Chuck’s L41 Black ’67 Vert
Another fantastic ’67 Beetle for the world to see. 88,000 original miles; wow. If you own any vert, you know Chuck. Thanks, Jay for helping me pull this one together. What would 1967beetle.com do without him?
It was 1979 in Corona Del Mar California. I had been buying, “fixing-up” and selling VW Convertibles for 7 years ( the market always had been strong there). I had purchased many from other States for $100’s and sold them in Southern California for $1000’s.…..when, one day I was sitting at a stop light. A Black ‘67 Convertible Beetle turned left in front of me! I thought:
“This would be “The Ultimate ‘67”!
I thought that I knew all of the VW convertibles in town! I made a quick U turn, when traffic passed, but could not find the ‘67.
Two weeks later, I again saw it…..going the opposite direction. Another U turn and, like the last time, it was nowhere to be found.
A few weeks later, it popped up in our local paper:
“1967 VW Convertible black with red interior 78K miles $1975”
Well, I was the first one there to look at it since it was only 6 blocks from my house. It was owned by my mail man!
After a test drive and listening to the owner giving directions to 2 more people wanting to come see it, I bought it on the spot. That was 38 years ago.
Since then, I have done a few things to the ’67. I’ve repainted the exterior and replaced the original torn and faded early-style seat covers (they were rice grain centers with smooth sides). We hand-made these using the original seat covers as patterns. I rebuilt the engine using NOS 1500 pistons and cylinders from the local VW dealer. And, of course, I restored the top, using the early style with chromed brass trim which I purchased from a Dealer in 1980!
Over the years, I have located NOS correct sun visors, chrome top locks, interior mirror, German hub caps and beauty rings, SB 12 headlight rings, Hella lenses and door handles—just to name a few things which I’ve done to the car.