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driverlost
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2004
Posts: 185
Location: North West Arkansas
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 Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:06 am Post subject: 75 Rat Rabbit Resurrection thread. |
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I'm going to need some motivation on this one  so I thought I would start a build thread. Purest please click back now or forever hold your hate comments  This was truly scrap metal to most normal people so this has much to do with my artistic approach on this build.
The story is this was a moving day gift to me over 12 years ago from my neighbor who quickly learned that I was into these VW's. It was ditched on one of his rental properties many moons ago and he was happy to drag it over. I have been using it as a paintball bunker since a few weeks ago when my sick imagination with the help of my daughter egging me on kicked in. These young kids today and their "water cooled" craze. 
Before I forget to mention my need for parts ad: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1279692
I'll improvise if I have to but anyway there it is.
Back to the Rabbit. It's an early 75 Swallow tail and in many ways is in great shape.
Seriously I wasn't joking, well the strut towers and and all the doors are rock solid. Window frames. Pretty much everwhere Volkswagen's amazing undercoating didn't distroy.  But it took love, some bleach, a mask, good gloves to just get to see it.
After the cleaning I did a little primary rust hacking and trashing of the unusable stuff with a small can of reusable stuff not growing too well 
Pulled the trashed 1.6 and went to work on the engine bay.
Freshness 3/19 VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Rain delay
I have a nice set of early Beetle low backs and some extra pan half's lying around so...
I'll keep this thread fresh as long as I'm making progress and there's some interest going on.
_________________
Rob
May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby.
Last edited by driverlost on Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:07 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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EverettB 
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Joined: April 11, 2000
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Location: Phoenix Metro
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driverlost
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2004
Posts: 185
Location: North West Arkansas
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| Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Boss! 
Yeah it is rough pretty much everywhere the famous early 70's Volkswagen Undercoating is at. Its like a surprise every time you run a screwdriver in the loose stuff. This was the only stuff holding my 73 Thing together
Made some progress today so I'll toss up a few more pics.
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Rob
May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby. |
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po7g
Samba Member
Joined: June 15, 2004
Posts: 461
Location: Crown Point, Indiana
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| Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Do you plan on keeping it the original color? Good luck and hope you keep it up and finish it. |
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driverlost
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2004
Posts: 185
Location: North West Arkansas
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| Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks. Yeah we're thinking a little steel wool then clear right over the patina & green.
I'm cleaning the bay area and doing corrosion control with rust stop & undercoating where ever it needs it.
It'll be a rat rod. Lowered but trust worthy for anyone in my family to hop in and drive is the goal.
Thinking of a oak dash. Not the greatest carpenter but going at a project with a nothing to loose attitude makes a project fun so we'll see.
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Rob
May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby. |
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djghia
Samba Member
Joined: May 08, 2006
Posts: 179
Location: Springfield, MO
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| Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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Glad to see you putting that lovely green jewel back on the road!!! Don't let the purists get you down, it would take a ton of money to restore that back to any semblance of its original glory, have fun and enjoy!! My '78 came from Springdale, I bought it two years ago. Maybe I'll run into you at some of the local shows, I was at Conway last year. Dave J
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1962 Ghia vert
1971 Beetle
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driverlost
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2004
Posts: 185
Location: North West Arkansas
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:40 am Post subject: |
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That is gorgeous Dave and thanks for the encouragement.
The plan is to roll to Southern Worthersee this May 18-20
http://southernworthersee.com/
Link
We have about 5-7 going from our area, OKC, Tulsa and picking up a few more along the way. My daughter will be rolling her 98 GTI and my son is taking his Rabbit vert we've been working on the past 2 years
My son goes to Boot camp for the Marines 2 weeks after so I hope to make it down with them so I can hang out but not be like a third wheel and have my own cool ride 
I made some good progress in between rain & work....
but got hit with "Overwhelmness" If that's a word
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Rob
May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby. |
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TastyTuner
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Joined: March 11, 2010
Posts: 108
Location: Tulsa, OK
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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| great progress rob |
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djghia
Samba Member
Joined: May 08, 2006
Posts: 179
Location: Springfield, MO
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the kind words. I'm loving the low-back seats!! Can't wait to see what you come up with for a dash. What are you thinking for wheel/tire combo? Roy Rogers parts here in Springfield has a set of 13" cookie cutter wheels with nearly new tires for sale, they would be the style of wheel found on a Scirocco. Probably would look pretty good. What's the scoop on the Splitty? Dave J
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1962 Ghia vert
1971 Beetle
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deryll1
Samba Member
Joined: August 28, 2011
Posts: 3
Location: United States
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| thats a cool project...love it! doing something different here! |
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Shadd
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Joined: January 18, 2007
Posts: 883
Location: Lancaster, Ohio
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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Looks just like the 75 that I am parting out
I will hold my purist tongue except to say that 10/75 is technically a 76 
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cub
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Joined: February 10, 2004
Posts: 121
Location: DFW
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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^^^^^ I was just gonna post that. Glad you saved it.....but for us purists...please keep the mods to a minimum.....especially on an early car....or you'll break our hearts I've never seen that welded in bracket/holder (?) on the left rear wheel well (in cargo area).
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driverlost
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2004
Posts: 185
Location: North West Arkansas
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| Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Shadd wrote: |
Looks just like the 75 that I am parting out
I will hold my purist tongue except to say that 10/75 is technically a 76
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Hey I may hit you up for some parts on that.  I figured it was a 76 but so far all my parts put it early 75. When I search 75 over 76 for parts Everything is correct. The gas tank on mine is gone. Rotted out from the inside out. It's the early style with the sender on the side and no access up top behind the rear seat. Plus some other strange early things I'm running into.
Can't be that much different between the 2 years especially as late as an October build but fully agree it's likely a 76.
Update from over the weekend. VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
My 100 year old barn wood dash Have a lot more to do but some teaser pics.
Gauges are from an 80's Porsche 944.
Found an old school wiper delay in my stash.
And an old 12 volt VDO analog clock.
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Rob
May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby. |
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beardy
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Joined: March 11, 2012
Posts: 31
Location: Boise
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| Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| that dash is amazing, so is the patina! |
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kevinrocks
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Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 235
Location: Louisville, KY
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:46 am Post subject: |
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Pretty cool. I have an 80 Rabbit as my daily.
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1969 Beetle - Lowered |
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driverlost
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Joined: October 02, 2004
Posts: 185
Location: North West Arkansas
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:52 am Post subject: |
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Thanks! Been starting to wonder if my dash idea killed off the interest
If all goes right I would love to make this a daily.
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Rob
May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby. |
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kevinrocks
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Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 235
Location: Louisville, KY
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 10:39 am Post subject: |
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| driverlost wrote: |
Thanks! Been starting to wonder if my dash idea killed off the interest
If all goes right I would love to make this a daily. |
I think it's a cool idea, it's not like you cut up a perfect car or anything...
Mine is pretty fun as a daily, it has vmaxx coilovers, so it's not a perfect ride, but it it's not super harsh. This is my first MK1. I had an mk2 jetta, and 3 aircooled beetles.
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1969 Beetle - Lowered |
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driverlost
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2004
Posts: 185
Location: North West Arkansas
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:07 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah I'm hoping to go coils to get it pretty low. Not danger to the oil pan low but close
You gotta love VW's and if you really do you'll have or had them all over time. I think once you get to know how consistent the Germans are when they build stuff you just migrate over to other models so easily.
Here's an inspiration shot:
Some progress & playing around pics.
One for the haters
Went with a Super Beetle master cylinder and stuck with manual brakes. Easy mod for sure. I'll work up a write up for the boards after a road test
Just got a gift from my daughter today. I had the rack, its what's on top
Good start for ratty items for the roof rack!
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Rob
May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby. |
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SgtSamy
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Joined: July 10, 2010
Posts: 734
Location: Miami, Florida
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 1:25 am Post subject: |
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This is Fawesome!
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At the moment owner of:
1968 Mex Beetle |
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driverlost
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2004
Posts: 185
Location: North West Arkansas
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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| SgtSamy wrote: |
| This is Fawesome! |
Thanks!
Update. Engine is in and running. My kids got some coil overs and my boy started the install of them.
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Rob
May the war on Air vs Water end in my lifetime that we may all come together and enjoy the hobby. |
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