The almighty Jay Salser of 1967beetle.com had been going back and forth with Michael in regards to his amazing L620 Savanna Beige ’67 Beetle. You know this car, and have too most likely seen it in the past. If not, you’ve dreamed about it a time or two. (I know I have) In his own words.

This is a 1967 Volkswagen Deluxe Beetle Sedan VIN 117651175. The Beetle was manufactured April 21st 1967 in Wolfsburg Germany. The Beetle was originally purchased by Helen Eisele of Columbus, Ohio on May 23, 1967. She purchased it from the now closed Davidson-Green Volkswagen dealership located on the east side of Columbus, Ohio. Helen traded in a 1949 Chevy for $125 dollars to allow her to purchase the Beetle. I purchased the Beetle from then 78 year old Helen, on August 29, 1983 with 21,994 miles on the odometer. Helen was forced to sell the car because she could no longer push in the clutch pedal due to hip issues. The current mileage is 22,777. I purchased the Beetle when she was 16 years old and she just turned 50 this past April 21st 2017. I have clocked less than 800 miles on her over the past 34 years. She is very original including the original tires and new unused original spare tire.

The following is a list of parts that have been replaced or rebuilt since the car was manufactured in April of 1967. Some of these parts were replaced before I purchased it and some were replaced by me over the last 34 years.

Once again, our hats are off to the mighty Jay Salser for his dedication to 1967beetle.com. Each article is hand crafted with passion and attention to detail. The Waller Family Nor Cal Treffen journey is a fantastic read. Go, Ron & Diane. – ES

Ron and Diane Waller of Phoenix, Arizona not only are loyal Readers of 1967beetle.com, Ron has contributed several articles to the Site. Earlier this year, the Wallers decided to drive their 1967 Lotus White Beetle with many other air-cooled Volkswagens on the 19th Annual Treffen Border-to-Border Cruise. Their Journal memorializes the notable trip from Washington State to the tip of California. Drive along with them as they revive that feel-of-the-road Volkswagen experience.

Treffen #19, 2017 Journal

About four years ago, my wife, Diane, and I heard about the “Border to Border” Treffen. Treffen is the German word for trip or journey. Little did we know the word also could be used for “adventure,” because indeed it was!

Treffen starts in Port Angeles, Washington, and cruises down the coast on Highway One or U.S. 101. It lasts ten days and finishes at Border Field State Park at the Mexican Border. This was the 19th year for the event. Total mileage is 1,700. We decided it was something we had to do. From that point every decision we made concerning work on the car was made with Treffen in mind.

One of our major concerns was how “laid back” the trip was. The only requirement was an “air cooled VW.” There was no registration or fees. You came and went as you wanted. Being a very organized “Type A” personality, that was a real challenge for me.

We also decided to ask our best friends, Dan and Becky Lehman to accompany us. They have a beautiful 1971 Super Beetle. Needless to say, a great deal of planning and effort went into this adventure. First, we decided to ship the car to the starting point of the cruise. If you have shipped a car you know the anxiety that goes into this! The car left Phoenix three days before the start of our trip, which would begin on July 20. We had it delivered to Vancouver, WA, in time for our first Treffen day. When we left Phoenix, the temperature was 106. In Oregon it was 70! We had great weather the entire trip. The only rain we saw was in Arizona on the drive home! Our little Lotus White 1967 Beetle had 5,070 miles on the odometer when we left Vancouver.

Day 1 – Friday, July 21

We drove from Vancouver to Astoria, Oregon, along the Columbia River. This first leg was just over 90 miles. We crossed the Columbia River on the four-mile-long Astoria-Megler Bridge over the Columbia River. It is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. Our first meeting of “the group” was in Astoria for dinner. Not knowing who or what to expect we all wore some type of VW shirt. It also was the first time we met “Buck” and “Andre” who were the contacts and leaders of the trip. They did an outstanding job. At some points there were over fifty cars on the road, a very impressive sight. Herding the group and keeping it together was not an easy task. It made for a few heart-stopping moments!

Hello, friends. My apologies for not being able to showcase the backlog of so many great ’67 Beetle stories from around the world in a more timely manner. Growing a business is a lot of work!

Let’s shine some light on Todd’s Standard Beetle, which is a follow up from Jay’s earlier mention of David Brown’s “standard standard.” Speaking of Jay, lets all give him a round of applause for keeping the lights on here at 1967beetle.com, so to speak. Thanks, Jay! We appreciate and admire your knowledge and never ending love for the ’67 Beetle community.

I had painted a friends bug some years back, he gave me this strange 67′ as payment. I went to look at it, I noticed oddities about it that were not standard issue on a regular 67. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but she was definitely not as nice as the 67 we had when I was a teen.

The first thing I noticed was the floor covering, any beetle enthusiast knows of the rubbery type bumpy covering attached to the back seat and in the luggage area. This material was covering the heater channels, and the kick panels, also covering the chassis hump. Definitely no square weave here!

Littler strange things I noticed… One horn grill…A fuel reserve lever like my 56′ has..only one sunshade, and a cool little white plug where the hole is. No Wolfsburg crest on the horn button, just a black disc is fitted. No chrome strip on the glovebox, no ring around the speedo. Only a partial headliner is fitted, not covering the pillar posts or underneath the side windows, just a gray length of plastic covering the seam on the pillar. It just looked so cool with more original paint showing than usual.

I had to research this strange bug. She was a “Sparkafer”, or Standard beetle. No frills with this car! Somewhere I had read that there was a recession in Germany in 67, and Mr. Heinz Nordhoff just had these Standard, cheaper bugs built just to get a product out of the doors, and money for the company!!

She needed a complete resto, I did everything myself in my little one car garage…floors, heater channels, bodywork, built the 40 horse engine..and I painted it the original Ruby Red.