TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:08 pm

Well, I've this car for over ten years, and it's in a poor state, in dire need of lots of rust repair, paint (of course), full mechanical, and as they say, etc. I bought it "pre-samba" out of Hemmings, pre-internet literacy, imported it from Canada, and was a bit sorely disappointed in its condition when I got it--very, very misrepresented by the seller, including but not limited to the fiberglass over where the support rails and heater channels were supposed to be, galvanized sheet screwed & glued over various rust holes, and so forth. Total parade of horribles. Doors would pop open around corners. No one but myself to blame for that—I should have had it checked out a little better. The price still wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a bargain by any means.

That being said, I slapped some heater channels and rails on it and drove it for the better part of 7 years all the time, including almost 4 years in Hawaii when I was in the service. Tossing wet dive gear in the back didn't help much on the rust (read: saltwater), but it was already in so much need of fixin' that I wasn't too worried about it. Over the years I fixed some stuff just to keep it on the roadworthy side of rusty, but it all caught up with me and it just couldn’t go any further.

Fast forward to 2008, and the car's been sitting since getting out of the military. I've had three kids, started two businesses, moved (one, two, three, four) four times, and otherwise have little time to devote to it. I've done a little disassembly but nothing all that productive.

I hope starting this thread will provide me a little public shame and put me over the edge on getting started. It’s been itching at me recently, but not quite enough. I had a bid done on a pro doing it, given my time constraints, but at $25K on the bid and realizing how long that would take anyway, I’m going to do it myself, slowly, carefully, and correctly.

General idea is 100% stock, but with the little Judson I’ve had stashed away for a few years for a little oomph driving up those mountains we seem to have around here in abundance.

I got the birth certificate not long ago—need to find it again, and hopefully the kids haven’t improved it any with crayons. Original color was atlas blue L338, IIRC, some of which I’ve found under various layers of repaint.

Pic's:

This is the kind of BS the previous owner did:

This was the state of things years ago on both sides of the car, with the body/suspension mount rusting away and odd panel things going on:

Years ago at the Navy hobby shop I broke out the trusty Craftsman mig welder. I’m sure this is still probably the standard of my work, but not what I really want the car to be, so I may redo all this stuff:

New panel was in, and undoing undoing the old “repair” from some point in the distant past, where they braised a panel on top of the old metal and over the bumper bracket. Ugly:

Fitting the replacement:

New panels in, and same process on the other side:

I drove the car for years after these repairs, and really haven’t looked to see how they held up under the salt assault and in light of the other holes (under back seat, etc.) which I never did get repaired.

Here’s the weed I found in the top when I stripped it down. It was OLD, and predated my ownership of the car by a long time. I’ve posted this pic before in the “what weird stuff did you find in your car” threads:

So, now that I’ve started this thread, I suppose I had better get moving!

Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:15 pm

Congrats Bart,
58 vert is a cool car. I'd love to have one myself. Are your plans for it to be painted the original color?

Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:55 pm

Not sure. I love black cars, but my thoughts are that in order to do a proper "restoration" it should be the original color. If I don't paint it the original blue, all bets are off so then I'll be considering a W decklid, yadda yadda yadda. The decklid is from a later model 'vert, so I can justifiably replace it anyway...hmmm.

Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:49 pm

that's a nice little car,get out and play with it as long as it's fun,when it stops being fun take a break;it's only a bad weld if you can hang your coat on it.

Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:16 am

cool car. keep it on the road. I would go with a stock vw color .looks like your on your way to a good restore. post some pics of your interior .

Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:48 pm

You welded the wrong rear bumper bracket pannels on.

Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:09 pm

looks like a great vert... get out there and work on it!!

Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:40 pm

hkoch wrote: You welded the wrong rear bumper bracket pannels on.

Yup, those are for fat chick bumpers.

Sweet project!

Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:11 am

KantDriveFast wrote: hkoch wrote: You welded the wrong rear bumper bracket pannels on.

Yup, those are for fat chick bumpers.

Sweet project!

Yeah...when I pulled the old repairs apart you could see how the original brackets were different. That was seven or eight years ago, I think, but IIRC the brackets were sold as "universal." Shipping to/from Hawaii was a killer, so I didn't worry about it at the time, as I need to get the metal replaced and this car was my daily driver. Yet another reason to replace them.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Heading out to the garage later this morning, with all three kids under four helping. Ought to be productive...

Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:49 am

Great looking vert!! - it is amazing what you find in old vws! :lol:

Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:59 pm

Here's where it is at the moment, a lot of disassembly work done:

I think after working this floor section with a wool pad, it ought to be barely noticeable:

Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:13 pm

If youre looking for any parts for your resto I have some of the hard to find stuff from a car I just cut up to save another one. I have a full set of windows and regulators, a back seat (top and bottom), a rear view mirror, and some other vert only odds and ends. Let me know. Lots of vert only sheet metal too.

Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:29 pm

Trayle D. the real oggfk wrote: If youre looking for any parts for your resto I have some of the hard to find stuff from a car I just cut up to save another one. I have a full set of windows and regulators, a back seat (top and bottom), a rear view mirror, and some other vert only odds and ends. Let me know. Lots of vert only sheet metal too.

You cut up the orange parade car?