Owners: Pat & Jerry Kinnan - VVWCA members in good standing!

55 Convertible

Green color

Car Nickname -- "Green Hornet"

Car Features -- Almost stock appearing to the non-purist

3rd in Class - VW Classic 2003

Mechanical/Cosmetic Changes -- Because we like to drive the car and live in the LA area (Manhattan Beach) I took out the original 1200 cc engine (Which I kept) and installed a 1600 cc dual port engine. One of the previous owners had already replaced the crash box transmission with a synchronized one.

When we purchased the car two years ago it was an older somewhat amateur restoration that needed some attention. I try to do as much of the basic maintenance and simple work myself and leave the difficulate/technical stuff to the pros. The new engine was done by Randy at Auto Meister here in Manhattan Beach and the new interior by Lenny, West Coast Classics Restoration in Fullerton.

I became interested in Volkswagens in the late 1950s early 1960s and have owned many (5-6) VWs over the years. I am one of the past presidents (1961-1962) of the now defunct "Volkswagen Owners Club of Los Angeles." I went in the US Navy in 1962 and was discharged in 1966 and I guess the club closed up during that time. When Pat and I met in 1968, I was driving a fastback VW which later was traded in on a VW Westy.

When I retired (Semi) from El Camino College in 2000 I wanted to have an older "play" car and I had never owned a VW convertible but Pat had before I meet her, it was decided to try and find and older convertible. I did not want to spend all my retirement restoring a car but rather enjoying driving it so we started looking and found the Green Hornet in Oakland, CA.

The story told by the previous owner about the car was --- "He was living in Denver at the time and went to a local VW dealer for parts for another car and the dealership was cleaning out some old items after the death of the dealership owner and this car had been kept as a restoration project for the mechanics to work on when things were slow with customers cars. The car was to go to a grandson but when the grandson was able to drive he did not want 36 HP but rather 336 HP, so the car sat around until the grandfather died and his son took over the business and decided to clean out the old stuff" and the person we purchased the car from purchased it? Makes for an interesting story -- but how accurate it is I do not know.