Meet the Team: Ikea 'The Swede'

Ronnie Peterson.
Lisbeth Salander.
Benny.
Bjorn.
Eric Prydz.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Sven Goran Eriksson.
Ikea?

Yes, Ikea. I'll get onto that later...

It was just one year ago when I embarked on the wild journey ahead of my new hobby, starting out with the less desirable variants of the iconic Beetle, such as Parker and Lola to name a couple of projects. The family always had the dream of owning the earlier, more desired models of the Beetle family which are generally regarded as any Bug from the pre-1967 era in years to come. Years of experience in the previous chapter of the wild Beetle hobby which continued until the early 00's.


Our aims and dreams came true. My dad, the nutty professor got old. Apparently being old means you can have a present. Imagine a world when you get to the age where you've worked all your life and at the end of it you can have a really awesome present in the form of your wildest dream. Ah, me neither.

Setting the preface nicely, I'm extremely proud to reveal our latest arrival, a 1966 LHD (Left Hand Drive) 1300 Beetle who originally spent his days in Sweden. It was shipped to the UK in 2011 and lovingly looked after by their previous owners until today.

#CrapPhotoshop

You'd assume that I'd give it a strong, well thought of name with lots of reasons to why but not this time. He's dubbed as 'The Swede' but his official name is, Ikea. Ikea, wonderfully stereotypical but universally loved at the same time. Sadly this Bug didn't arrive on the trailer flat packed nor does he act as a piece of excellent furniture with a fancy name like Gävle, however, Ikea's a truly awful name. I like truly awful, although I do prefer questionably awful.

Bazinga! That's a keeper.

Original light blue paint, original headlining and patina, original wheels and several owners that loved and looked after this icon. The, to put it simply, incredible paintwork isn't the same shade of Doris, although the dark lighting doesn't truly represent the subtle change in hue of Ikea's paintwork in comparison to Doris. Ikea is more of a greener shade of the beautiful blue.

Because 'The Swede' came from Scandinavia, this means he's left hand drive. For anyone that's been in a left hand drive car, it's quite an experience to go for a quick spin round the town sitting in what is the drivers side in the UK (Right hand side) with nothing but a lap belt and the utmost trust in your chauffeur. In addition, 'The Swede' has extra accessories, such as a fuel heater for when the weather hit sub zero in the Nordic Winter's as well as the fuel cap is inside the boot, thus having to open up the hood to start filling; a novelty experience.

Original and rare seats. Note the steering wheel on the left hand side.

'The Swede' will be entered in shows and if I am truthfully honest, he's got a damn good chance of picking up some strong results, showing up the stalwarts of the scene in the process.

TL;DR - We got a new 1966 Bug, he looks awesome, pictures included.

Remember when I hit my sister with a fish in Ikea after the Ace Cafe event? Well if not, here was that magical moment again. I suppose that's where we got the name from. I had a flag from Ikea. I liked that. The meatballs are certainly recommended.

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