So you're out with your buddies for some late-night cruising and when you least expect it, your clutch cable snaps. It usually breaks where it comes out of the tunnel right next to the pedals.

Even if you're an experienced Type 1 owner and carry a spare clutch and throttle cable for just such emergencies, it's still a big pain to crawl around on your floor in the dark and replace either by the side of the road.

For as well-designed most early '60s VWs are, the factory certainly didn't make it easy for an owner to fix a broken clutch cable, as the pedal assembly (and its puzzle-like configuration) is a chore to get removed, fixed, and up and running again.

That is, unless your Bug's spine has been altered by Brian Washburn of Washburn's Metal in Orange, California, with one of his slick weld-in EZ-Access Plate kits. In the past this was custom work Washburn performed on his customers' cars (dune buggies and street cars alike) when they asked for it. But now Washburn offers his EZ-Access Plate in kit form for the home builder. The kit will make future cable repair a breeze, as it allows you to easily get inside the tunnel and to the backside of the pedal assembly to quickly do any repair.

It's a weld-in assembly, which means you'll need some skills to do the installation, but Washburn's kit is much stronger than some screw-in versions out on the market. His '68 And Newer type has a slightly different design (because the bracing inside the tunnel is slightly different) but we followed along as Washburn installed his '67 And Older plate kit on a June '67 Type 1 pan.