POLAR Express
Don’t worry, you haven’t inadvertently picked up a copy of the Simon Fox tribute issue. Depending on your own personal vintage, you may or may not be aware of the impact Simon’s cars have had on the UK VW scene over the years so, because we’re really nice like that, Mike’s done a bit of a ‘previously on…’ on p42. Just don’t forget to flip back here when you’re done. I’ll wait.
Now we are all ‘on the same page’ as it were, we can forego the intros and get stuck, 13mm spanners deep, into this 1956 Oval for which the superlative ‘foxiest’ now brings new meaning. You may have drooled over his ’65, and been left in a state by his Squareback, but those are in the past. The history is now, and it’s a Polar Silver Oval. At least looking bog stock, it’s clearly a break from his usual style, but that only adds to the intrigue. So are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.
Si bagged the ’56 in 2011, which doesn’t sound like that long ago, until you do the maths. Si explains: “I’d just sold my Squareback, at The VolksWorld Show actually. About three weeks later, a friend in California, Richie Rivera, sent me an email about an Oval ragtop he’d found for sale in Idaho. He knew it was my dream car.”
In case you hadn’t joined the dots, Richie is a member of the German Folks (GFK)
