It’s quite surprising really that Ken Johnsen restored this 1956 Type 1 to better than original condition.

After all, the long term VW aficionado had a string of hot ups and customs to his credit before the Type 1 was bought for a mere AU$100 way back in 1978.

It all began for this Aussie enthusiast when, at 15 years of age, he and a few mates built a buggy. Not a VW buggy mind you, but a shortened Hillman with an Aussie Holden in-line six motor.

Unfortunately, this grand little project didn’t last for long.

"The front end collapsed under the weight of the engine following a flying leap over a sand dune!" recalls Ken.

VW buggies seemed a natural progression, beginning with a 40hp 1200cc engined machine, followed by a space-framed sand racer with a worked 1300cc motor.

Ken’s first road car was a ‘67 Beetle, but that worked 1300cc engine from the buggy soon found its way on board and provided the impetus for what was to follow.

In the ensuing years, Ken played around, chopped and bombed more Bugs than he cares to remember.

A sinner sees the light
In amongst it all however, he somehow developed a conscience about his VW customising and eventually decided to repent.

"After chopping up VWs I decided to right my wrongs by restoring one," said Ken.

"The ‘56 I found in a local paper back in 1978 for $AU100. It was basically in good condition and even came with the original owners handbook and Hazet made round toolbox ."

Curiously, Ken’s new project was painted in light blue house paint, yet appeared to have little rust and only a few dents. And incredibly, the car at that time had only known one owner, who had given it an interesting history and its history is quite fascinating.

Rolling off the Stuttgart production line in April/May 1956, the vehicle was quickly exported to Port-a-Spain Trinidad where it was sold to a Mr Thomas Lockett on July 11^th 1956 for the sum of $2329.40 (British West Indian Dollars). Lockett, an Englishman, was employed by British Petroleum (BP) and was working in Trinidad.

The original sales docket and vehicle registration papers - which have stayed with the car to this day - verify its originality and confirm that the 36Hp 1192cc engine has not been changed in the car’s 40 plus years of existence.

Ultimately, Thomas Lockett was transferred to Indonesia in 1958 and then Australia in 1960, with the `56 making the voyages also and being used as regular transport in each country. All up, Lockett used the car for eighteen years and added 102,000 miles to the odometer.

In addition to its intriguing history, the car is actually something of a rarity, in that it is a deluxe model built essentially to US export model specifications - yet it is Right Hand Drive.

Originally adorned in metallic Polar Silver paint, this particular Type 1 was also fitted ex-factory with towel-rail type bumper over-rider bars, yet what really set the car apart from US models was its semaphore trafficators (turn signals – we’ll come back to those later)

"I used the car for several years after buying it from Thomas and even loaned it to a few friends who needed transport," explained Ken.

"There were a number of half hearted attempts over about a 15 year period to start the restoration, but it wasn’t until 1992 that I really got serious about doing a complete job on the car."

Well, he did say "serious"…
Whilst working in the USA at the time, Ken was able to stock up on components bought mainly from Vintage Parts in California and Rocky Mountain Motor Works of Colorado.

"I collected everything from NOS exhausts to heater boxes and even a tunnel cover.... a lot of trim parts and rubbers were picked up in the states too."

Two items which posed the most difficulty, however, were those trafficators.

The flip-out arm style of direction indicators were popular on both European and British cars of the 1950s, but the mechanical complexity of the system meant that few such systems were capable of lasting 40 years, even in a car as original as this.

"I actually had to collect about six pairs of them in order to make one good set, says Ken. "But at least they’re all original pieces!"

Although it had been used over the years, the car had also sat idle in Ken’s yard for extended periods and things were not looking good in a few areas.

"The main deterioration was to the floor plan," recalled Ken, "The rubber floor mats had been left in the car and condensation under them had caused the pan to rust - the only solution was new floor pan inserts."

Okay, no more shortcuts…
It soon became clear that a complete body removal and strip down was the only solution, and as luck would have it, Ken’s brother Gary is a panel beater!

Everything from the main shell to the mudguards, doors, rocker sills, bonnet and boot were removed, sand blasted, repaired and prepared for new paintwork.

Obviously, having by this stage decided that his Type 1 would be restored to as near original condition as possible, Ken wasn’t going to apply anything other than the original Polar Silver hue.

Using the original paint code, the local Glasurit dealer was approached and surprise, surprise, the original Polar Silver was available - in modern two-pak of course.

To demonstrate the originality of the colour however, the luggage compartment was allowed to retain its original factory paint as applied over forty years ago (thankfully, the above mentioned blue house paint hadn’t found its way into the boot!).

From topside to underside, where the original brakes were completely re-built and Koni shocks were added. All other suspension items are as they left Stuttgart.

A whole host of minor items were also attended to. A complete set of restoration stainless steel chrome trim pieces went on and the door handles were chromed, wheel rims and interior metal parts were painted in original colours along with the steering wheel, and there was plenty of work to be performed on the interior.

Explained Ken; "The car was originally equipped with red vinyl upholstery accented by white piping, with grey felt headlining.

"I tried to source the headliner to match the original felt locally, but eventually imported it from Rocky Mountain along with trunk liner and firewall covers. The red vinyl for the seats was also hard to match, but Duncan Motor Trimmers here in Perth found an imported US vinyl that matched the original colour and texture."

Duncans were given the job of interior restoration and their workmanship certainly speaks for itself.

Taka-taka-brrrmm-
Another highly renowned local expert brought on board for the project was Peter Arnoldi.

Peter’s dad actually worked at the Volkswagen factory during WWII, before emigrating Down Under in the 1950s.

Incredibly, Peter still operates from the same business premises that his father founded over forty years earlier. And there are no prizes for guessing, either, that the Arnoldi name is synonymous with expertise and craftsmanship in the Australian Volkswagen field.

When it came to sorting out the motivating force in the tail, the objective was simply to tidy things up because, as Ken now puts it, "The engine leaked like a sieve!"

Peter began the `quick tidy-up’ with a complete strip down and checked everything over, before adding new main and big end bearings.

The crank only needed to be linished and the original rods plus pistons went back in, although new rings were added and the barrels honed.

Meanwhile, the heads needed a fair bit of attention, with a thorough clean up and new valves settled into place all round.

The cams remain standard as does the original 6 Volt ignition system and the original 28PCIT carburettor still sits atop the equally original inlet manifold, and the exhaust system is from NOS.

To finish the engine off, Ken simply added some black enamel paint to the tin ware.

It’s probably worth mentioning that, all up, Ken had added less than 8,000 miles to Thomas Lockett’s 102,000 when the restoration was performed and we all know that this is anything but excessive mileage for one of these engines and its associated driveline.

Accordingly, the clutch, flywheel and gearbox were all checked by Arnoldi and deemed to be in good working order for their age.

In fact, as we were finalising this story, Ken said that the car had only just clicked over 110,00 miles, so there’s plenty of life left yet in a few major components.

Over the inspection pits
With the restoration virtually complete, it was off to the local licensing centre to have the ‘56 certified and approved.

Believe it or not, but the car was put through its paces wearing a set of 155 X 15 Michelin "X" tyres - only the second set of tyres the car has needed in its forty -plus years of existence. And Ken still drives the Type 1 on these tyres today !!

Somehow, the licensing officer wasn’t an expert on ‘historic’ tyres and he was even sympathetic to 6Volt systems and allowed the ‘56 to be jump started for its licensing test !

As you can guess, the car passed with flying colours.

A significant  meeting occurs
The next step was to enter this unique vehicle in Western Australia’s annual Day Of The Volkswagen show N’ Shine competition, but an important phone call had to be made first.

"I eventually tracked Thomas Lockett down and he was quite amazed to hear from me after 20-odd years," Ken recalled.

"He was certainly interested to hear what I’d done to the car, but when he saw it at the show, well, he nearly had tears in his eyes!"

That first show was a couple of years ago, but Ken still cruises around in his ‘56 Type 1 on those gorgeous Perth summer evenings.

Not surprisingly either, the car is kept in immaculate condition and continues to pull trophies at shows.