Dennis Lindholm's '74½ Beetle is most likely the first Euro Looker in Finland. The VW-scene has many stories of how someone finds a low-mileage one-owner car in good condition etc, the story of Dennis' Beetle is cool too.

Dennis is the third owner of this Beetle and he bought it when he (and the car) was 12 years old. The car had only covered 56 000 kms, but unfortunately the first owner was an alcoholic and had crashed the car. When Dennis got the car in 1986, it had been last passed the MOT tests in 1977 and had not been used since 1979.

It required a lot of hard work to reach the point where the car has been ever since early 90's. Dennis won some trophies too in events like Euro Car Show and Beach Party during the years. For the past years Dennis' interests have been elsewhere than in VW scene, married with kids, new house etc, life.

The dashboard has the early 90's look. Interior is black all around, seats are sport seats from early 90's, gauges are VDO's cockpit series. The current choice of wheels are Fuchs, up front there are 6x16" with 195/50 tyres and rear ones are 7x16" with 205/50 tyres.

The following images from 1986-91 give some idea of the vast amount of labour that went to the project.

Car is on it's way to paint shop in '91. The paint finish is still today the same Porsche Indian Rot that was sprayed 13 years ago.

The welding photos are from 1988-90. On the right is a photo from '86 when the car had just arrived. Partly dismantled, rust, accident damage, the passenger side front corner with bent suspension etc.

The treatment car received was similar to the Cal Lookers of that time, tinted windows, painted chrome, one-piece side windows etc but the end result is totally different. Biggest difference to those whale-tail horrors from late 80's or early 90's is the well built engine and the handling that has given some real thought. Shocks are KONI sports all around, adjustable front beam as usual, camber compensators, urethane bushings, front discs with Porsche bolt pattern, rear drums have bigger diameter cylinders etc. I've heard that the car handles nicely in speeds like 180 km/h.

The car photographed in 1998 with Revolution wheels. I remember seeing the car first time in '98, even though it probably was my Resto Cal heyday (BRMs everywhere..) I liked the clean lines and appearance of the car and still do. There aren't that many late models around that have been built with as good taste as this one even now.