Volkswagen Beetle 1303S

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By the end of the 1960s, the Beetle was struggling to keep up with the competition, it’s cute looks and quirky ways no longer being enough to keep abreast of the competition from Europe and Japan.

VW’s answer was the Super Beetle of 1971, introduced with a host of safety and comfort mods. Along with a longer wheelbase to give a more stable ride, it also got front disc brakes, improved steering and Macpherson strut suspension that improved the handling and doubled the luggage capacity. Crash safety was improved while both front and rear screens were enlarged for better visibility. Outside, it had a lengthened bonnet, fatter wings, a redesigned engine lid and bigger ‘Elephant feet’ rear lights.

Power came from a new 1,300cc engine or, for the more sporting driver, a 1,600cc flat-four of ‘twin port’ induction design with a higher final drive ratio. It was the last of the Beetles to be manufactured in Wolfsburg, Germany, before production moved to Yugoslavia in 1974.

Dating from March 1973, this eye-catching 1303S 1600 has been sitting in storage since it was last used on the road in 2010. It had previously been restored, although sadly its owner died without leaving much in the way of supporting documentation bar the V5C, recent invoices and current MOT.

They had it repainted in white and green, fitted new wheels with lovely white wall tyres, new bumpers and retrimmed the interior using two-tone quilted vinyl with diamond pattern stitching to match the exterior colour.

It has recently been removed from storage and recommissioned thanks to a service which included replacement plugs, leads, dizzy, wipers and fluids as well as new belts, a carb tune and conversion to an electric windscreen washer from a hand pump.

This trendy bug now has a fresh MOT running until August 2020 showing no advisories although technically it no longer requires one.