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Mon Dec 11, 2023 4:29 am

Quote: Is there any information what were the production dates in 1963? Did the factory work Monday-Friday, or also weekends, maybe reduced shifts?
I worked at the Wolfsburg plant from late 1980 thru June 1983, though in an office job and not in production. It's likely that the work shifts and days off were already in place in 1963. Here's the German holiday calendar for '63: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1963&country=8 VW was located in the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), since some of the holidays were regional.

Workdays were Mon - Fri, with two ca. 8 hour shifts each day for production-related stations. I don't remember the exact work times of those shifts from my '80's time, but the change was either 1:30 or 2:00 pm. Last workday for production was end of June; lines were traditionally closed all of July for changes to tooling for new production features that started ~ August 1 for the next model year. Due to the strong work unions at the plant, there was almost never production work done on the weekend.

Mon Dec 11, 2023 7:28 am

Rome wrote:
I worked at the Wolfsburg plant from late 1980 thru June 1983, though in an office job and not in production.

That must have been fascinating! You must have some wonderful insight and stories? Awesome!

Mon Dec 11, 2023 11:13 pm

Thank you, Rome! This info would place the chassis on the 6th of March 1963. And the body on the 27th of October 1964.

Sun Mar 03, 2024 1:54 am

Spring is in the air (no, not the suspension spring!) so I'm back at working on the car. First activity: rear end botched repairs correction. There was some sheet metal on top of original metal which was rusted underneath. I tried to remove as little original metal as possible. Good fit and rear valance sits properly. I still have to weld back the side engine trays. They are in place, but I have to align them with the valance channel and weld them in place.

Sun Mar 03, 2024 10:05 am

Nice work! I would expect nothing less from you. Keep on making progress!

Mon Mar 04, 2024 11:47 pm

Thank you for your kind words. It will not be a concours restoration. I will not spend so much time grinding the welds perfectly flat, because on the wheel arches I will spray a thick, textured, rubbery paint as new cars have. I did it on the 1303 and it seems very good at absorbing stone hits, also not chipping. In the end, I have the cars for driving them as much as possible, I don't want to cry at every small issue that may happen on the road.

Mon Apr 01, 2024 11:07 pm

Lazy, lazy. No work until this weekend. I replaced the right A pillar bottom with a clip from the old 1303 front end I kept. Good think I kept quite a lot of junk metal (but in perfect shape), just in case. That "case" is now.
I also welded the heater channel in. But yesterday I realized it was not in the right position at rear, it was higher by ~1cm. That is due to the jack bracket which is welded wrong or has bad design. Cut, bent, welded back, it all fits right. Door gap is good, door closes perfect.
Yesterday I prepared the rear right quarter panel to be changed (no pics).

Tue Apr 02, 2024 9:54 am

And today some more progress: rear right quarter panel welded in, and first "tuning": I added a lower B pillar plate for seat belt (again re-ise from the old body of my 1303... Junk is good). It had only upper B pillar nut and tunnel nut. When was the 3rd point added? I thought lap belts were from lower B to tunnel.
Disclamer: I am not a pro welder, this is hobby for me and I kind of hate bodywork. So some welds look very nice, some are ugly. I don't build a show car, and I'm not afraid of a little bondo (of course, I try to keep it at a minimum). For example, I never mastered the technique of welding on long lines without metal distortion, even if I weld spots, then fill in on small distances, cool with a wet rag and weld far away next... But for me, it's ok, most important is to have solid welds I can rely on.

Thu Apr 04, 2024 10:41 am

Lower front right panel is in. And some fender nuts welded. Unfortunately I did not find a way to press them in as per factory, and I had to put some spot welds to keep them in place. Right side is almost finished.

Thu Apr 04, 2024 12:15 pm

Does anybody have some measurements of the rear body mount position? It's next on the list, and the area was welded before so I do not trust what is now on the car.

Fri Apr 05, 2024 11:40 am

Nevermind the previous question, I realized the areas of pre 67 body supports look completely different than the late ones. I speak only about the support and 1cm around, I knew the overall shape is different. So I just welded back the support in place and cleaned the area. Soooo, right side almost done, just a few more patches in the rear trunk, then left side is on the list. Pretty easy repair, but I hate bodywork.

Sun Apr 07, 2024 10:37 pm

Weekend's work: right side completed, left rotten heater channel out, new heater channel in (but not welded yet), left door down. Heater channel fits very well, same tins to be changed, lower A Pillar I may save, door hinges have huge play... No pics.

Mon Apr 22, 2024 12:56 am

Small progress, I welded the left side rear quarter panel. I trimmed it to a minimum that needed to be cut. Also filled the holes in the rear trunk.

Tue Apr 23, 2024 5:50 pm

The sunroof models are cool. But mine keeps messing up and for the life of me I can't figure out what's wrong lol

Wed Apr 24, 2024 11:30 am

How does it mess up? Does it need constant alignment? I have no experience with sliding steel sunroof.
Some more work. Front valance off, and the front was bent on both sides, more on the right side. Fortunately, only the bumper area was affected. So this is my pulling setup: tie the bumper bracket to a solid pillar and push the car back as hard as possible. Then use the BFH while under tension to straighten the steel. Looks pretty good to me, and the measurements are ok from first to last fender nut.

Wed Apr 24, 2024 4:34 pm

Thanks for showing this. I've thought of doing the same to my blue 67.

The front end got crunched by the thieves that stole my car, blew the engine and towed it to the hide.
During the tow, the idiot behind the wheel was likely hitting his meth pipe and rear ended the tow vehicle.

Wed Apr 24, 2024 11:48 pm

The tin is pretty soft, it was quite easy to pull it back to shape. The rope need to be non-stretching, and quite long to get some momentum. After pushing back 2-3 times, I kept it stretched and used a big hammer to flatten back the tin, then all over again. Small steps so that I do not overstretch. I checked with the front valance at the end and it fit well.
Also a jack between tin and beam can help fine tune the area.
Now, this is not perfect looking, but I am not looking for a show car. I'm satisfied with the result.

Mon May 06, 2024 11:16 pm

Some more progress in the past week: left side heater channel welded in, lower B pillar seatbelt point installed (still need to smoothen out the area), and I also installed rear 3rd point seatbelt. Again, good that I kept some old junk I could re-use. I did not grind the welds yet, I was too lazy...

Wed May 08, 2024 7:56 am

Looks like your cat was "writing his name in the concrete":

Great job...just picked up a 1965 that I am driving back to Maryland from Idaho.

Sat May 11, 2024 9:17 am

Heh, yes, I have some little helpers, either with 4 or 2 feet. But I keep them out while grinding/welding. They just come to make quality control.
So, some more progress. Front valance welded, front felt fender needed a small patch. That is the only one I can save.

I wanted to continue with the sunroof, but it is waaay too rotten. So I'm looking for one... I found one in Cali here on thesamba, let's see if the advertiser will respond. Hopefully the transport will not be a fortune. I do not know the term in german to look on ebay. I tried schiebedach but I find nothing.