TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:21 am

Hello everyone!
First of all, want to say that English isn't my native language and I didn't practice for a long time. Sorry for mistakes!
I am from Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

6 years ago I decided to restore my first car, and it was Golf mk1, 1979 https://www.drive2.ru/r/volkswagen/golf/997630/ (it is a link for Russian "car facebook").
I often thought about an aircooled cars, but did not want to buy a Beetle. Unfortunately in Russia it is quite difficult to find something else with air cooling.
One day I noticed an ad with Squareback, 1973. It was being sold by an VW enthusiast and my fella. Price was 300 000 rubles (4000 $)
Of course, the condition was not the best, but all body parts were in place and it could start, which is already not bad.
So I decided to buy it.
Type 3 is quite rare in Russia, I think there is 10-15 Type3 in Russia.

All works are making by:
https://www.instagram.com/danhainov/
and
https://www.instagram.com/gaps_n_edges/
I am just owner and try to help them

Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:21 am

Of сourse, we started by disassembling the car and identifying all problem areas.
Since the car at the beginning of its life in Russia was very improperly stored in a wet region, there are a lot of rotten parts along the bottom.

And here we would have a big problem. But it would be later

Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:22 am

While we were identifying all the problems with the car, I decided to find out its history and ordered Data sheet and Zertifikat from Volkswagen AutoMuseum.

From these docs I learned:
1. The car was released in 1972, not 1973 (but it was sold in 1973, so this year appears everywhere).
2. Body - 365 121 delivery van! But for me it still remains a mystery, because we did not find traces of cutting out metal and inserting windows.
There are also options in the data, the descriptions of which I have not found anywhere. these are A41, M072, M266. Maybe someone knows what it is?

3. Country of first sale - Norway.
Later I learned the full history of the car, thanks to the previous owners and one guy from Norway with whom I got into a conversation on Ebey.
Squareback was used in Norway until 1994 and had 4 owners. Initially, it was Marine Blue, but then for some reason it was repainted in gray.
In 1994, a sailor from Arkhangelsk, Russia bought it and transported Type3 home by ship (Several years after the collapse of the USSR, this was one of the few ways to get a foreign car).
He drove the car for several years until his starter broke. Then why, instead of repairing the starter, he put the car in the backyard on the ground for 7 years.
After that, the car was owned by 3 fans of the brand, but did not begin its recovery path.

Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:22 am

In order to disconnect the car body from the chassis, it was first necessary to repair important body elements so that the body would't collapse on the car body tilter.
There were a huge tones of patches.

the right side is straight

but left not so good

looks like car horror film

and right side:

to check how everything is going, we had to assemble the front end

Tue Dec 14, 2021 2:23 am

While the work on the body was going on, I began to buy spare parts.
In Russia, there are no shops for classic VW, so I ordered 70% of spare parts in ISPwest, and the rest in Paruzzi, CIP1 and Type3headquarter

All rubbers for all fenredrs, windiws and etc

These are straight body moldings. At least FedEx France thinks they are straight

All spare parts for engine. It turned out that the engine starts and good working.
But I want to make it like new, so we need to change some parts

Yes, I know that this type of steering wheel is for an early model, but it sooooo beautiful :( Maybe later I will put the correct steering wheel

I also bought a stereo from RetroSound. Looks good, I hope it works great too

Tue Dec 14, 2021 6:44 am

Really nice work....and a ton of it. Keep it up.

....and your English is just fine. Better than some native speakers. <G>

Tue Dec 14, 2021 8:28 am

wow , the fabrication skills. cant wait to see more !!!

Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:19 am

Great work!

Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:39 am

Very Impressive! Great Job!!!

Tue Dec 14, 2021 10:08 am

You have a ton of patince, skills and a place to do all of this.
So glad you are savings that vehicle.

Tue Dec 14, 2021 1:32 pm

WOW!! I thought I was crazy rebuilding a very rusty car or 2, but your fabrication skills are incredible. Very nice job on the rust repair. Are you going to rebuild it back as a panel truck? Or keep it as a wagon? If you decide to go panel, contact Pedro, as he's made the window replacement pieces, and they are exact copies of the factory pieces. You hardly ever see a late t-3 panel van. Earlies yes, but late no.

Your English is fine, better than most here who speak it daily (native tongue).

Did you get the gas heater for it too? Just asking, as some of the extra holes on the left side were put in for it.
Thanks for sharing your build with us. We like pictures of this kind of craziness. 8) Post up more as you make more progress.

Wed Dec 15, 2021 6:21 am

jaransonT3, VWporscheGT3, veedweeb, DQDan, gt1953, Thanks guys!

Bobnotch, Thanks!
A strange story with a panel van: we did not find traces of metal cutting and window inserts. As if it wasn't a van.
I thought about the idea of restoring it like panel van, but decided to restore as a usual squareback.

Yes, I have a gas heater, but we haven't tested it yet.
Perhaps we will look for a more modern one and install it in the original case. We will keep the entire original heating system, but as a fake one. In rainy weather, it would be better to use a gas heater.

Wed Dec 15, 2021 8:00 am

Next part of restoring.
After the main work on the right side was ready, it was time to mount the tank tube.

The front end on this Squareback was a pie with holes, patches and rust.
Also, the parts below were damaged from accidents.

After the front has been repaired, the fender and door gaps need to be adjusted.
This is not an easy task considering the amount of filler on the doors and fenders.

During installation, left door required a little bit repair

Due to the accident, the door in the opening was moved forward, the hinge was also damaged

Now we can proceed to repair the left front part

And a little bit on a right side

Wed Dec 15, 2021 9:23 am

very nice fab skills!

Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:23 pm

I'll state the obvious and give you props for such skilled bodywork!

Curious about the front turn signals, I have never seen ones like that before. Do you think the original wraparounds replaced at some point?

Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:48 pm

andybla wrote: very nice fab skills!

A lot of what he's doing reminds me of what you were doing last year...metal fab. And in similar areas. :wink:

Wed Dec 15, 2021 9:25 pm

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing.

Thu Dec 16, 2021 2:40 pm

Bobnotch wrote: andybla wrote: very nice fab skills!

A lot of what he's doing reminds me of what you were doing last year...metal fab. And in similar areas. :wink:

Yes! I have great respect for this kind of metal work, making nice pieces from tools that are at hand 8)

Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:18 pm

andybla wrote: Bobnotch wrote: andybla wrote: very nice fab skills!

A lot of what he's doing reminds me of what you were doing last year...metal fab. And in similar areas. :wink:

Yes! I have great respect for this kind of metal work, making nice pieces from tools that are at hand 8)

Yeah, I noticed a lot of hand fabrication in some of those pieces. Very nice and well detailed. You just don't see that kind of craftsmanship any more. :shock:
I love it. :twisted:

Fri Dec 17, 2021 12:56 am

knewknew, Oh, this is a Russian innovation :lol:
These are the turn signals from some kind of Russian car
Most likely, the original ones were damaged in an accident and the owner should have installed at least something

I also decided to assemble a set of wheels.
I chose wheels for a long time and in the end It is: 4x130x5.5 R15 Uber wheels with Michelin Primacy 4 165/65R15.
Also i bought 2.5cm whitewalls.
I think wheels looks nice!