TheSamba.com :: View topic - 1965 Squareback

Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:25 pm

Cosmics for the win. 8)

Fri Dec 30, 2011 6:31 pm

69SquareGuy:

Haven't you given a second thought about not replacing those sidemarkers? At first I thought my '65 Squareback was not really a '65 because your ride (being a true original) didn't have them. First the sidemarkers (I felt for you when I showed your pics of them), then the wheels, which I thought were the wrong ones since they're the same ones I have (and was told were not the original ones) and all because your ride (your really, really nice ride I should say) has that "S" logo out back to boot!

I have to ask you about, what looked like, a little bristleless thooth brush on one of your pan's resto pics. Where can I get one of those those? It really looked like the tool needed to sand down in tight and odd shapped places.

C'c'c'ool rrrride!!!

Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:53 pm

If my Squareback was European it would have side markers. The one's I took off were some weird after market bases. I plan on actually restoring the pan at some point. I just coated it really.

Sun Jan 29, 2012 6:17 pm

I've done a few things recently so I thought I should update my thread. I got a new Optima battery, replaced all four shocks, and tightened the upper arms on the beam as they were loose. I've been doing little things to get her even more road worthy.

Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:55 pm

My headliner, albeit original, just wasn't cutting it anymore. It was ripped in a couple places, spotted, and just torn up around the window rubber from the previous window rubber installation. At that time, a good seal against the rain was more important than the headliner. Now that the car has a cozy home inside a garage and rarely sees rain, it's time to do some more stuff. I bought new pinch welt, sunvisors, and molded corner window rubber. Here is the old headliner. Pardon the photo dump.

Found this old spider...maybe he came along for the ride from Germany?

I freshened up my hinge cover.

And here's the install and final photos. I soaked all the screws in CLR which basically made them all look new again. I soaked the coat hooks and assist straps in bleach and water. The coat hooks look great but I think I'm just going to get some new assist straps as they're just not good enough and I think they'll stand out. The pieces of vinyl that connect the upper rear seat panels to the rear hatch panels was replaced as well as they had some weird spotting on them. We even added that little rubber strip on the headliner by the rear door on OG headliners that isn't on the new headliners. It's a small detail that we wanted to get right. I also put a repop full circle horn ring in. I love that thing. 8)

Next up are the rear hatch panels and shiney panel clips. Those should look great. I'm so happy with the install as it looks and smells so much better. 8)

Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:04 pm

Wow. Nice job on the headliner.

Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:38 pm

It looks even better in person.

post count +1

Sat Mar 24, 2012 10:54 pm

Looks great.

Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:21 pm

That looks awesome!

Congrats on a job well done! =D>

Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:30 am

great work.

Sun Mar 25, 2012 11:04 am

Brent wrote: Wow. Nice job on the headliner.

Absolutely, looks fantastic. I hate doing headliners, and yours turned out great. 8)

Sun Mar 25, 2012 1:54 pm

Thanks guys! More updates hopefully this week. I can't wait for the new rear hatch panels so I can put my cargo cover back in. 8)

Mon Mar 26, 2012 7:41 am

car looks great mike!

Mon Mar 26, 2012 7:30 pm

OhHerrooo wrote: car looks great mike!

Thanks Steve!

So now that the rear hatch panels look like crap compared to the new headliner...I had them recovered. The rear hatch panel was a pain to get off but it's coming along to work with me tomorrow. The wheel well covers were completely shot but I found a better set off a Square in a junk yard a few months ago. As soon as I get some time to get those wheel well covers on I can put the panels and trim back on. I also added some new assist straps. It's coming along nicely. 8)

Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:40 pm

Top shelf, brother!

Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:27 am

soooooooooo clean

Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:52 am

nice!!!

Did you make those panels yourself or order them?

headliner looks fantastic. 8)

Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:00 pm

Great car man! Looks amazing. I had some questions for you. To clean up the old chrome parts you used simple green and that brighten them back to life? What was the spline setup before your current setup (3 in the front, 1 in back). You used a shorter axle in the back, where or how did you do that? Did you also shorten the front?

Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:44 pm

JSMskater wrote: nice!!!

Did you make those panels yourself or order them?

headliner looks fantastic. 8)

Thanks! Those are my original panels recovered. The rear hatch panel is the only panel that's being replaced completely as it's almost ripped in half.

jniderost wrote: Great car man! Looks amazing. I had some questions for you. To clean up the old chrome parts you used simple green and that brighten them back to life? What was the spline setup before your current setup (3 in the front, 1 in back). You used a shorter axle in the back, where or how did you do that? Did you also shorten the front?

Well I used some #0000 steel wool on most of the chrome pieces. For the hardware during the headliner install I left all of it in a little tin full of CLR for a couple hours. Before I lowered the car it was stock height. The short axles on the back are bug axles. The front end is lowered three splines and the bump stops were cut off.

Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:50 pm

Here's the rear hatch panel. Out with the old, and in with the new. Not 100%, but it's 110% better than what it was.

And after I posted the picture of the new driver's side rear panel resting against the wheel well I noticed a wrinkle in the post material so I fixed that too.