History
The car was sold by Muller & Muller in Sydney on 26th May 1975 to an elderly couple who mainly drove it around Sydney except for a few trips to Queensland untill they moved to Port Macquarie and sold it in about 1982.
They sold it to a travel agent who lived near Wauchope and worked in Port Macquarie.
We bought it off him in about 1988 with 145,000km on it, as our family car. My wife drove it a lot of the time in the early days, as I often had company vehicles. We bought a VR6 Golf for my wife in about 2003 (she now has a V5 Bora), so the beetle has been mine since then.
It has had various accidents over the years, the first bad one was when my eldest daughter ran off the Oxley Highway on the Walcha mountain - had a LOT of dramas with the insurance company we had been with for over 20 years, so changed to Shannons - best move ever. Have had a number of small bingles since - the worst was a rollover when a roo jumped at me on my way back from Parkes in mid 2011 - and Shannons have looked after me very well every time. I have had a few more small incidents since then (none my fault - I reckon I must have a big target on my car somewhere), and as usual, I can rely on Shannons (although I hope I dont have any more incidents). The car now has 705,000km on it.
Modifications
Engine: 1916cc on an alloy case with 044 heads. Running twin Kadron carbs, Vac. advance distributor, harmonic balancer, electronic ignition, lightened 8 dowelled flywheel, mild Pobjoy cam, 30mm oil pump with filter take off & 8 pass external cooler, breather kit to case & tappet covers, Vintage Speed Stainless Steel exhaust, 75amp alternator, and chrome tinware.
Transaxle: Standard gears except for a beefed up kombi reverse (for backing trailers), supadiff, and heavy duty sideplate.
Suspension: Gas shocks, heavy duty 26mm rear torsion bars - raised slightly (for towing trailers).
Brakes: Standard master cylinder & front discs, Sherman rear discs.
Body: Modified dash with full set of guages, Autotechnica front seats, re-done rear seats with headrests, remote central locking & alarm, electric windows, centre console and Scat shifter, bonnet light, blue LED interior & guage lights, inertia reel belts front & rear, & driving lights in the front bumper.
