TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue May 22, 2012 1:14 pm

new guy here and i have a question! I have a 66 bug and i want to get rid of the seams between fender and body on all four fenders and get rid of bumpers front and back and weld up all seams and bumper holes front and back so car has more of a modern look , are there advantages or disadvantages of doing this and please show me some pics cant seem to find any on this site ! thks

Tue May 22, 2012 1:21 pm

disadvantage - When you get a dent or major crunch, you can't unbolt the fender and replace it.

disadvantage - nobody else wants this, so you will lose significant resale value

I saw this on a sunroof notchback I went to look at, test drive and possibly purchase. As soon as I saw it, I thanked the guy and went back home. At no price was I interested, so I didn't even test drive it. Also, on other cars I've seen, plastic filler has to be used to smooth out the welds. That looks good for about 6 months until the weather changes and the bondo cracks.

Ultimately it's your car, do what you want of course. But resale value will plummit

Tue May 22, 2012 1:27 pm

besides a "modern look" what else would you think an advantage of this would be? I can't think of any.

Tue May 22, 2012 1:32 pm

You might also check your state laws, in most states it is illegal to run without bumpers

Tue May 22, 2012 2:14 pm

You could always roll in a 2000 or later bug if you like the "modern look;" and leave the vintage ones alone.

Tue May 22, 2012 2:39 pm

Please don't. Get to know your beetle.... You'll grow to love it, besides.... They look pretty sharp when the body lines/ gaps are proper and then painted, and then some top quaility fender beading installed.

Take a look at some nice 66 beetles.... They look good !
Also, imagine all that welding and metal finishing... You'll likely run out of steam before its all done.

Tue May 22, 2012 2:59 pm

I also don't quite understand how that modernizes it, even the new beetles have removable fenders

Tue May 22, 2012 3:32 pm

I'm in agreement with the other posters, in the long run this mod will start falling apart. Since you're in S.A., check in with vosaclub.org.

Tue May 22, 2012 8:44 pm

Just remove the fender beading, that should give it the smooth look. Welding it to the body will be marginally better. That massive amount of welding has to be done carefully as the body and fenders don't have that thick of metal.

Your car, do you what you want! But in the future you'll look back and go, WHY!! :lol:

Tue May 22, 2012 9:16 pm

I actually did this years ago with my autocross car.

There were 2 reasons we did it. First the car was so rusty there weren't many places left to put bolts. And second we did it as a weight saving measure as a lot of metal got cut away.

In my case it was an OK way to go for what we were doing. The car was basically already a throw away when we started.

But like others have said, if you ever get any damage and need to repair or replace a fender, you will really regret doing it.

Plus trying to do it so things look nice and smooth is a tremendous amount of work.

On a high dollar custom done by a skilled body man, it can look nice. But when done by your average back yard non-body man, it will just look like a hack job for sure!

Tue May 29, 2012 8:01 pm

here goes a nice looking bug that i jacked from the gallery

i don't think you should weld the fenders to the body.