Leane and Alun Owen named their ’66 Beetle ‘Boris’ some 22 years ago, though more recently it has been nicknamed ‘Bionic Boris’ by Pete Morley at Californian Classics, for reasons that will soon become clear.
Boris’ journey began on a sunny day in June 1966 when the car was proudly driven out of the car park by a Mrs. Ferguson of Brighton, East Sussex. She had chosen L518 Java Green from the range of new colours launched for the Beetle in August ’63, and was presumably very happy with her new purchase. However, little did Mrs. Ferguson know that her Beetle would go on to become a beloved member of another family in the decades to come.
In December 2000, Alun happened upon Mrs. F’s Beetle by chance, sitting neglected and forlorn under a tree. As one of the car’s windows was open a tiny bit, Alun scribbled a note and posted it through the gap (it took three attempts to get a note to land upright on the seat, he recalls, the first couple falling into the footwells!), but
