VW Heritage customer Lee Goddard has created one of the most stunning air ride equipped Bugs seen for a long time. It even made it onto the cover of VW Ultra magazine a few months back. Here’s his story…

After my nan, Ivy, passed away she left me some money and not wanting to squander it I decided to put it to something worthwhile that I could remember her by – a ‘68 Beetle! After inspecting the Bug and a couple of weeks of contemplation I decided to buy it, but as you can see – it needed a heck of a lot more work than I first thought…

I soon realised that the project was above and beyond my ability, so a call to Shane Lawlor of Lawlors Customs in Loughinisland, Co Down was made. After a brief chat over the phone we arranged a meet. Shane knew the car in question after seeing it before himself in person, but never went through with the purchase. Was this is a sign of what was to come I wondered? After some talking Shane decided to take on the project and transport was arranged for ‘Ivy’ to be delivered down to Lawlors Customs HQ.

A perfectly timed trip away from the UK came around and so the chance for some well needed funds was raised. But keeping in contact with Shane some 8,000 miles away was made easy with frequent emails and the occasional phone call. At this point the project moved on from the original ‘get her welded and go for the Rat look theme’ to full body off restoration job. This idea was influenced by the paint colour I wanted, the wheels as well as the extra cash burning a hole in my pocket. Not to mention the not insignificant fact the current body was too far gone for a decent patch up job, so another body had to be found. During my time away Shane kept me in the loop with many lists of parts I would need to get this project off to a good start and to keep him busy for the summer of 2010.

After talking to Shane, and deciding that we only wanted to use the best parts available, he told me about VW Heritage so I saved the website as a ‘favourite’ on my internet tool bar. Visits soon became a daily routine while all the major parts, including carpets, headliner, seals, chrome, brake drums/discs, brake components, narrowed beam, balljoints, headlights, wing beading, rear lights, rear window, clutch, chrome interior door handles, wipers and heater channel were ordered. Heritage’s fantastic range of parts from clips and grommets to full interiors and genuine replacement metal made the build a whole lot easier and the customer care throughout really helped. This can be seen from the awards ‘Project Ivy’ has picked up at every show she’s been to!

Full spec now includes full air ride suspension, Porsche chrome wheels and a full custom interior. As for the engine, it’s a 1776cc unit with twin Weber 40s, an uprated cam, full flow ceramic exhaust and it’s all been decorated in ivy. A fitting tribute to my much missed nan!

Thanks to Reinis Babrovskis for letting us use his stunning photos…