Having won 15 trophies in 2023, including seven best of shows, it’s fair to say Lee Irving’s ’54 Oval Window has made quite an impact within the air-cooled VW community lately. But the history of this car goes way back, all the way to the previous century no less, so before we get into Lee’s side of the story, let’s remind ourselves of how this car’s transformation into one of the best California Look cars in the UK began.
More, ahem, mature readers might recall an issue of VolksWorld from February 1999. Another California Look special, it was jam packed with some of the finest examples of the breed around at the time, gathered from the UK, the USA and Austria. Amongst them was a black ’54 Oval, at the time owned by Rob Tomlinson from Leeds.
In the feature, Rob noted his inspiration had stemmed from the black ’62 Bug of Der Kleiner Panzers member, Dave Mason. Rob chose steel Sprint Stars, rather than the genuine Speedwell BRMs Mason had on his car, but went all out on the 2276cc powerhouse in the back, to which it said in
