Swampy
Picture by Calli Faraway
Q: Let’s start at the beginning. What’s your name, how old are you and where are you from?
A: I’m Jonny Marriage. I’m 28, and from Hayes, West London originally. Now I’m living in Burnham.
Q: What’s your day job and do you have any other hobbies?
A: I work at Thingamies Beetles in West London and work self-employed at The Volks Cave as a mechanic/welder, well just about everything on air-cooled VWs really. Previous to this I worked on London buses as a diesel mechanical engineer for nine years. When I’m not at work I drag race a Beetle in the Outlaw Flat Four class.
Q: What’s your ultimate VW/Porsche?
A: Type147 Fridolin and/or a Schwimmwagen.
Q: Favourite VW event?
A: Has to be Le Bug Show at Spa race circuit.
Q: What got you into Volkswagens and how many have you owned before this one? Can you list them?
A: My dad Jerry has always had a ’72 Bay along with various other VWs, so I’ve grown up in and around them. I still own most of them!
1969 Beetle project (ongoing and to sell)
1971 Street legal drag Bug, Miss White
1971 Pru green Bug (sold May 2022)
1972 Marina blue Bug (cut up for parts)
1972 Marina blue Fastback project (ongoing and to sell)
1972 Marina blue Bug, my first Bug (ongoing resto)
1973 Beetle project (ongoing and to sell)
1974 black Beetle (cut up for parts)
1974 Bay Window (sold as project)
1989 T25 scooby powered transporter (my daily vehicle)
Q: Who, or what, would you say is your biggest influence in the worldwide VW community?
A: That’s a hard one as all of my cars are different styles and I just build them how I feel and don’t follow a “trend”. Being so, in the drag racing side of things I’d have to say Clarke Hillyard and Danny Pike but also the rest of the Outlaw Flat Four racers for inspiring me to build my race car.
Q: Best moment during classic VW/Porsche ownership?
A: There are two for me that come straight to mind. The first is that because of these VWs I’ve met my now fiancée Harriet Furniss. The second was when I ran my first 11-second ¼ mile in Miss White and became an Outlaw Flat Four member.
Q: Worst moment during classic VW/Porsche ownership?
A: Both in Miss White. The first was a fire and the second was blowing up my engine at the end of 2021 in a dramatic fashion at 7000rpm due to a misfire and the piston disintegrating.
Q: So, what is it we’re looking at here (year, spec and model)?
A: So this is Swampy, my 1970 RHD UK-built Class 11 inspired Bug, basically a full bodied Baja. The chassis is originally an LHD (imported from Germany in ’77), being a ball-joint beam IRS chassis. The body is actually a ’72.
Q: What’s the story? How did you get hold of it?
A: I had the chassis for a few years from another project but I’d sold the body. I then sold the chassis to a mate for a project but bought it back when he decided to break that car. The body came as a deal for doing some welding work on a mate’s Beetle.
Q: Did the car come with any history?
A: None at all apart from two photos I found online of it with a V6 engine in the back.
Q: Tell us about the condition of the car when you first got it home.
A: The chassis needed new pan halves. We had already converted it to RHD for my mate’s project. The body needed channels and the usual – door posts, rear quarters. It had no rear end and no front bumper mount panels or lower spare wheel well from a radiator install, along with various holes in the body from a badly run water system.
Q: Run us through the restoration/recommission, and who did the work?
A: I did all the work myself along with some help from my dad Jerry and uncle Steve who paints canal boats for a living. He painted the car using traditional brush painting methods. I also had help from my younger brother Jack and a good mate Adam as I didn’t have a lot of time to get it done. So we fitted new SSP floor pans, new channels, new door posts and all associated panels, a complete rear end, new front bumper mount panels and wheel well along with some random other pieces that previous owners had cut out on the dash and the firewall. We also added welded on support tubes to the frame head for the front beam as we were using a factory Type181 Trekker beam. We welded in tubing on the rear between the shock towers and to the frame-horns to stiffen up the rear end and remove any wheel hop (coming from my drag racing background). We also welded on brackets for an intermediate gearbox mount. The chassis were then treated to back raptor treatment.
Q: Paint colour (and code if you know it)?
A: It’s a Craftmaster coach enamel paint called “Bethnal Green” which was brush painted, and then the roof has a graphite grained vinyl wrap which came already on the car.
Q: Suspension setup?
A: The front end is a complete spindle to spindle stock Type181 Trekker beam setup, so it has the “beefed up” factory shock towers and extra supports to bolt to the chassis, along with the Trekker front shocks, then converted to disc brakes.
The rear is factory IRS with twin spring plate setup, slightly notched on the bottoms to allow it to go up and raised about 3 splines or thereabouts (I used an angle finder instead of going off just splines to dial it in). The angle on the spring plates un-sprung is about 40 degrees! Standard IRS A-arms currently. Porsche 944 drive shafts, stub axles and CVs and 100mm CV flange conversion for the gearbox and also Type3 rear drum brakes making for a great handbrake feel.
Q. Wheel and tyre type and sizes?
A. Wheels are 15” Centrelines with 195/80/15” Camac 4×4 tyres all round.
Q: Engine and gearbox?
A: Engine is a 1641, 8 dowel VW crank, lightened flywheel, Engle 110 cam, straight cut cam gears, full flowed, slightly ported and polished stock valve twin-port heads, 34 baby “Dells with CSP Bellcrank linkage. Protected by a factory Trekker bolt on skid plate.
Gearbox is a DC 1500 Type3 box with 100mm CV flanges, supported by German quality rubber mounts, mid mount and heavy duty cradle with strap.
Q: Have you replaced the electrical system?
A: The loom is mostly original. I have just replaced the light unit wiring and ignition switch and fitted a beefed up starter motor cable and also added a leisure battery system for the radio and accessory lights.
Q: Were there any parts that you found it hard to get hold of?
A:The Porsche stub axles took a bit of hunting for a good pair. I had most of the bits from collecting over the years. I just bought them as they popped up, so I already had the Trekker beam for about a year or so before even having the body and starting the project. The rear window louvre took some searching for, too.
Q: What is your go-to VW parts shop?
A: I used to use Machine7.
Q: Run us through the interior.
A: There was no interior with the car, so again I went to my parts stash and found a set of US-spec high back seats which my fiancée Harriet of Hatty’s Auto Trimming reupholstered in black vinyl sides and black glitter flake vinyl with matching door cards.
Q: Accessories?
A: In-house built tubular side mirror arms (the only set on the market that you can still open ¼-light windows with).
Front 7” bumper-mounted spotlights.
Rear LED reverse/work lights.
Rear window Autoplas louvre.
Side scoops.
Leather bonnet strap.
Front skid plate and tubular frame added to inside the bumper and braced to the front beam.
Tubular built side bars.
Tubular built folding open rear twin wheel carrier. All the tubular work has been made in house and believe it or not was made from scrap trampoline tubing apart from the mirror arms.
Q: Have you got a stereo fitted and, if so, what are you currently listening to – either in the car or during those late nights in the workshop/garage?
A: There is a stereo, yes, mostly just the radio. I like a bit of classic rock, just need something on in the background or the voices in my head start getting louder!
Q: What’s your favourite thing about the car, e.g. wheels, paint, detail, trip it’s been on, memory with it, etc.?
A: The fact that we built it in 33 days from start to finish using mostly parts lying around in the stash of parts, meaning it didn’t cost a lot to build too. I also love how anyone can just get in and drive it so easily and comfortably as it handles like a stock Bug if not better and yet 4” higher, and it hasn’t been fazed by anything we’ve thrown it at yet. Also letting my dad have free rein on the paint and letting Harriet have free rein on the interior and it all just working so well together.
Q: If you had change one thing, what would it be and why?
A: Nothing.
Q: What’s next for you and the car?
A: A few more little suspension mods including trying to get a bit more height and beefing up the rear A-arms. A safari-style roof rack with spot lights and roof tent capabilities. A rear engine/gearbox skid plate. When the time comes I’m also going to step up to 215 BF Goodrich tyres. I am currently looking at a front wheel well mounted winch too.
Q: How often do you use the car?
A: As much as possible. It’s not my main car but I use it when I don’t need my van. It’s still done 12,000 miles since getting it on the road on last day of 2020. Harriet and my mate Ash have probably done more mileage in it than I have!
Q: What’s your next project going to be?
A: I’ve got a few cars to finish up for my wedding next year, including my dad’s Bay and Harriet’s Beetle, but my own personal project is my 1972 Marina blue Bug which was my first car.
Q: Who would you like to thank connected to the project?
A: My dad Jerry for the paintwork and all the other general help putting it together.
My uncle Steve for his help with painting the car with my dad.
My younger brother Jack for helping with the mechanical work.
My mate Adam Phillips for helping with the welding and refit of the car.
My fiancée Hatty for the awesome one-off interior, carpet and leather bonnet strap.