Three out of three ain’t bad
Not many people bring a new car to the VolksWorld Show three years running and win a Top 20 award each time...
We first met Stéphane Dendievel three years ago now, when he turned up at the VolksWorld Show with a silver ’63 Karmann Ghia convertible. The more we looked at that car, the more we saw – from its fully polished original EMPI 5-spoke rims to its monster Type 4 motor and Gene Berg 5-speed gearbox. The more we saw, the more we liked it. And, despite the distinct language barrier (Stéphane’s Belgian, you see), we liked its owner a lot too – it was clear he was genuinely excited about having a car on display at the show and keen to make sure we were as happy as he was about how the car was displayed. Once his car was in place, Stéphane began looking at the other cars on display at the show that year. The more he saw, the more he liked it, too. So much so that by the end of the weekend he had already started thinking about what he’d like to bring the following year. Stéphane is perhaps fortunate to be in a position to indulge his passion for air-cooled VWs, but that position has not come without a great deal of hard work, and what better way to repay yourself for all your hard work than by treating yourself to a collection of VWs? Fired up with ideas, he went away from that show and returned the following year with his second incredible show car. That car was the infamous Dyno Pincher – a homage to the nostalgia racecars of the late ’60s and early ’70s – brought to life by Neil Melliard and the boys at The Paintbox after a Pascal Meslet cartoon. If the first car – the Ghia – wowed us, it was perhaps a little too subtle for the crowds, but no one missed the altogether more in-your-face Dyno Pincher. No one.
Two cars, two Top 20 awards. What on earth could Stéphane do to top that?
While what rolled into the car park on the Friday morning before the show wasn’t perhaps as radical as the Dyno Pincher in terms of its paint and its initial impact, it stopped us all dead in our tracks all the same. By the end of the weekend, having had a chance to look round everything on display at the show this year, it’s one of the cars every one of us here in the office agreed we’d like to have taken home. I mean no disservice to the car whatsoever when I say it’s nothing out of the ordinary, at least not in terms of the cars that are consistently being built both here and abroad these days, but there’s just something about a genuine Cabriolet that sets it apart from a similar tin-top car. To me, of all the Cabriolets ever made, an Oval Cabriolet is the best and just about as desirable as a production Volkswagen gets. They may not be as rare, but I’d take one over a Split Cabriolet any day, and Stéphane agrees – mind you, as you’ll see later on, it’s easy to agree when you have the choice of both... And of the Oval Cabs, ’56s and ’57s are perhaps the most desirable of all. They’ve still got the looks of the earlier models, but benefit from numerous subtle upgrades: a more powerful starter and windscreen wiper motors; combined stop/tail lights; improved heater boxes and exhaust design; a significantly increased luggage area up front; an ‘easy-grip’ steering wheel affording a better view of the speedo; a more comfortable cranked gear shifter; a more accessible heater control knob and slightly wider, more adjustable front seats. Small details perhaps, but they all added up to making ‘late’ Ovals a more pleasant driving experience.
It wasn’t details like this though that sold Stéphane on this particular car, it was that it came from West Coast Classics in Fullerton, California. If there’s one thing Stéphane has learned in the time he’s been in to VWs, it’s that if you want a top notch job, you have to start with the right car and go to the right people. In America, arguably the best in the business when it comes to stock restorations is Lenny Copp, and the crew there know a good car when they see one. Having seen this car at WCC when he was visiting Bug-In USA, Stéphane felt confident that he was buying the right base car, but drove it just as it was for a year or so to make sure.
After that, the transformation into jaw-dropper started. His good friends Jacques and Diego took on the job of repainting the body in stunning L232 Iris Blue and fitting all new seals and trim parts sourced though Custom & Speed Parts in Germany. Incidentally, according to our files, and to those of respected Beetle historian Hans-Rudiger Etzold, Iris Blue was discontinued as a colour option on Cabriolets on 1 December 1956, but Stéphane assures us this is the colour this ’57 was originally painted in. Either way, it’s one of the best colours VW ever came up with.
Filip Delrue from garage Delrue in Belgium was then called upon to overhaul the mechanical side of the car, fitting a new CSP adjustable beam up front and a full set of the same company’s renowned disc brakes all round, before adding a set of fully detailed Flat 4 Fuchs-style wheels. Unlike the previous two cars, this one was to be more of a cruiser than a racer, so while the original 30-horse engine was away being rebuilt, a stock 1600cc single port engine was slipped in its place, but spiced up with a Reichert twin carb kit and a period Fram oil filter. As good as this set-up looks, next time you see this car, it will have its correct 30-horse engine back in place, with a Wolfsbürg West reproduction Okrasa kit and CSP Okrasa-style four-tip exhaust, which will be just the perfect complement to this car.
Unsurprisingly, this car scooped yet another Top 20 award for Stéphane at this year’s show, which just leaves us with one question – will he be finishing yet another new car for next year’s show and, if so, what will it be? We could keep you in suspense, but that would be mean, so all we’ll tell you is that Stéphane has two potential candidates for the job undergoing work already – one a similar vintage Karmann Ghia convertible, the other a ’52 Karmann Convertible. As to what style they’re going to be done in, you’ll just have to wait until next year’s show to find out...
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