Whatever happened to Bernard Newbury's Dark Lord oval?

[Jim Ratto]

One of my favorite all time VW Bugs ever. Talk about done "just right".....I remember first time I read article on it in Volksworld....back when it had the grey BRMs.... to me that car was about 99.9% PERFECT. Beautiful color, the right "stance", tasteful interior, monster motor....one of the best cars ever. Whatever happened to the car? Is it still around?

Can somebody post some pictures of the car?, I can't find my old copy of Volksworld.

Something about BLUE VW's.......

[63 ripper]

Hi Jim,i am the current lucky owner. Here is how she looks at the moment. I will dig up some photos of how it was when Bernie had it with the American Racing wide 5s. It's a great car and i love it



I didn't buy it from Bernie,i bought it from a guy called Mark James. When Mark bought it he declined to buy the mags and fitted ercos instead. He did fit a 5 speed with a quaife and an autocraft case though

[63 ripper]

one of Bernie and the car outside volksworld show. hope you don't mind Bernie

[63 ripper]

cool. Car looks nice, such a pretty color. Looks nice on Centerlines, but it will always be remembered by me wearing the Berms.  8)Still have the monster motor with the 51mm's and all?

Jim

the last owner swapped the 51 IDAs for 48s as apparently that combination made more power. it still has a 2387cc,slightly milder cam and heads as they were both quite tired when i got the car. Bernie had many combinations of motors and parts over the years,he would know best.

[louisb]

That has always been one of my favorite cars. (At least the second version. The pink version, not so much.) It just looks spot on.

--louis

[63 ripper]

thanks Jim. it is a blast to drive,and i love it's history. i have been thinking about tweaking some JGE torkers to make them look like AR mags as they really suit the car...



ps if anyone has any other photos,please post

[63 ripper]

here is a shot of the motor. it was all recently rebuilt by Pete Roberts,he also rubber mounted the 5 speed with a one-off front mount. it drives superbly now and pulls like a train. FK87 (cb version) and wedgeport combo

[jick]

i still have the polished 356 rear drums from it, which were removed when Bernie switched to the Americans,
i had the pauter modified case until recently also, but sold it to Schnelffarer on here and i think its now in his Fourplay car.

it was, and still is a beautifull car.

[deano]

I shot this car way back when.... when it was still coral color and Carol "owned" it... It was nice back then, and super bitchin' now.

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

thanks Jim. it is a blast to drive,and i love it's history. i have been thinking about tweaking some JGE torkers to make them look like AR mags as they really suit the car...



ps if anyone has any other photos,please post

Hey Theres those Club Decals Again??

[javabug]

Here ya go Uncle Jim...



I really don't remember where I found it.

[Matt H]

That is one of my favorites. True Cal Look

[Bernard Newbury]

Engine Engine Spec: 2387 cc>Rimco case. bushed lifter bores, shuffle-pinned, full flow oil with Oberg filter.  S/Steel braided oil hose. 10mm Autocraft studs.  Pauter 86mm crank, 5.7” Pauter chromoly rods, Weisco 94mm pistons, Total Seal rings. Jay-Cee extra long barrels.   Babe Erson hard weld cam (280 dur. x 393 lift,) Pauter 1.4:1 billet roller rockers = 550 lift Berg pushrods, straight-cut cam gear.  Performance Technology heads with stainless steel valves and titanium retainers (47x37), running 15:1 c/r.  Berg 30mm oil pump, Berg oil pump face Berg Equalizer Pulley, 160,000 psi pushrods, Type 4 push-rod tubes, Berg breather box, Berg carburetor linkage, Berg heavy duty pulley bolt, Berg gland nut, Berg clearanced cam followers, Berg 3.5 qt sump, Jay Cee modified 51.5mm Weber IDAs on Welded Skat Trac manifolds, A1  1 3/4” merged header with stinger. A1 S/Steel muffler for the street. A Holley blue fuel pump and Holley red regulator, 1/2 braided fuel line supply fuel.
Ignition: Complete MSD 3 step to include dial in limits for burn-out, launch &rev limit, MSD Billet distributor, MSD Blaster coil, Taylor 8mm ignition leads, Autometer dial-in shift light box.
GEARBOX BUILT BY COGBOX
Gearbox Spec: Autocraft case. 3.88 r&p, 1st4.25,  2nd2.54,  3rd1.78,  4th1.37 gears. Berg axles, Quaife l.s.d. Berg solid front gearbox mount, Berg solid rear mount, Berg Super Street clutch plate, Berg balanced 2300lb pressure plate operated by Neal hydraulic pedal assembly.

This car was ‘body off’ rebuilt from the Coral Oval after the accident in the winter of 1996/97 and debuted at the Volksworld show 1997 where it won Best of Show. After that I had great fun racing it with a best ET of 11.93.In 2000 I decided that I wanted to go quicker and I had to strip the Oval, which I did not want to do, or build another car. The Oval was sold in 2002 and been changed a few times. I have tried to post a picture but it did not work!! Jim if you want some more I can e mail them .

[Tim C]

It has always been one of my favourite cars and I was so happy when Max turned up in it one day as a surprise!

I've been a passenger in it and it is the Rolls Royce of VW's, super smooth and quick. The attention to detail is just superb...

Here it is in action - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dSMbR2MrXjg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/dSMbR2MrXjg</a>

[63 ripper]

here is that photo,Bernie/Jim



Bernie,if you have any more photos you would share with me,please private message me your e-mail.thanks.max

[Bernard Newbury]

It's featured in the book Classic Customized Street Machines: Custom Cars by Craig Cheetham



Still available on Amazon. http://tinyurl.com/2rv94y

Cheers
Bernie

[67Screamer]

[Peter Roberts]

[Rick Meredith]

here is that photo,Bernie/Jim



Bernie,if you have any more photos you would share with me,please private message me your e-mail.thanks.max

any copies of that shot available in desktop wallpaper sizes??

[louisb]

here is that photo,Bernie/Jim



Bernie,if you have any more photos you would share with me,please private message me your e-mail.thanks.max

any copies of that shot available in desktop wallpaper sizes??

Yeah, I would like that too.

--louis

[Bernard Newbury]

here is that photo,Bernie/Jim



Bernie,if you have any more photos you would share with me,please private message me your e-mail.thanks.max

any copies of that shot available in desktop wallpaper sizes??

Yeah, I would like that too.

--louis

I am no computer expert but if you right click your mouse it offers it as wallpaper but my son tells me it is not high res enough (whatever that means)

[louisb]

It just means the original picture is too small. If you stretched it to fit as wall paper it would look blurry. Would probably need to rescan the picture from the original hard copy at a higher resolution.

Along these lines, it would be nice if some of these VW mags would offer desktop wallpaper of some of the cars they feature on their websites.

--louis

[streetvw]

when it was owned by Mark James I had the pleasure of driving it from Santa pod to home a good 2 hour drive and it was great fun.

here are a few shots I took of the car out side Marks house

http://rides.webshots.com/album/158106146RwnWFj

[peach_]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but i was looking at some old photos of this car and wondered where it is now?

After a little googling i came across this http://darklordoval.blogspot.co.uk/ a blog be the owner, it was then sold in 2010 according to the blog.

Does anybody know where it is now?

[leec]

I believe its owned by Carl Maher (?) sure he was the owner/builder of BIlliabug but its late and I've had wine so who knows

[speedwell]

it wasn't MAX (63 ripper) the latest owner??

[63 ripper]

it wasn't MAX (63 ripper) the latest owner??

Hi Fabs, Lee is correct. I sold the oval to Carl around 2010. The blog that Peach found was mine, I wanted somewhere to keep a record of some of the old photos I had found and to detail any changes I made during my time with it (engine changes, full repaint, change of wheels etc)

I saw the car again in 2012 and it still looked fresh so I'm happy Carl is looking after it !

Cheers

Max

[youngnstudly]

The interior of this car is what really impressed me when I first saw it years ago in one of the major magazines. If anyone has interior pics of this car to post, that would be great. Very cool car! 

Andy

[Bernard Newbury]

The interior of this car is what really impressed me when I first saw it years ago in one of the major magazines. If anyone has interior pics of this car to post, that would be great. Very cool car! 

Andy

I will have a look later and see what I can find.

[mg]

I will have a look later and see what I can find.

Great looking car, I also know a great place for fish tacos in San Diego, lmk. 
http://bluewaterseafoodsandiego.com/