TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:41 pm

My '55 Project I recently acquired:

Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:49 pm

Wow.. Nice Car.

Sweet 49 Hubcaps. Did I notice Pop out windows? Sure, I will give you $500.

It looks customized too.. is it lowered?

Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:58 pm

VW Addict wrote: Wow.. Nice Car.

Sweet 49 Hubcaps. Did I notice Pop out windows? Sure, I will give you $500.

It looks customized too.. is it lowered?

Yeah, the popouts I didn't find out about until I picked up the car.
It came lowered all the way around. It's up to about mid chest on me, and I'm 5' 10".

Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:01 pm

Well, keep us up with the updates. Oh, and those hubcaps aren't original.... so if you want to sell them...let me know! :lol:

Take Care!

Addict

Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:21 pm

Woah :shock: nice find i beileve that should be a 3 fold rag.I try to keep my eyes peeld for stuff like that .My girl friends parents have a neibor with a fastback ive been eye balling :)

Mon May 08, 2006 7:58 pm

Got some stuff done on the car in order to get it ready for shipping. I was going to California for a 2 day musi fest in Indio (Coachella) and to work on the VW.
After the music fest was over, on Monday I went to Pacific Customs for some hardware, and they gave me directions to Wolfsburg West.

Rich @ WW was super friendly and helped me out with the purchase. I was a total tourist when I got there and took some photos of the the front counter etc...
I saw an employee's 53 Zwitter Ragtop out front and got some shots of it as well.

Once it got time to start work on the car, I made a list of things needing done, and set out to accomplish them all.
I had to raise the car off the ground, install the windshield, get a locking T-Handle, install the door windows, and the major thing for shipping, get the brakes working.

The car was literally 1/2 an inch in the front and the engine case was like 2 inches from the ground in the rear.
When I went to adjust the rear end by turning the splines, I found that the previous person who worked on the car removed the torsion bars!

Thankfully when I was in Cali, I got onto TheSamba and bought a pair from Nick in Riverside (thanks again Nick!)
I ended up needing a brake master cylinder, the resevoir, and new
brake lines (all WW).

I started on the front end after I hit the dead end of no torsion bars in the rear. I disassembled the old front end from the torsion arms outwards.
The old front end was lowered old-school style - they narrowed the beam like 6 inches, and cut and turned the torsion leaves, then welded it all back together.
Thankfully, I found an adjustable narrowed one here on The Samba. It seems it was built by Trayle :)

I got the front end in all by myself (My buddy was at a funeral).
I then fine tunied the steering components from there.
Finished up by raising the front end, and hooking up the brakes.

By the time my buddy got home, I was ready to start the rear end, which was a PITA - The torsion covers were stubborn to get onto the splines, and over the stops.
Eventually enough hammering and cursing enabled me to get them installed. My buddy commented on how it looked like a Baja bug now compared to it's former state.
I didn't care, as long as it makes it onto the shipping truck :D

He helped me w/ the brakes by pumping them while I blead each wheel cylinder. A lot of air, and some rust colored brake fluid later, they were done!

At this point it was like 9.30 at night, and I had to man handle the window rubber onto the windshield...
I know next time I will *def* do it in the daytime & to lay the rubber out in the sun to soften it up first (worked ok w the Quarter windows.
We ended up cracking the windshield (modern safety glass repop, not Sekurit or Sigla).

I then secured the hood with a bungy cord, and that was it! Done!
I can't wait to get it here and tear it apart to start the rebuild process.

Some pics:

Tue May 09, 2006 7:01 am

You going to lower it again later? That looks like a dry car. Is it going to undergo a complete resto?

Tue May 09, 2006 8:21 am

rusty57 wrote: You going to lower it again later? That looks like a dry car. Is it going to undergo a complete resto?

Definitely gonna lower it again. Only not as low, cause I'd like to drive it around (crappy NoVa streets).

I might do a pan resto first so I can drive it this summer, then work on the body resto later.

Tue May 09, 2006 8:28 am

Where was this pic taken, looks like the High Desert So Cal.

Tue May 09, 2006 9:11 am

nice car.....

one of my favorite years. what colors do you have in mind?

Tue May 09, 2006 11:08 am

Skim wrote: Where was this pic taken, looks like the High Desert So Cal.

Yupp, High Desert for sure - Lancaster area. The car is in my buddy's garage until the shipper's pick it up.

Tue May 09, 2006 11:11 am

Nice project, looks clean...

Tue May 09, 2006 11:15 am

eastcoast57 wrote: nice car.....

one of my favorite years. what colors do you have in mind?

Thanks! I got really lucky to have found a pretty solid project car.

I'm going to send off for the birth cert, then paint it the original color.
My choices are:

Tue May 09, 2006 11:44 am

im a fan of green myself but those are some good colors to choose from.
ultramaroon is another favorite......

good luck

Tue May 09, 2006 12:01 pm

go with L227 Strato-silver blue. Now hurry up and get that car to Virginia :lol:

Wed May 10, 2006 12:52 pm

ultra maroon!

Wed May 10, 2006 1:19 pm

V0LKSWAGENSRULE wrote: Skim wrote: Where was this pic taken, looks like the High Desert So Cal.

Yupp, High Desert for sure - Lancaster area. The car is in my buddy's garage until the shipper's pick it up.

HAHA I used to live in Lancaster. Looked familiar.

Wed May 10, 2006 3:31 pm

VW Addict wrote:

Sweet 49 Hubcaps.

1948 only. man i hope you dont label 66 beetles as 67's. :shock:

Wed Jul 26, 2006 6:02 pm

Woo Hoo!

After many months of waiting, my Ragtop arrived safe and sound last night.
Crappy night time photos (I really need to get a better camera):

Time to start buying parts to get it running until the teardown/rebuild.

Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:15 am

Good luck on your project. Did you ever get the birth certificate to determine paint color? I know someone trying to sell a pair of egg taillights if you're interested. Keep us updated!