October(ish) 2006 Spencer who runs Swansea Aircooled bought him, ripped out the awful interior, and started fitting a much nicer, more fitting TMI interior, but only got as far as the seats. A little bit of welding was required that year for Spencer to get Harry through his MOT in November, to the heater channel bottom plates and a small hole in the rear corner of the floorpan on the drivers side. This done and Harry freshly MOT'd Harry was used as Spencers wedding car along with his wifes white bug.

Then in late 2006 Spencer decided he needed to sell Harry to fund his Karmann Ghia Resto.