R McSpadden on the 1961 RAC Rally

© Ken Green

D Moreton on the 1961 RAC Rally

© Ken Green

A 1500 Notchback on the 1961 RAC

© Ken Green

The Mike Day / Brian Stevens 1500 (889 VKJ) had only 1700 miles on the clock at the start of the 1961 RAC Rally. It finished 3rd in class

© Ken Green

This Karmann Ghia was used by L Symons to win the 1961 International Total Rally held in South Africa.< /b>It is seen emerging on to dry land after crossing a river in Swaziland during the event. Note the screen to protect the car from animals and bushes hitting the front.< />The rally was on a par with the East African Safari Rally for toughness.

© Ken Green

A 1961 1200 used in historic rallying in Sweden

© Bengt Alsed

The back seat on Safari cars was removed and spares fitted in its place. This picture is from the 1961 event

© Ken Green

Bill Beattie winning the class (saloon cars up to 1600cc) at Knockagh Hill Climb on 7th Oct 1961

© Bill Beattie

Harry Kallstrom and Gunnar Haggbom pressing on during the 1962 RAC Rally of Great Britain. They finished second overall, the best result of any air-cooled Volkswagen on the RAC.

Jansson and Pettersson on the 1962 RAC Rally of Great Britain

Tommy Fjastad and Bernhard Schmider on the 1962 East African Safari Rally, which they won outright.
The same car won it’s class in the 1964 Safari too

© Ken Green

Tommy Fjastad / Bernhard Schmider with the spoils from winning the Safari Rally

© Ken Green

© Ken Green

Mike Radford, on the 1964 Liege Rally

© Ken Green

Australian Ampol Trial 1964
David Hanson and Fred Logan from Canberra in their Denlo Motors’ Beetle, shown leaping on a section of the trial in Victoria.
VW 1200 Beetles filled the first eight places in their class.
The trial was 7000 miles long over some of the worst roads in the outback of Australia, and this photo shows the abuse the cars had to take

© Ken Green

Mr. W Bridges climbing the Bluehill’s Mine section on the 1964 Land’s End Trial.
The car is a 1200 and the engine was balanced, and a Fish Carburettor fitted

© Ken Green

Antartica 1 on it's way to winning the 1964 BP Rally in Australia

© Ken Green

The Okrasa-engined 1964 Beetle of Öderström/Olsson at a service stop on the 1964 R.A.C. Rally of Great Britain.
Note the Porsche 356 brakes on the rear axle

© Franz Kern

Car No. 12, in the 1964 RAC, was the Swedish rally champion from 1958, and also the winner of the Nordish Rally Championship in 1964, in a VW 1500 S.
Here he is in the lead in RAC. Unfortunately, the rear protection shield under the engine loosened and stopped the car ’very effectively’. Despite some time lost they ended up in 8th place overall.
The car is a 1962 model, equipped in the same way as the five Spa-Sofia-Liege cars. This shows that the Swedish-prepared cars, in combination with Oettinger engines, had a good potential.
Unfortunately, Heinz Nordhoff at the VW factory, banned the Swedish VW importer, Scania Vabis, from building and racing with these cars any more. Because of that Scania Vabis ended a very successful era in rally, and they didn't compete again until 1971 with the VW 1302S

© Willy Berg

Car number 20 was Bertil Söderström/Rune Olsson from Sweden, competing in the 1964 RAC.
The car had an Oettinger- tuned 1300cc engine with twin carburettors, Porsche 356 brakes, plexi-glass windows and so on. The team finished 12th overall.
This car also competed in Spa-Sofia-Liege in 1964, and was driven then by the Swedish driver Gunnar Blomqvist, fitted with the 84-litre petrol tank that refilled from the outside

© Willy Berg

Car no. 87, from the Spa-Sofia Liege Rally in 1964.
This car was driven by Rune Larsson/Börje Nilsson, from the the Swedish VW-team, in one of the five specially made cars with Oettinger engines, Porsche brakes and so on. The car managed to reach 8th place overall, despite problems with the gearbox.
These projects, with Oettinger-tuned cars, were attempts to convince the VW factory to adopt a similar relationship between VW & Oettinger, as Renault had with Gordini, Ford with Lotus and BMC with Cooper

© Willy Berg

Three of the five Swedish VW 1200s, fitted with 1300 cc Okrasa (Oettinger) engines, Porsche 356 brake drums, plexi-glass windows, 84 liter petrol tanks and much more - on their way to Liege and the start

© Willy Berg

Berndt Jansson, one of the fastest rally drivers ever in Sweden, here forcing a bend in the 1964 Swedish Rally of the Midnight Sun in a VW 1500 S.
Berndt was always looking for the win, and an 8-year results record in the Swedish Rally Championship proves that, with 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 3rd place.
He won the 1963 Midnight Sun Rally and also won the Scandinavian Rally Championship in 1964.
He also competed twice in the Midnight Sun Rally with Porsche, and in the 1964 Tulip Rally in a Porsche Carrera Abarth. Unfortunately, he lost his first place in the rally because of unclear regulations.
He started his career as a rally driver in 1952, and finished at the end of 1967 after three years in France as a factory driver in the Renault 8 Gordini. In southern Europe he was called ”the Kamikaze-pilot” because of his way of pressing-on in narrow bends. He also competed in Le Mans with the long tail Renault Alpine.
Between 1954 and 1965 he drove for Volkswagen.

© Willy Berg

1965 East African Safari
The class winning VW of Mohammed Khan & Balbir Singh. This was the only VW to finish the event - only 16 cars finished overall.
This was the last time a 1200 Beetle won anything on the Safari. The next year, they used the 1300, and later the 1500 Beetle.

© Ken Green

A 1300 from 1966

© Bengt Alsed

A 1967 1600TL Fastback, from Sweden

© Bengt Alsed

This was the Downs' brothers Beetle in Sydney. They were the only VW to start and they finished - only just, but they finished, and not last either! They were so broke they had to sell the VW and get jobs.
Safer Motoring magazine in the UK ran a ’Save the stranded Marathon Drivers’ fund and this raised enough to get one brother home. The other stopped and worked to earn enough money for the fare!
The Beetle went on display at a Sydney VW showroom - its fate after that is unknown

© Ken Green

Georg Fischer on the Donau-Elan-Elf Rally

© Franz Kern

Hank Winning's 1964 Beetle.
Driven hard in rallies in California in the '60s (two a month) - Hank got tired of the navigator leaning on him when cornering hard, so removed the passenger seat, and put the co-driver in the rear.
The five extra lights really taxed the 6 volt electrics, so they upgraded to an 8 volt tractor battery and messed around with the voltage regulator to get it all to work

© Hank Winning

A 1961/2 Beetle in an unknown British rally

© Brian Screaton

Joginder and Jaswant Singh, the 'Flying Sikhs' on an East African Safari rally in the 1960s.

A large version of the photo, taken by Jitze Couperus who was a support driver for DKW on the event, can be found here

© Jitze Couperus