By the early 1970's VW Beetle sales were flagging.

This was a thirty year old model after all and competitors were taking chunks out of the Beetle's market share.

To bridge the gap until the all new Golf arrived, VW Germany resolved to undertake the biggest re-engineering of the Beetle in its life time.

This radical plan aimed to bring the Beetle's offering up to the standards of the contemporary competition.

It was both a bold and costly plan requiring significant re-tooling to give the world a bigger, more refined and better handling Beetle.

The result was the acclaimed 1303 and 1303S Beetles.

Over in South Africa, however, VWSA were considerably more financially constrained than their German colleagues.

Given the huge popularity of the Beetle in South Africa, however, something had to be done.

A team from the Uitenhage factory took a good look at the 1303 Beetle the rest of the world were getting and decided to adopt a range of features that could be incorporated into local ...