This is such a bittersweet thing for me. My good friend, Richard Davies built this Beetle. It was his end-all, be-all Beetle. He spent his whole life in the VW industry, so that is saying something.
A little background. I moved from Iowa to Colorado in 1997 to work for Rocky Mountain Motorworks - a VW Mailorder parts company. At the time, one of the biggest in the industry. I think it was 1999 when Richard came over to work at the company. We became instant friends. He found out I had Irish heritage, so every morning he would come in and say,"Fook oof, Paddy" and I woudl say,"Fook oof, Taffy" (Taffy being the negative term for a Welshman). He had the best attitude of anyone I have EVER met, and very good, but very crass sense of humor. Only later did I hear about all of his health issues he had throughout his life.
Anyway, he left Motorworks and started his own company, because he didn't want to put up with the BS he felt he was being dealt, and Motorworks went into bankruptcy a few years after (unrelated). I left and worked for a water-methanol company and when that ended, I asked if he needed any help. He did, as he was going in for chemo for cancer treatment, so asked if I could run the business for him for a while. I did. He recovered (it was his 3rd bought with cancer IIRC) and I left to work elsewhere.
Anyway, long story, well, long - years later, he worked for VW Heritage out of the UK as the USA sales rep. He found this beetle at Jake Raby's shop (the Guru of Type 4 VW/Porsche engines) in mid-build state, and made a deal. He had it completed, everything to the Nth degree, as was his style. Jake Raby built a 2.3L engine that made 208hp, a Porsche 915 transaxle with a limited slip. Big Porsche brakes. Mendeola double A-arm front suspennsion. Mendeola tubular rear control arms. (It was Mendeola's test mule for a while). Etc etc. It was a blank check build.
Richard passed a few months ago after losing his last battle with cancer. He contacted me knowing he likely wasn't going to make it through this bought, and asking me to sell it for him and his family.
I've taken it on a few local VW club cruises, rejetted it, and now cleaning it. It is hard not to cry sometimes when I'm looking at it or touching it, but I know it is important to do. I'm cleaning it tomorrow to photograph it on Sunday morning, and have a friend shoot videos, and then probably list it on Bring a Trailer.
A few pics.
