Thanks Dave, I know I used to have similar photos of the Penrith day but I've lost them. Good old photo prints - I used to have shoe boxes full of them. I also remember Graham's story about how he picked up that house-paint white spilt too, from an eccentric in the UK. It's a shame that he sold off most or all of his collection.
Joel it doesn't sound to me like that lady's split window is the Haenel's. VW Australia documented the Haenel's car pretty well when they took ownership of it in 1961; the Haenels were the only private owners of that car. Apparently Therese Haenel bought the 1946 VW in Europe in 1949, from a British Army officer, and brought the car out to Australia when she migrated the same year. Her husband Ted had been interred in Australia during the war, and when the war was over and he was released, he decided to stay. He wired to Therese (in Germany) to join him, and make a new post-war life here. He was apparently quite surprised when Therese arrived with a VW - the first privately-owned VW to ever reach Australia. They settled in western Victoria, raised a family and drove the VW every day.
When VW Australia was looking to celebrate the 100,000th Australian-built VW in 1961, they wanted to track down the oldest VW in Australia. After an advertising campaign, they found the Haenels and their 1946 VW in Victoria. The Haenels were invited to Clayton to watch the 100,000th VW come off the production line, in a ceremony that also featured the founder of the Clayton VW plant, Baron von Oertzen (he also started VW South Africa), and the then Victorian premier, Sir Henry Bolte. The Haenels were given that 100,000th VW, a brand new white Beetle, in exchange for their 1946.
VW Australia used the '46 for promotion and advertising for a number of years. LNC Industries took ownership of the car in 1968 when they secured the Australian VW franchise. After that, it's not so clear. I remember the car being on display at Lanock Motors St Leonards for a number of years. After that it was on display at Greens Motorcade museum at Leppington, although still owned by LNC then.
Originally the Haenel's VW was black, but at some stage it was 'renovated' or 'restored', and was painted a light blueish grey. I think it was always left-hand drive. It was black when I saw it at Lanock Motors in the '70s, but by the time it was at Greens Motorcade it was light grey. Greens Motorcade eventually went out of business, as did LNC Industries, and the Haenel's VW was sold to Gilltrap's Car Museum at the Gold Coast. That museum was quite good; at one stage they also had 'Genevieve', the 1904 Darracq from the 1953 British movie, as well as one of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film cars (both are now back in the UK).
At some stage in the late 1980s, the Haenel's VW was sold again and finished up at the York Car Museum in Western Australia. I happened to visit in 1987 and came across the VW completely by accident; I had no idea it was there. The York museum is the home of the Peter Briggs collection. He also set up a car museum in Fremantle and the Haenel's VW was moved there for a while, but it closed last year and the VW was moved back to York. It is still there today, and available for inspection by visitors (together with the 100+ other great cars). The museum's curator is Peter Harbin - I have spoken to him and he is quite a nice bloke. (08) 9641 1288. The York Museum website is
http://www.yorkwa.com.au/Motor.Museum/index.htm
