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Fri Nov 15, 2024 9:45 pm

So a while back, a new member on Samba posted about a car that he had found, and as he was close and the car seemed very familiar I messaged him..
this is the thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=786598&highlight=
I had the idea that it was a car I faintly remembered from around the local old VW guru that answered everyones questions, and sold us all our parts back in the 80's and 90's.. Eddie. My buddy Peter remembered more of the details, and filled me in. Eddie had done the engine rebuild for the owner, and did all the service, so the owner Nick was there frequently. It was the first oval I had seen, and it was always super clean. I last bumped into Nick with the car in 88-89, while getting a few gallons of paint for a job my dad was doing on Huntingdon Pike, about 3-4 miles from where the car eventually ended up parked for years.. So Nick passed away sometime after 2000, and other things have been more important, so the car just sat, but fortunately inside and covered. I went to look at it, and was amazed at its condition. It took some time but a deal was made and the car came home with me yesterday..
The good: the car is amazingly rust free and complete. It has definitely had a restoration done at some point, I suspect in the mid 80's, though I do not think the car was is bad shape to begin with. All the lights work, and the semaphores. It has the nicest closing doors of any VW I've ever seen
The bad: it has some plastic on the rear apron, and a few rust bubbles under the paint in three places. The rear fenders are aftermarket, as are the bumpers, and wrong tail lights. I suspect it was hit in the rear at some point. The carpet is Wolfsburg West and it is moldy.
Immediate plan is dealing with the mold, cleaning the entire car, get the 36hp to run, and new brake stuff all around.
Here are a bunch of pics.....
Hiding

out in the light

With the owners daughter Meg

The woman at the title company used an actual typewriter to complete the back of the title info before sending it to the state

Back in my barn..

interior.

The single rust spot

CLean....

Should be dimpled rear fenders, but CLEAN

Inspection is out of date

Original Duroglas

MOAR

Engine, numbers seem right for the car

the correct wavy top fuel pump in a box of parts

Owners manual, 1954

Spares

Milage log

More to come..
tomorrow is bath and vacuum day! And perhaps I should tell my wife there is another car in the barn :roll:

SD

Sat Nov 16, 2024 6:21 am

Wow. That is nice. Are those seat OG?

What month?

So any hints on the other car?

Sat Nov 16, 2024 7:40 am

type4split wrote: Wow. That is nice. Are those seat OG?

What month?

So any hints on the other car?

Some more info, I was tired last night and missed a few details..
Nicholas bought the car second hand in 1964, and owned it till he passed away in the early 2000's. The carpet has Wolfsburg West labels, so I assume the seats were done also. They are too nice to have 80k worth of wear..
The other car under the cover is Jimmy Sprinkles, the 56 vert..
This car is early March 1955.
Crazy that this is the very first aircooled car I have ever bought, where every light worked without some amount of fussing. I mean, the semaphores don't go up reliably, but they light and come most of the way up..

Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:49 am

Quote: Should be dimpled rear fenders, but CLEAN

Should '55 models have the dimpled rear fenders? For some reason I thought that they started in '56.

Sat Nov 16, 2024 11:15 am

i55 wrote: Quote: Should be dimpled rear fenders, but CLEAN

Should '55 models have the dimpled rear fenders? For some reason I thought that they started in '56.

I've always seen the ribbed/ dimpled fender flanges on rear fenders prior to 57. Someone told me they went all the way to 58/59 but I haven't looked at progressive refinements to be sure. Early ones of course don't have the hole for the overrider bars, and splits have an indent where the tail light sits.

Sat Nov 16, 2024 5:53 pm

Today was way warmer than expected, so I took advantage and hosed the car off. Not a real wash with soap and sponges, but a good hot water blast to get the dust off and loosen up the layers of scum that had crusted over. Hard to see in the pics, but there was a good layer on the running boards, along the fender bead, and in the gutters..

MUCH BETTER

and lets get started on the interior. From what I could tell, a mouse had gained access through the hole in the battery tray, but had just started making a nest with stuff it brought in, not actually chewing the seats and carpet.

And, there is no smell of mouse piss, or if it's there I cannot smell it over the mildew. :cry:
grabbed a respirator, and removed the seats to start vacuuming..

It looks ok after vacuuming, but the smell is still there. The carpet just comes apart if I try to remove it, so I'm going to try a treatment where I can leave it in place.

If you know about chlorine dioxide treatments, it's REALLY effective at killing mold spores and eliminating the odor. But I need to research if it's safe for the headliner..
speaking of headliner, peeking at the edges of this I think it may be original, even though the seat covers and carpet are replacement.

Few other bits:
wire clip VJUR 4BR8

thin slot generator, big nut pulley, clip style oil fill

coil number

engine number, March 55. AMAZING IT'S ORIGINAL!

I'm going to post some short videos to YouTube and will then link them here, to show a few more bits about the car. Pulled the plugs and cleaned them, need to sort the fuel system next, and adjust the valves. Also figure out how to send a bore scope into the shroud to check for mouse nests before I fire it up.. :wink:
baby steps

Sun Nov 17, 2024 10:48 am

Before firing it up you might want to replace the vacuum line to the distributor and check the functioning of the vacuum advance.

Sun Nov 17, 2024 10:55 am

Seth, you are one lucky dude! Finding all of the nicely kept Bugs!

Sun Nov 17, 2024 12:44 pm

i55 wrote: Before firing it up you might want to replace the vacuum line to the distributor and check the functioning of the vacuum advance.
Thanks for noticing! The fellow that was helping the family had removed the fuel and vacuum lines when he cleaned the carburetor bowl out. I've just reinstalled them all, with new plugs and changed the oil. Going to take a peek at all the fuel lines, and give it a whirl..

Sun Nov 17, 2024 12:49 pm

VW_Jimbo wrote: Seth, you are one lucky dude! Finding all of the nicely kept Bugs!
Hey Jim! I think in this case, the family saw me as the right person to bring the car back and enjoy it. The fact that I remembered the car and owner from so long ago definitely played a part. Sometimes it is more than simply being in the right place at the right time..

Sun Nov 17, 2024 3:25 pm

Looks like the coil is date stamped 2M? I think that would make it February 1955. Such a lovely original and seemingly low mileage car.

As for the smell, an ozone machine might help with that. I ozone fire damaged paintings at work and an ozone machine takes most of the smell out, though I don’t know how well it works on mold smells. Might be worth looking into.

Wed Nov 20, 2024 9:45 am

it's pretty hard to have this in the barn and not work on it, so lots of inspection and troubleshooting..
Drained the oil and checked the valve clearances. Sitting for as long as it did I expected some sludge, but the oil was golden colored and the case sump is spotless. Valve clearances are spot on, and the heads are clean. Seems my recollection that VW Eddie had rebuilt the engine may have been correct.

Cleaned the plugs (don't have a new set here yet), installed a fresh battery and tried to start it.. nothing. Slow cranking and weak spark. Went through the distributor with new points and condenser, now I had spark and it sort of started, but then the starter quit..
Pulled it, the solenoid is fine but the motor has a short

Picked up a starter from a friends stash (thanks Kris) and it briefly started again, then nada.... so I have ordered all new battery cables, ground strap, and pulled all the switches to clean terminals and make sure my connections are 100%

after cleaning g terminals, dielectric grease, and contact cleaner..

Some bad news discovered.. the radio hole has been hacked

I think there was an oversize plate available for Motorola radios, hopefully one will be enough to cover this mess
Rear brakes were just redone 30+ years ago. New hoses and cylinders on the way

Heater boxes connected and cables function!

Front

Mystery of why it was marked is likely solved. The master needed replacement, and all the lines twisted off. And, while the tank was out the last owner Nick was trying to rebuild the fuel selector valve, but couldn't get it all the way apart. I suspect the car just sat after that..
I found a rebuild kit for the valve, finished disassembly, and put it all back together with new guts. Hopefully brakes are this weekend..
And, I'm pretty certain this car would have had egg taillights, so I dug out the set I have. Thankfully nobody bought them at the last few swap meets :wink:

Little at a time, can't wait to take it for a drive!
SD

Wed Nov 20, 2024 10:43 am

Very cool score Seth !!!! Some guys have all the luck...
I think I still have the Motorola face plate you're looking for, If its the one on the bottom of my pic your more than welcome to it.
Let me look thru my stuff to see if I have still have it..

Wed Nov 20, 2024 12:18 pm

Hey does the windshield have the etch mark from the manufacturer still? If so would you take a picture of it please. Maybe with a ruler in the view for scale? It may be on the right lower corner.

I am trying to reproduce the logo and need an original example.

Thanks!

Wed Nov 20, 2024 1:17 pm

How cool! We're all waiting for your first start-up video! Probably some initial smoke and then it'll run nice! Have a couple of fire extinguishers nearby, but you won't need 'em!

If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend all new fuel lines (ethanol resistant cloth-braided Geman stuff). I get mine from Belmetric.com I'm glad you finished the rebuild of the fuel tap/petcock. While that was out, did you put a new fuel tank sock-like screen filter on top of the tap and into the tank? All cheap stuff to do for a safe start up and run.

Congratulatons! I have an un-restored, un-molested June of 1955 Sunroof Beetle and that era of Oval Beetle is the best IMO!

Bill

Thu Nov 21, 2024 11:54 am

Dan22 wrote: Hey does the windshield have the etch mark from the manufacturer still? If so would you take a picture of it please. Maybe with a ruler in the view for scale? It may be on the right lower corner.

I am trying to reproduce the logo and need an original example.

Thanks!

Hey Dan22,
sadly the windshield may have been replaced at some point in the distant past, as I do not see any marking at all. But, it must be very old, as I see some of the edge clouding that is typical of old laminated glass. I wonder if it's possible for a windshield to have 'missed' being marked?

Thu Nov 21, 2024 1:01 pm

OK. Thanks for checking.
:thumbsup:

Sat Nov 23, 2024 10:41 pm

so getting this car started has been nothing like this

cleaning all the switches helped everything except the starting problem: lights are brighter, semaphores work better, and the wipers are definitely better. But no luck getting it to crank over. New battery cables and ground strap, still no spin.
My third 6v starter, of unknown origin but new in a box from another friends stash was DOA. I am grabbing a lifetime warranty Bosch reman unit from the local FLAPS tomorrow morning, fingers crossed.
In the meantime, I gave the rear drums a fresh cut and blasted the oil drain thingies. Using a period drum lathe to keep it happy

All of the rubber door wedges are missing, and a member here was nice enough to sell me some. Now I'm just waiting for new rubber

Started to clean up the front frame head, before installing the master cylinder and new brake lines. It's nearly perfect, so after an ospho treatment, I hit it with some black paint.

Not really my preferred finish, but better than bare and rusty

And then to the real nail biter.. the gas treatment to kill the mildew smell.
The directions call for 20-25 tablets dissolved in 1-2oz of water, and inside the car for several hours to 24 hours. After some reading, thought, and questions I decided to start small and try more if the smell persists. I did 16 tablets in 2oz of water for 4 hours, and my barn smells like a pool supply. My biggest concerns were bleaching the headliner or affecting the door card colors. Not every dye on every fabric or vinyl is affected, but some are. There are plenty of cases where black seats turned green, or red turned orange, but those are usually where the gas was left in for long periods.. more is not always better, or so they say :roll:

stay tuned for the results on this experiment.
New wheel cylinders and brake hoses should be here Weds, so maybe I can have this thing driving down the street next weekend? If it get it started? Fingers crossed.

Sun Nov 24, 2024 12:01 am

I got mine crossed for ya!

Looking great! Love seeing all the OG stuff!

Sun Nov 24, 2024 2:58 pm

4th starter was the charm!

sputtered over on some ether. tightened down a line at the fuel pump that was leaking, pulled the choke out and it fired right over.
Pushed the choke in and it idles politely. Of course the charging light is on, and now the wiper motor has a gremlin. Two steps forward, one step back as usual.