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My 1966 bug was one of 1,080,165 1300cc beetles manufactured between July and December 1966. It was shipped into the UK and delivered to Highway Motors, 139-141 Tottenham Lane, Hornsey London N8.

The bug has now covered a total of from new....... give or take a few feet in and out of my garage.

On 12 July 1966 Mr. Patrick, Vincent,  Moriarty of 502 Hornsey Road, London N19 became the proud owner of the Bahama Blue (L519 ) Beetle. Here is a picture of Mr. Moriarty's wife and their young son way back then in 1966. 

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I am told by the previous owner that this was taken outside No 11 Moreland Road, Chingford, London, E4.... amazingly only 2 roads away from where I live and were the bug is now garaged.

Prior to purchasing this great Beetle Mr Moriarty conducted soon in-depth research into the price of the bug in the UK, Germany and the USA. As part of the history of the bug I have a post card received by Mr Moriarty from a friend in Germany. Here it is..

 
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The bug was registered new in the UK on 14th July 1966. A total of 988,533 Beetle where produced in this year and mine was manufactured in April 1966. Here is a breakdown of the years production in 1966. For details of other years have a look here

 

January 116 543 112 July 116 1021 298
February 116 622 320 August 117 109 832
March 116 723 045 September 117 202 292
April 116 809 563 October 117 288 898
May 116 909 207 November 117 363 979
June 116 1017 006 December 117 422 503
Total built 988,533

Here is my VIN plate

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Engine No  F 0745470
Chassis No 11-6812195
Colour

L519 Bahama Blue and here is a colour chartwpe1.gif (205114 bytes)
Cubic capacity 1285

Here are another few snaps from 1966.... Its a shame they are not very clear, all taken outside 502 Hornsey Road, London. They are across the road from Mr. Moriarty's shop, he was a hairdresser by trade. The little shop in the picture is still there. When the bug is restored to its former glory and on the road I intend to take it back to its roots and take more pictures.

Hornsey Road, London in the 1960s

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And here it is in Y2K

Here is the small shop across the road, now a mini cab office And here is 502 Hornsey Road, a carpet factory!!
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The bug was used as a daily driver and covered 3000 mile between new and Jan 1967. It then covered aprox 5000 more miles in 1968. And from Jan 68 to Jul 69 the car covered another 6091 miles

I am told that Mr. Moriarty fell ill in 1970. The bug was laid to rest in a garage in Southampton, UK. That's when the 2nd owner took hold of the bug.

Andy Jakobic, worked as a butcher with Mr. Moriarty's son in London. In August 1990 Andy became the second owner in 1990. With only 27,000 miles on the clock the car was a real low miler . more details to follow. 

Andy has promised tosupply me with more details on the history of the bug..

Last edited 04/01/2001