TheSamba.com :: View topic - December 58 Ghia cabriolet lifetime restoration project

Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:57 pm

Loren wrote: Made some more progress on the Ghia last week. I finally finished making a new rear seat. I know there are a few reproductions available out there, but they are lacking some details that I wanted to retain. I was able to borrow a seat bottom from a friend's 58 cabriolet and another Ghia owner sent be a seat back from another 58 cabriolet. My reproduction is not 100% accurate, but very close. The seat back was a pain in the butt to reproduce and I don't recomend making them on your own. Cabriolet seat backs are very different than coupe backs and there are a lot of details that neet to be routed in. I made them using maple and birch plywood. I duplicated the tongue and groove construction and used screws, nails and glue to hold it all together, just like the original one I had for a pattern.

Nice work Loren...How about making one for my coupe? That is, if you're bored and looking for something to do. :wink:

Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:32 pm

I would but coupe seats are a dime a dozen :wink:

Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:36 pm

Loren wrote: I would but coupe seats are a dime a dozen :wink:

Okay then...It's a deal. I'll send you a dime, you send me a dozen... :lol:

Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:45 pm

I got some more work done on the 58 project today. This past week I pulled a 59 Ghia front clip out of the back yard and started drilling out the spot welds to remove the driver side inner fender panel and front inner panel, to replace the damaged one on the 58. Today, I finally removed the nose and fender section and the passenger side inner fender panel.
I still have a little metal to remove and the undercoating to scrape off, but it is almost ready to be sandblasted and installed.

Here is the nose section before I started drilling out the spot welds. Not a bad section, it would need some straightening and welding a few holes shut before it could be used on another car. I am keeping it for my 59 Ghia project car, so don't get any silly ideas :D

Here is the inner fender panel, nice and straight!

Here is the panel I need for the car. I still have a little clean up to do before I can take it to the body shop.

Even the fresh air duct is straight and rust free.

Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:09 pm

Nice Loren, That will do the trick... 8)

Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:42 pm

Made a little progress this past weekend. The bad areas of the fender where the last body guy lap welded plates on the back had to be cut out. Once the bad areas were removed I spent a few hours cleaning the cut areas and removing any extra metal from the back side. The new body guy is going to weld in patch panels and metal finish the fender. It should look as good as new in a few weeks and ready to weld back on the car, though there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before the fender can be welded back on. Small steps.

Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:07 pm

Looks like your on the right track.. I took a 10 year hiatus from air cooled to play with waterpumpers.. Its really weird to see people restoring cars that i would have or have cut up. My hats off to you bud.

Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:34 pm

pay special attention to the bottom rockers. THere is no paint or sealer in there and the strengtheners will rust out from the inside out.

Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:13 pm

Not to worry, I am going to have both rockers removed and make sure the inner supports and wire tube are rust free or replaced.

Sun May 09, 2010 2:49 pm

Well, I had some free time today to drive down to the body shop and mine for more rust and as usual I was not dissapointed! I removed the metal behind the spare tire, cut the hood latch tubing out and scraped the under coating off the driver side inner fender. Boy does that stuff smell yummy :D There was only a little area of rust on the lower passenger side inner fender that I didn't notice and some new metal will have to be fabed up and welded in. I also noticed a difference in the metal on my 58 and the donor section from a 59 Ghia. There are three ribs on the 59 section and only two on the 58. Now I have to decide what to do, find an earlier section with the right stampings or use the 59 metal. I also looked a little closer at the front hood and noticed it will have to be replaced. It is a little wavy and if the body guy is going to line the sheet metal back up he needs a perfect hood.

The metal has been removed. I still need to remove the inner fender on the driver side, but we have to look at it a little closer before we cut it off. We want to make sure we measure twice and cut once.

The 59 Ghia section is on top, notice the three vertical stampings versus the two stampings on the 58 section. The body number stamping is also differnet on the 58 section. I don't know how anal I want to get but I might cut the body number cut out and have it welded in the replacement section. The stamping on the tray that holds the brake resevoir is also different. The stamping is longer on the 58 section than the one on the 59.

The inner fender with most of the under coating removed. Some of the original graphite silver is revealed and it looks like new in some places, wish the whole car looked that good :D

Sun May 09, 2010 2:54 pm

I'd patch the 58 metal with what you need from the 59. It looks like they are both in about the same shape, so leave the majority together and just peice in what you need. I think you'll be happy you did.

Sun May 09, 2010 6:09 pm

The 58 section was really messed up from the front end accidents the car has gone through. I was going to do a straight swap, but now that I see the differences I am reconsidering. Removing just the panel with the number on it is not really feasable because of how it is put together, but I might be able to have the body guy cut out the body number and tig weld it into the replacement panel. At this point I have a lot of time to figure things out, especially since we are a long way out from putting it back together. I have this section, without the innder fender panel, from a 57 Ghia, so I might be able to make that work, we will see.

Tue Sep 14, 2010 6:21 pm

I haven't made much progress on the car since my last post, but today I got some good stuff in the mail! I got a great used rear apron section from list member Ralph Garcia, who was great to work with and removed it from the donor car with all tabs intact so it can be spot welded back in. I also got a set of good used tarboards. They need a little TLC but they should work out just fine.

All this needs is a little media blasting to get the surface rust off and a little body work to get it ready to install!

This is the top side of the tarboards before being cleaned.

Here is the bottom, not perfect, but with a little work they should be fine.

Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:59 pm

Nice job on the removal! Looks like a very sold piece 8)
You know you're a Ghia guy when the photo below excites you...

Paul

Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:21 am

Loren wrote: I haven't made much progress on the car since my last post, but today I got some good stuff in the mail! I got a great used rear apron section from list member Ralph Garcia, who was great to work with and removed it from the donor car with all tabs intact so it can be spot welded back in. I also got a set of good used tarboards. They need a little TLC but they should work out just fine.

All this needs is a little media blasting to get the surface rust off and a little body work to get it ready to install!

How period correct do you want your car?!

This looks like a 1960+ model and is not correct for your 1958.
For details see: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=195545

regards
Patrick

Wed Oct 13, 2010 8:22 pm

Damn! Now I have to make sure the replacement apron on the car is correct. Looks like I will have to make it work if it is correct, if not I guess I will be searching for a correct apron. Thanks for the heads up Patrick. It would have sucked to have welded this apron on the car only to find out it's incorrect. Looks like it's back to the drawing board.

On a positive note I have been cleaning my collection of fasteners in preperation to send them off to the plater.

Here is my first batch of fasteners fresh out of the tumbler.

I also decided to clean up and paint my small collection of side trim clips.

Here are a few finished clips, they look as good as new with a fresh coat of paint.

Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:11 pm

Loren wrote: Made some more progress on the Ghia last week. I finally finished making a new rear seat. I know there are a few reproductions available out there, but they are lacking some details that I wanted to retain. I was able to borrow a seat bottom from a friend's 58 cabriolet and another Ghia owner sent be a seat back from another 58 cabriolet. My reproduction is not 100% accurate, but very close. The seat back was a pain in the butt to reproduce and I don't recomend making them on your own. Cabriolet seat backs are very different than coupe backs and there are a lot of details that neet to be routed in. I made them using maple and birch plywood. I duplicated the tongue and groove construction and used screws, nails and glue to hold it all together, just like the original one I had for a pattern.

I can make a set with the early details. I already make late ones with all the late details and but your examples came out nice and have all the early features already.

Fri Oct 15, 2010 5:17 am

pbaptist wrote: Loren wrote: I haven't made much progress on the car since my last post, but today I got some good stuff in the mail! I got a great used rear apron section from list member Ralph Garcia, who was great to work with and removed it from the donor car with all tabs intact so it can be spot welded back in. I also got a set of good used tarboards. They need a little TLC but they should work out just fine.

All this needs is a little media blasting to get the surface rust off and a little body work to get it ready to install!

How period correct do you want your car?!

This looks like a 1960+ model and is not correct for your 1958.
For details see: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=195545

regards
Patrick

:shock: :shock: Jealous!!!

On a lighter note- I am not worried about being 100% period correct as I have a 1600 dual carb motor in mine and could really use the extra room- If you would like to sell this panel on I could be interested!!! :wink:

Sun Dec 12, 2010 3:24 pm

Not much news as of yet. I removed the outer rocker skins from the end of the door forward. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to bring the camera to take any shots. There were no signs of rust on the rockers but there were some deep dents so I decided to remove the rockers to get rid of the dents and check for rust. The inside of the rockers was very clean and rust free! The last time I was at the shop the body guy was fitting the doors and getting ready to replace the skins on the rockers. Hopefully, I can make it down to the body shop in the next few weeks to check on any progress.

I was able to get a pair of rear seat kick panels here on the Samba. For some reason a PO cut these off of my car, don't ask me why. Here is the pair I got after I remove the spot welds and seperated it from the excess metal. One is really nice, but the other has some serious rust and will need to be repaired.

Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:06 am

I cut mine out as they had completely rusted out- presumably at the same time as the pans on my car? Maybe this is why they had been removed on yours also- I will replace if I ever restore the car fully 8)