After a brief storage hiatus, the car was back in my garage and I had plenty of opportunities to once again sit and stare at the car. I regularly attend local VW shows in Central Florida and see countless examples of beautiful Beetles, both stock and customized. Since my Beetle was far from original, it didn’t make much sense to restore it. One of the main factors is that 1967 Beetles are some of the most challenging to build because of the many one-year-only features. The most sane solution for me was to “make it my own”. Confident in my decision, some ideas started popping into my head:

• “It’s got to look like a barn-find
• “Perhaps a company car from the late ’60s”
• “Castrol Oil? Hmmmm…”
• “This has to be a tribute car for my grandfather!”

It was a no-brainer for me as my beloved grandfather inspired me in so many ways growing up. I know he is smiling down on this project and it will be such an honor to show it along with his story someday.

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

The following is a write-up of my grandfather who appeared on the cover of the Wakefield REVIEW, a monthly publication of the well-known British oil company Castrol.

Heinrich Wilhelm Stollbrock

October, 1956

To undertake the marketing of an oil in a country where it has been virtually unknown for almost twenty years is no easy task. When that country is also in a financially unstable condition after many years of total war, the difficulties which have to be overcome are legion. That is the problem which presented itself to C. C. Wakefield and Company when, early in 1949, they decided to rebuild the Castrol Organization in Germany.

Fortunately, the most friendly relations existed between the house of Wakefield and the well-known German firm of Schliemann (as, indeed, they still exist with the present partnership of Schliemann and Deutsche Erdoel A. G., known as D.E.A./Schliemann). Schliemann suggested that the man to see the project through successfully was Heinrich Wilhelm Stollbrock. They knew that Herr Stollbrock had a sound knowledge of the oil industry. They knew, too, that the planning of a large organization would present few problems to a one-time regular army colonel who, during the war, had served in Africa as Rommel’s personal adjutant.

So it was that the new company of Deutsche Castrol-Vertriebs-Gesellschaft M.B.H. was formed in July 1949, with H. W. Stollbrock as Manager. A small office was rented in the neighbourhood of the Hamburg docks and there a staff of only five or six worked, often day and night, to build up the new Castrol organization into what it is today; a self-contained structure of about one hundred employees.

Some time passed before the first supplies of Castrol were available. When production commenced there were still more difficulties to be faced in distribution. It was not easy to find sales representatives for Castrol, which had not been imported into Germany sınce about 1933, but Herr Stollbrock had already decided upon his approach to the question of staff. From the start, he insisted on a happy relationship with his representatives and other employees, and this enabled him to form
a “Castrol family” modeled on the established English pattern. His readiness to show consideration for the staff, rather than to make bureaucratic decisions without referring to them, was the primary factor in overcoming all the initial difficulties.

Within a short time, contact was made with the more important car manufacturers, and in particular with those who participated in international motor racing. The most prominent, of course, were Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, whose many successes have contributed so much to Castrol advertising. Steadily the German company grew, and it has now established a complete selling organization in Western Germany and in Berlin. Herr Stollbrock now looks forward to the time when he will be faced with a new task: namely, the setting up of a similar organization in the Eastern Zone of Germany, where he was born.

It is one of Heinrich Stollbrock’s most salient characteristics that he is something of a cosmopolite, and a strong supporter of the concept of a united Europe. In consequence, he enjoys meeting Castrol representatives from other lands, and is particularly pleased when he is able to entertain overseas visitors at Hamburg. Fortunately, this occurs frequently, and recent visitors from Britain alone have included L. M. Broadway, W. F. List and L. G. Packham.

Herr Stollbrock takes a keen interest in sport, and in his younger days took an active part in horse racing, show riding and other equestrian competitions throughout Germany. Nowadays he is understandably more interested in horsepower than in horses, but he is still fond of riding for exercise. Winter finds him turning his attention to skiing, and he likes to spend his holidays in the Swiss or Austrian Alps with his wife and four-teen-year-old daughter, who also share this interest. In less active moments he finds relaxation and enjoyment in music, particularly classical and operatic.