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Feb 53 RHD zwitter project
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Tom Clarke
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:54 am    Post subject: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Hi guys,

newly registered to the forum but I've been a lurker for years.

I've recently just found myself with, what i can work out from chassis/vin plate numbers is a February 53 zwitter in RHD.

I recently opened my own shop and if anyone's done this or owns a shop you know the amount of random guys that come over to your door and talk shit about how they used to have a 72 bug back in the day or there dad owned a split bus. Well.... i had a guy come buy and he mentioned "i know a guy that has one of those oval window beetles hanging on his workshop wall." so i got him to call the guy that had it on his wall and he told me that it was a "split oval" so i was like, yeah cool send me some photos. Expecting to get some photos of a 70's car with a window chopped in. Basically... i didn't. Next day i took the 20min trip over to his place and brought the car. Can't believe it was so local.

Its had alot of poor work, some non correct part, but its been dipped so its not hiding anything! but its missing pretty much everything, any one can help me out with parts that would be great. but here it is, let me know what you think.


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Here's all of the parts i have haha. i do have most of the glass minus the door and 1/4 windows.

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Here's what in my eyes is the worst bit, someone hand made and hacked in a replica spit dash Embarassed so i'm on the hunt for a RHD oval dash.

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Cheers,
Tom
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vwhelmot
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:49 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Love the dash. :D Is the back window an oval hack job too. Looks funny in one of the pics like one side is larger than the other?
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Tom Clarke
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:02 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

haha you've just had me stood there measuring the windows. No there both the same and it doesn't seem to of had the upright welded in. I'm waiting back on a birth certificate but going by the numbers and the tech section it reads as a feb 53 and from what i can tell zwitters ended in march 53.
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AlanInMass54
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:07 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Good Lord, that dash! Was it formed by just banging the metal with rocks? As another owner of a messed up Zwitter I feel your pain! The parts hunt is brutal. Best of luck with it though, what are your plans?
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Tom Clarke
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:16 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

i'm not 100% confident on how you even make metal look like that! it looks like play-doh haha.

think i'm gonna resto it and keep it. its a car ive always wanted and i got it at a decent price. i'm trying to get in touch with a previous owner to see if he has any parts lying around. someone stripped it before it got dipped so i im hunting them! I think the hard job is finding all of the parts like, my doors are empty, no mechs, 1/4 bar, regulators!
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vwhelmot
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:22 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Hahaha, sorry about that. Plenty of metal work there for sure but a great project. I have to admit that I would probably make a cal looker out of that as you know how expensive its going to be making it all period correct. Good luck and I`m looking forward to your updates.
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splitjunkie
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 3:39 pm    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

I see lots of weird stuff going on with that car.

The back window definitely looks home made.

The body number is Ocober '53 which would be an oval.

It looks like there are extra holes were a larger VIN plate was installed.

The sides of the spare tire area of the front quarter panels looks home made.

There are patches in areas all over the car, the wiper holes, the drivers side door handle area, holes for later door handles on both doors, possibly some weird work around the semaphores.
There are three holes at the corner of the front hood area. These didn't show up until the early 60's. That panel might be from a later car.
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ZENVWDRIVER
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:14 pm    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

... no heater outlets in the patched-in heater channel. Still looks like fun.
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Tom Clarke
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 1:20 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Like i said, this car has had ALOT of work in the past. The door handle cut outs are later sections grafted into ribbed doors then the extra hole welded up, I assume this was to fix pulled out door handles. I think at some point the car has been in a front ender and a lot of the wheel well panels have been replaced with cuts from an oval. The frame head is split and the front beam bent up too which would confirm suspicions. The semaphone slots haven't been welded in, they are mangled and beat up though, like someone has tried pulling the semaphores out with a screwdriver. The wiper holes are also messed up and have been opened out, the whole scuttle panel has repair patches tacked over the top of it all that's why it looks kinda weird. I'll still stick by that it's a genuin zwitter, just a really really messed around with one.
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fazeka
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 3:26 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

I dunno... that rear window divider doesn't look factory...
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splitjunkie
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 9:00 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

fazeka wrote:
I dunno... that rear window divider doesn't look factory...


I agree. It is the wrong shape and the contour of the window to the roof look almost squared off. It should be rounded. Couple that with the fact that the body number is for a '53 oval, tells me that this is not a zwitter.

I suspect there is a lot of bondo covering some interesting sheet metal work in that back window.

The good news is that finding a correct dash should be a little easier than a RHD zwitter. The rear window will be much easier as well.
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Tom Clarke
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 9:30 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Ive just re checked the chassis numbers and ive been a dork and read the engine numbers on the tech section instead of chassis.

It is a September 53 chassis so now i look like a douche and its an oval.

could someone please move this into the oval section hahaha Rolling Eyes
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splitjunkie
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 9:59 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

I don't know how much you paid for it but you might try going back to the seller with this new info and try to get some money back. The fact that all of the other areas had obviously patches and the window looks to have had the most work so it looks factory to a non expert (sorry) makes it look like someone was intentionally misrepresenting it as a Zwitter to get more money for it.
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Tom Clarke
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:17 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

even being an early oval it was the bargain of the century. to think of it..... if it was a 70's car it still would of been an absolute bargain. so either way im not too upset. ill just resto it as an oval Smile i knew as soon as i saw the car it had a lot of incorrect panels and work. i've been in the game almost 10 years professionally now and i know when somethings not right, it was just the confusion of chassis numbers that got me going. ahh well.

appreciate your criticisms
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fazeka
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:33 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

It's still an early oval. I think it's cool as hell... Smile check out the other Samba thread at one of those recently found 54-55 ovals with a few inches rotted off the bottom and you'll see that maybe this one isn't really all that bad. In any event, this one actually does look like a challenge and honestly, I love a good challenge. Wink
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vwhelmot
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:53 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Agreed that it's still cool. Reminds me of a car for sale at volksworld this year. It got me really confused.
Oval window that was an oval not a split with the bar removed, crotch cooler on one side but not the other etc etc....

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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:06 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Well, the quarter could have been damaged for some reason back in the day... not impossible to have been replaced. The whole rear window section could have been grafted if the bar is suspected of not having been removed. Etcetera, etcetera... I would bet dollars to donuts something like that is what happened to that particular car and that it's earlier than October '52, no way it left Wolfsburg like that...
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splitjunkie
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:10 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

vwhelmot wrote:
Agreed that it's still cool. Reminds me of a car for sale at volksworld this year. It got me really confused.
Oval window that was an oval not a split with the bar removed, crotch cooler on one side but not the other etc etc....

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Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


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Looks like a split that had an oval window graft, had a later drivers side quarter panel replacement due to an accident at some point and had early oval doors added.

The great thing about the VW was that so many parts were interchangeable and cars were so plentiful that it was easy to upgrade cars with later features by simply bolting on a later part in many cases. Made for a great car to keep on the road but makes them a little more challenging to find in original condition with all of the correct parts.
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splitjunkie
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:12 am    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

Tom Clarke wrote:
even being an early oval it was the bargain of the century. to think of it..... if it was a 70's car it still would of been an absolute bargain. so either way im not too upset. ill just resto it as an oval Smile i knew as soon as i saw the car it had a lot of incorrect panels and work. i've been in the game almost 10 years professionally now and i know when somethings not right, it was just the confusion of chassis numbers that got me going. ahh well.

appreciate your criticisms


'53s aren't exactly growing on trees, especially RHD versions so if you got it for a great price then great.
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:41 pm    Post subject: Re: Feb 53 RHD zwitter project Reply with quote

splitjunkie wrote:
vwhelmot wrote:
Agreed that it's still cool. Reminds me of a car for sale at volksworld this year. It got me really confused.
Oval window that was an oval not a split with the bar removed, crotch cooler on one side but not the other etc etc....

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Looks like a split that had an oval window graft, had a later drivers side quarter panel replacement due to an accident at some point and had early oval doors added.

The great thing about the VW was that so many parts were interchangeable and cars were so plentiful that it was easy to upgrade cars with later features by simply bolting on a later part in many cases. Made for a great car to keep on the road but makes them a little more challenging to find in original condition with all of the correct parts.

"The great thing about the VW was that so many parts were interchangeable and cars were so plentiful that it was easy to upgrade cars with later features by simply bolting on a later part in many cases. Made for a great car to keep on the road but makes them a little more challenging to find in original condition with all of the correct parts." Idea
Quite right Chris, but wait; all this talk of asymmetry has me turned 'round...(aren't we looking at a LHD beetle?) Question Anyhow, still a cool car for a bargain price, leaves room for 'improvements' by the current owner right? Question
Good luck with it and welcome to the split club!
-Go have fun with it Tom!
...Besides; symmetry is boring and for the unimaginative isn't it? Wink
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