Intro/blast from the past

[Camvolks]

Hi all, My name is Eoin Campbell, son of a man well known to the scene before his death, George Campbell. He was the owner of Camvolks in Clane, Co. Kildare. Im now 31 and have been looking out for one of his cars for years. While this wasn't his per-say, I believe it was in his garage at the time of his death. The car was promptly removed and has sat in a dry shed for over 20 years. Its funny how car sometimes find you and not the other way around, or at least to be my experience anyway. As fate would have it I have been working for VW for the last 7 years and have restored a 1991 BMW E30 that ive been using as a daily for the last 5 years.

This car is a 1966 1300 6v originally from Cornwall in the U.K. The car was dry stored thankfully but the heater channels are toast so im going to have to teach myself how to Mig weld ha! Engine is period correct according to the engine number,and I believe to be original, alas its missing the carburetor.

I Hope to restore this beetle myself of the next year or so, time is at premium as my wife has just given birth to out first daughter. My plans are to remove the body and replace the rotten heater channels and floor pans, get the engine running and redo all brake lines,suspension etc..... I love the fact the paint is for the most part original so my plan would be to make sure the chassis and rot are fixed properly and retain the "patina" on the body,add some chrome fuchs and give it a slight tap of the lowering stick.

Ill en-devour to keep this thread up to date, there will also be a few parts ill need along the way so I wont be afraid to ask.

Happy to be a part of this great community and forum!

Thanks for looking,

Eoin

 

[trev]

welcome Eoin, that looks like a great basis for a resto! I never met George, I arrived to the VW scene after he passed but I've met plenty of people with only good things to say about him. In fact, there are a few of our members who would have known George well. I'm sure they'll reply here when they see your post.

 

[Coxy]

No Title

Hi Eoin. My name is Cathal and even though I was only in my mid to late teens when I met your dad, knowing George for the next 6-7yrs was great fun. It really was. He was the godfather of VW in Ireland! George was a great man who encouraged young people like me and many more at the time into the scene and had an unbelievable ability to bring groups of people together from all walks of life.

You're making me feel really old though Eoin because the last time I saw you was when George was alive and you were a child, now you're married and have a child of your own!!!!

I was 20/21 when your dad sadly passed away and I and everyone else who knew him was gutted because he was a living legend in the scene. To say he was adored is not an understatement, in fact, after he died the VW scene took a nosedive and was never the same as attendance fell off at shows. The buzz was gone.
For anyone reading this who is new to the scene or maybe didn't know George back then, it's hard to describe but back then he was one of the main people selling aircooled VW parts and certainly the main one who went to almost every show and meeting so the scene really revolved around him. If you needed something you rang Camvolks and maybe, after chatting for way too long on the phone about all kinds of everything he'd send you the parts or you would collect them from his shop in Clane. If you called in you were there for the day, chatting or maybe doing work by his instructions on your own car or one he had in the workshop. My mates came with me one day and while George got me to do something in the workshop, himself and my mates washed and polished half my Beetle - leaving the shitty side on the drivers side! I had no choice but to clean the f**king thing when I got back to Limerick that night!

George had a fantastic knowledge of VWs so was always being asked for advice. He was the one who taught me how to remove an engine from my first VW (with me in Limerick and him in Clane - back then we were obviously a very posh family because we had a portable house phone (wooooo I hear you all cry! I know, you didn't have to sit in the hall to make a call anymore!) so I rang George one day and asked how do I do this. I wasn't old enough to drive yet but I had a wreck of a Beetle to learn on. George asked was the car jacked up and it was, right outside the front door and within range of the crappy secondhand 1980's portable phone so he said get under it and I'll talk you through it which he did. The phone was on the ground beside my ear but it didn't have a speaker so George had to shout the instructions We got there in the end but I got a roasting from my mother when the phone bill came in!!!

Back then we all camped the night before and/or the night of shows so boozie BBQ campfire nights were the order of the day and you can be sure Eoin that your dad was the one who kept everyone amused with endless stories covering every subject you can imagine. He was the first to arrive at a show and the last to bed but always managed to not have a hangover and be at his stall bright and breezy the next day. We celebrated his 60th birthday at the Beetles Reunion in Limerick and I slept in his camper that night. I'll never forget the mother of all hangovers the following morning :drinking:

I have a few Camvolks stickers I can send on to you. I'm proud to have one on my GT Beetle and I had one on my old '65 Beetle as George was the last person to work on that engine before the previous owner took it off the road back in 1996.I bought it in 1997 and didn't restore it until 2011 so I was determined it had to stay there.

By the way, welcome to Eircooled. You'll get loads of help here. There are monthly meetings happening around the country and although the forum is quiet right now, there is a healthy membership that logs on and reads posts so you'll always have someone ready to lend a hand. Jon White in VW Spares.ie (Castledermot) is a great guy to get your parts from and is on your doorstep.

 

[Coxy]

No Title

From May 1990

 

[Brian Raftery]

I was in the vw owners club of Ireland with George around 1990 when the meeting were on in the leopards town Inn good times.