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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:59 pm Post subject: 1959 Convertible Beetle Restoration |
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I picked up this 59 vert as partial trade in January. It looked pretty nice and I was looking forward to doing a quick refresh on it. Unfortunately it had a lot of hidden/disguised rust and body damage. Needles to say it has gotten a little more involved than I would have liked it to have been! Some of you may know this car and love it for what it was. To those I apologize... it will be changing a bit (or quite a lot). I will try and update as much as possible and will try and keep the blurred iPhone pics to a minimum.
This is how I got the car...
This car has had a HARD life!
Starting with the rear, it had a clip installed at one point in its life and it looked a little odd. I started trying to correct the strange fitment and found something very interesting.
Whoever installed the rear clip just cut the rear apron out and wrapped the new clip around the existing side panels and welded it on!
The other side was more of the same... and then I found more rust problems. I decided to have it media blasted.
Before.
After.
The following are pics of all the work I have done so far...
A pillar was beat! had to pull it out.
Heater channel under rear seat was toast.
Driver side rear quarter panel only had an inch of body filler in it. It was BAD. Had to replace the whole quarter.
Rear package tray was bad too...
That's it for now. There are more pics in my gallery if you would like to see more. I just wanted to get a thread going and caught up to where I am now in the build. |
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56Cabrio Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2008 Posts: 1896 Location: San Fernando Valley, CA
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stale air Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2007 Posts: 5148 Location: Senoia Ga, formally NorCal
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Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah man, nice work. It nice that you are making things "right" on it.
After the metal work, what are your plans for it? _________________ WANTED: Henry Veale Santa Rosa plate frames
WANTED: Brittsan Motors Fresno plate frames
WANTED: Any Georgia plate frames
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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 4:49 am Post subject: |
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More repair to the passenger side inner and outer rear heater channel area.
Opened up.
Blasted.
Repair panels made.
And welded in.
And POR'ed.
Plans are to do all the body work and paint it after I finish getting everything back like it is supposed to be. I will do all the work on the side of my garage as seen in the photos. I will even paint it there! I did it with my black notchback last summer and anybody who has seen it can attest to the results.
I usually try to start with a solid rust free/accident free car but this one is not either. It has it's solid parts for sure but has the usual convertible rear rust. Once I conquer that area I will be cookin'. I have some custom plans for the build. It will have some of the flavor of my Notch and some of my Oval that I sold a few years back. Both of these cars were restored and painted beside my garage.
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Chalklinedetail Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2010 Posts: 311 Location: San Mateo, CA
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 12:44 pm Post subject: Re: 1959 Convertible Beetle Restoration |
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TripWire wrote: |
This is how I got the car...
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Seeing this before pic and the after-math makes me afraid of taking mine apart. What a can of worms!
Wonderful job though. This thing will be so much better in the end, enjoy!!! _________________ My 63 build thread - http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=520975&highlight= |
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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 6:10 am Post subject: |
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I decided to finish disassembling the pan yesterday. I was having trouble getting the front nose cone mount off. Once I got it off I realized why...
Who needs a bus nose cone when all you have to do is this!!! |
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Quintus Samba Member
Joined: December 07, 2010 Posts: 173 Location: the Netherlands
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 9:04 am Post subject: |
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Wow! Doesnt look good..
Im curious how this will turn out.. Looking at your Notchback and Oval I think it will look awesome _________________ 2005 VW Lupo
1970 Pontiac GTO
2008 VW Golf R32
1959 Karmann Ghia 'Low Nose' |
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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:01 am Post subject: |
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More progress. I have way more done than I have posted!
Anyway.... the floor pan...
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webberjames95 Snorkelstang Finder
Joined: January 18, 2011 Posts: 1091 Location: Pullman, Washington
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RareAir Samba Member
Joined: May 11, 2002 Posts: 14576 Location: 18 miles North of the border
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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 5:31 am Post subject: |
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This past weekend I did all the paint prep on the body and doors. I also put up the panels that turn my car port into a spray booth. Yesterday I got the paint on the car. Came out great! I am very happy with the results! I love Southern Polyurethane clear and usually use their universal clear but decided to try their euro clear as it allows the user to adjust the solids content with the reducer. It also has a shorter cut and buff window which I wanted. The universal clear stays soft for months. This is good if you cant get to the color sanding and buffing right away. Anyway... I laid down three coats of the euro clear and will start the color sanding later today.
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Khova Samba Member
Joined: September 09, 2009 Posts: 224 Location: St. Thomas VI
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thebucket Samba Stockbroker
Joined: April 06, 2004 Posts: 3734 Location: Houston Texas
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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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Starting the assembly.
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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:35 pm Post subject: |
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thebucket wrote: |
Are those snowflake taillights with hearts grafted in? More pics of those? |
Yes they are. They aren't exactly a good execution though. The cut outs for the hearts are pretty rough and they are glued in. I will not be reusing them on the build. |
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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 1:30 pm Post subject: More assembly being done. |
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Hansolo99 Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2010 Posts: 524 Location: So Cal
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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WOW! That is NICE man....................... |
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63Ragtop NZ Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2007 Posts: 895 Location: West Auckland
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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yeah what he said!
well done sir, well done. _________________ If you can't join them, beat them! |
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VWCOOL Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2006 Posts: 1821 Location: Down under
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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very inspiring build! |
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TripWire Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2007 Posts: 75 Location: Naples, Florida
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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Trying to get this thing prepped for Bug Jam! We'll see...
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