Australia lost one of the innovators of the Australian VW scene on the weekend. Richard “Dickie” Holzl passed aged 71. I don’t believe he was that well know in the UK, but in Australia, US and Europe he was well known. He was a friend of mine. A ……….character. I referred to him as my “hot rod mate”. He was the one that helped me build motors, make tuned length exhaust and flanged exhaust heater boxes along with many other things. A good friend of Gene and Gary Berg. Fred, that owns Race Taxi was a friend. Fred would come out to Australia and stay with Richard to learn “proper” English Never built the same thing twice. A Type 4 big block man. His signature was 2.7L motor and a 2.3 L 66mm crank with 103 chevys. “It’s all about the rod length” His first, and most influential, was his Berg 2.1L oval in the 70’s He also built a centre seated tube chassis 1303 called “Dak to the Future” Another Australian, Wayne Penrose, finished it off Then there was “Snotty” A 2.7L type 4 1302 that ate Porsches for breakfast.
He built so many cars Al’z 57 Oval with 2.3L fuel injection Jurgo’s 2.1 L Berg Type 1 Richard pioneered the “aero” guard and “functional” whale tales. These were shipped all over the world. But besides all that - he was my friend. A rather “quirky” drinking partner and music lover This when we saw the B52’s and Simple Minds on a 47*C day
There could only be one Richard “Dickie” Holzl and luckily, I got to spend time with him. Too much time according to my wife. But the VW scene here in Australia is poorer for the loss. A visionary, artist, creator has gone
Well……. That was interesting. There was a post the other day about “what will you be buried in” Well - reckon this was pretty cool for a VW nut I was with him when he bought his “Alf” jacket
He would have been upset the linkage was Redline and not a Berg set up If you look carefully you can see the cable goes inside
