1956 Volkswagen Beetle - Classic

Oval Coupe

4 - Cyl.

Manual

101029592

Gasoline

1956 Volkswagen Bug.....very original patina cruise over 40 pics and a video of the car driving on the mean streets of California! (I will not accept buyers who have no prior feedback..last winning bidder did not pay or make contact after the sale please let's not waste each others time!) The time was 1956 and many things were going on in the United States. Rocky Marciano retired as the only undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the world, Elvis Presley entered the US charts for the first time with Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis also had his infamous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. On the American home front the annual yearly wage was $4450.00, a new house could be bought for $11,700.00, a gallon of gas was .22 cents and a new car averaged $2050.00. That same year this 1956 Oval Window bug rolled off the assembly line in Wolfsburg Germany. It zoomed off the line with a full blast of 1192CC (or 36hp) horizontally opposed flat four engine. It came with some fresh upgrades for that year, while still holding onto it’s beloved Oval rear window. In 1956 for models headed to the U.S it came with “bullet fenders” which mean the turn signals are located down low near the headlight bucket. Prior to that these little cars came with what was known as semaphores, but do to visablity issues the United States demanded blinkers like you would find on other cars here at that time. Upgrades also included larger “glass” taillights and over rider or towel bar bumpers. This little car had a very rare color combination with it’s dark green ( L315 Jungle Green) outsides and a dark green (k 153) interior on the inside with beige headliner…WOW this car must have been amazing so fresh and new. I’ve been restoring show quality Volkswagens for years, so I’m usually driving a VW everywhere I go or atleast wearing a Volkswagen T-Shirt, from time to time I’ll post some for sale ads here and there. Well that’s where it started I had someone contact me about something I had for sale and one thing lead to another where I was informed that they knew of someone who had an old bug in a shed and they would have the person call me…well days turned into weeks and one day my phone rang. It was the call I had been waiting for. I was told that it was an old bug and it was green….so at this point my mind jumps to 66 or 67 Java Green bugs…then the magically words I love to hear “it has a really small back window!!!” ding ding ding…Oval window bugs my speciality. I set up a meeting to go look at the car and when I arrive here is what I found. The car was sanded down in 1984 and set to be painted by a local VW shop in the Bay area of California, prior to that it was driven back and fourth to school at Saint Marys in Moraga, CA. There was some problems with the body shop and the car was left sanded with no one to love it anymore. Well this was where it was about to change. As I walked up to the car I noticed all the things I love to see. It still has all four of it’s original fenders from the bullets upfront and “dimpled” rear fenders…these are hard enough to find on restored cars more or less on a original car. From there I looked to see the original crest hood, the W decklid, and original doors…how amazing. There are some dents here and there with the biggest being where someone hit a parking curb and the reason it went in for the new paint job. The taillights were missing as well as the interior, but to me that was easily solved by a trip to my vast parts stash. The keys were lost, but that was solved by changing out to another original ignition that I had with keys…the gas tank and gas lines were full of old crud and crust, so I pulled the old lines off and put on new, and put another clean gas tank that I had in the car. My good friend who is an ace mechanic came over freshened up the motor and we were off! We’ll sorta…the brakes were old and needed to be replaced so I put on fresh brakes all the way around on all four corners. As the car and I got to know each other a little better and I looked around more I found no rust anywhere other than the light layer of surface rust that had covered the car from sitting for so long covered up….this was great..no rust repair at all, no where…simply amazing on a car of this vintage…..the car I just restored was over 2500.00 alone in just metal work what a great savings…I wanted to go with that rat rod look and be able to have a fun ride without having to tear into it too deep so I sanded the car down with 1000 grit sand paper and then a nice healthy coat of CLEAR…now that’s fresh!!! I can’t tell you how many people ask me about how this car is painted or why is it shiney…if you don’t like attention this car isn’t for you…this thing draws a crowd wherever I go…to keep with that barnfind look I registered an original set of 1956 license plates and installed them…have you seen how expensive a complete nice set of these are now a days…OUCH…but wow do they look sweet and make that overall look just seem like this car was pushed out of a barn and right onto the streets!!! I decided to put a two and a half in narrowed beam with stock spindles and a set of Big N Little tires which are 135 15R up front and 195/60/15R on the rear…now with a car this age there is still a few things to be sorted out…the headlights and taillights work without worry, but I haven’t had time to clean up and work with the blinkers although I have been driving this car nonstop since I got it up and running, I must be having a bad ground somewhere as the battery keeps dying on me..if I was gonna keep this gem I'd install a new wiring harness to get the 50yrs worth of wiring gremlins gone..for some odd reason the passanger side seat track was missing..I did a quick fix, but if your going to restore this car you may want to spend a little more time on it..it's safe to drive and sit in, just tack welded a new one in for now..most people probably wouldn't notice it for a while, but I want to be 100% in my descriptions. The front windshield does have a crack in it. I have matching seats in the car, but decided to take it a little more vintage and I’ve picked up a set of basic black seat covers for daily driving around town. The motor is 1957 36hp that runs like a top, the old manual choke that you control from the dash still works and idles the motor just as it should and the car cruises nicely at 60+ mph on the streets of California. The battery tray does not have any rust and is super nice condition, the car can simply be driven as is with some electrical work or if you have the time and resources this is a car that truly deserves a full restoration. I can include the original front beam with the purchase of the car if you would like….Please feel free to ask any questions you have, this car is 100% in my name, I have the pink slip, Insurance and I do drive this car around Sacramento, CA and on the busy freeways of California. Don’t let the chance to buy a truly rust free car that will give you years of enjoyment! I have posted a ton of pics below please look at them they will give you as much detail as I will be able to. If you are an international buyer and the car needs to go to port I can have it towed to Oakland CA for 300.00 and Los Angeles for 600.00 Original 1956 California Plates...a 200.00 Value! (I have both front and rear and the