laneven28
Samba Member
Joined: January 09, 2007
Posts: 312
Location: Cedar Hills, Utah
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 Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2017 10:06 pm Post subject: Re: Score! (I think) 1958 Lowlight |
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It’s been a really long time since I gave an update on the status of this lowlight, and unfortunately my update isn’t filled with great news. This poor ghia has traveled a tough road for many years, and the last few have followed suit.
My son and I started working on the car in 2014. We stripped the car down to bare metal, and in January 2015, we hauled it to a friend of ours that has welded up several other VWs over the years to get the lowlight front end welded on, and address the other rusty & rotten areas.
Several months later, the car was no further along, and our friend moved from his place and stopped responding to texts and calls. Despite his silence, I still had belief that he would come through. A year later, a mutual friend chased him down trying to recover an engine, and got a tip that our lowlight was locked in a yard in a not so great part of town. One Saturday afternoon, we went hunting for the car where I heard the yard was and got lucky, except that there was no one around to let me in. After many more ignored calls & texts, I began to believe I was never going to recover the car and it would have to turn into a legal battle to get anywhere.
Believing we’d never get this car back, we bought 2 other lowlights in 2016 – a 58 and a 59. The 58 went to another welder friend and was finished in a reasonable amount of time, and will be the car my son drives – we’re working on it now. The 59 went to storage.
A couple weeks ago, I got a message out of the blue from this original welder saying the 58 would be available to pick up on a Friday night, and he gave an address - 2 1/2 years after I dropped it off. I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity, so we went to the pick up location that Friday night and sure enough, there was our ghia – front end replaced and the rest of the problem areas cut up ready for panel replacement. We loaded the car as quickly as possible and drove away. While a lot of the work I paid for wasn’t completed, fortunately all the panels I originally provided were still with the car.
So that’s where things are as of today. I’m relieved to have the car back, but I’m not sure what to do with it at this point since we’ve moved onto another lowlight. Hold it and restore it someday? Sell it as is? Have the rest of the welding completed then sell? I’m trying to decide all that right now.
Here are a few pictures of the work we did back in 2014, the yard we found the car in, the recovery, and current state.
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1950 Pearl Grey Hoffman Standard Split Window
1954 Iceland Green Euro 3-Fold Oval
1955 Strato Silver Transitional 3-Fold Oval
1956 Iris Blue Convertible
1958 Pearl White Lowlight KG Convertible
1961 Turkis Ragtop |
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Devodale
Samba Member
Joined: May 17, 2010
Posts: 10
Location: Aptos, Ca
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 3:31 pm Post subject: Re: Score! (I think) 1958 Lowlight |
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Great buy! I'm trying to get all the low lighters together on Fb. Please join if you have a lowlight or parts for one.I just started the group, but it will grow.
Since links appear as spam, just search Fb for VW Low Light Society. All low light owners and low light parts welcome. Here's my 58'
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