1967 Vw Beetle The Story Behind It

Bernard Stander senior’s love for cars and all things Air-cooled started at the age of 11 with an air-cooled Fiat 500. He has been involved with Air cooled since then. He had 34 cars altogether and he runs a Facebook group Called Air-cooled Hooligans South African Chapter. It is a worldwide movement of enthusiasts of air-cooled cars who drive their cars on a regular basis.

Bernard took the group to the road with amazing support from the members of the group. The group strongly believe in giving back to the community and supporting various charities through charity drives and meets. Especially where children can be helped.Since forming the group, they have done two Christmas drives with great success. Bernard has lots of praise for the awesome people in the group, which is still growing.

Bernard senior saw this 1967 VW Beetle in its original condition at a shopping centre over a long period and finally approached the owner. The driver was a lady from Farramere. He had to have it! The reason was that he wanted something different for his son Bernard Jnr. So when the owner of the car decided to sell it, he was the first to get the call and immediately bought the car. Bernard Snr explains that he decided to build this car for his son. The reason being so that he could not sell it to buy the next project. Genius!!!

The 1967 VW Beetle was in very rough condition, hence the reason for building a ratty car. It had rust everywhere. Actually, it still has the same rust…lol, the bodywork took all of 2 hours. A friend of Bernard, Freddy Olckers did the primer sides and rims.

The engine is a 1691cc single port motor that was rebuilt by German Steel Toys with a 31 Solex, pushing out between 50-60hp. A Kadron free flow exhaust rounds out the package. The suspension is static lowered at the rear with an adjustable beam at the front. For wheels, Bernard is running the standard steel wheels with 146/65 at the front. However, the rear has been widened to a 6J with 205.65 at the rear.

The interior of the car was decorated by his son and is an absolute assault on the eyes. There is so much to look at that you barely know where to start!

The seats were designed to mimic a Converse Sneaker with a shoelace in the middle of the seat and were beautifully done by Fantasy Ridez Customs.

When we asked if the end result was the same as the original, Bernard’s response was very much so. We wanted to build an attention-seeker to build the Air-cooled Hooligans group…it worked!