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Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:59 pm

I call it my retirement car because, well... this one's gonna take a while to do right... so being 29 now, I hope to have it finished by age 65. I've been after this car for 5 years and FINALLY convinced the owner to sell.

The car is a '52 Zwitter Deluxe which was rescued from a scrapyard in 1967, and had been sitting in the PO's barn for 30 years (which collapsed onto the car, hence the big dent in the roof), and then in his backyard for 15 years. 45 years of having nothing done with it is pretty impressive.

The plan is to restore the car, keeping it as stock as possible. I mean, in the meantime if I find an engine, I'm definitely going to drive it for a bit looking like this, but I want it back to its original state eventually.

This is how I found it in his yard. That's a '58 Ghia in front which has also been sitting for years.

4 months later, I finally had it on a trailer. We only had to chop down a couple of trees to get it out of the woods, as well as move a few Dodge Caravan carcasses.

Great sticker on the inside of the trunk.

Somebody "customized" the ashtray.

I'm going to be collecting parts for a few years but I'm going to at least work on getting the body straight in the meantime. I honestly can't believe how solid this car is, the pan is perfect, the heater channels are strong... I can't even find a 70's Bug around here with a good floor.

And today, I spent a bit of time and massaged most of the massive dent out of the roof. It's a tiny bit of progress, but at least the car looks a bit less mangled at this point!

Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:24 pm

Wow! What a score! That thing looks like a perfect candidate for an OG paint/patina type thing as is. Clean it up, buff it out and just repair and re-attach the missing pieces and it'd be a great survivor.

Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:31 pm

nice score. looks to be an awesome project. good luck i will be watching to see your progress

Sun Apr 29, 2012 11:11 pm

What an amazing find!

Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:54 pm

congrats on the find.... now get to work you only have 36 years left to finish it.... LOL

Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:12 pm

bandi wrote:

Is that a German Look i spot back there? 8)

Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:30 pm

gonna be following this thread for sure! nice score!!

Tue May 01, 2012 12:44 pm

Very cool find! Congrats!

Tue May 01, 2012 3:52 pm

What a find!! I hope I can come across something like this one day!
If I were you, I'd just massage all the dents out and roll it as is. It's pretty rare to come across something so solid, and that original paint would have a lot of stories to tell!

Tue May 01, 2012 4:04 pm

Very nice man . Good luck with the build 8)

Thu May 03, 2012 6:22 am

webberjames95 wrote: bandi wrote:

Is that a German Look i spot back there? 8)

Haha... I wish, it's my '99 New Beetle. Now I know the NB doesn't get a lot of love, but mine has 630,000 km on it and it's all original mechanically, even the clutch.

However, I do have a '72 Super which I am making into a German look car.

I'm still really undecided on leaving the Zwitter with original paint vs full resto- I'd love to see it looking pristine and original again, but the point about the original paint is a good one, too.

Thu May 03, 2012 6:33 am

x2 OG paint....... 8)

Thu May 03, 2012 6:58 pm

congrats on a very nice zwitter.

Thu May 03, 2012 7:37 pm

LeviMan2001 wrote: Wow! What a score! That thing looks like a perfect candidate for an OG paint/patina type thing as is. Clean it up, buff it out and just repair and re-attach the missing pieces and it'd be a great survivor.

I agree :D

Fri May 04, 2012 7:29 am

Here the thing about "patina"
I love it, when its good patina, I thought my car might have "patina" but it didnt so Im painting it.
GOOD paint is also HELLA expensive, time consuming, and hard to find a painter that knows what they are doing.

Fri May 04, 2012 10:13 am

That thing might retire you..

jus' kidding, good luck with it.

Fri May 04, 2012 2:39 pm

Cool car. I brought a zwitter back to life after sitting for may years. It spent it's life on the east coast (New Jersey), and was amazingly solid. If you want to get all authentic with it, that ash tray is an oval one. The zwitter one doesn't have a handle or trim. Keep at it little by little, and you'll get it done.

Wed May 09, 2012 7:35 am

73sports wrote: Cool car. I brought a zwitter back to life after sitting for may years. It spent it's life on the east coast (New Jersey), and was amazingly solid. If you want to get all authentic with it, that ash tray is an oval one. The zwitter one doesn't have a handle or trim. Keep at it little by little, and you'll get it done.

It did come with the correct ashtray as well- at least I can salvage the crest from this one (minus the backing plate)... amazingly they left the mounting tabs on it. And the white spray paint all over it came off quite nicely.

Fri May 11, 2012 12:26 pm

Have you ordered a Birth Certificate for it yet?!

Tue May 15, 2012 9:30 am

Steven G. wrote: Have you ordered a Birth Certificate for it yet?!

Not yet, I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off for the past few weeks. (But browsing thesamba on company time :) )