1961 Baja Resurrection

[ConcreteAce]

Well I went on the hunt to find a Baja for my Dad. After several failed attempts at trying to find him a nice turn key ride, we switched gears and tried to find something that had good bones and came with a price tag that reflected the condition. We settled on the 61 you will see below.

Pictures from the samba ad:

It arriving at it's new home this past monday:

So I started the gutting process:

Passenger side pan was toast so I replaced it.

The Baja came with a SP 1500 that was locked up. I was able to score Dad a 1600 that came with new heads, pistons , cylinders and tin. Short block condition is unknown but I plan on opening it up and checking it out in the next few weeks.

We will rebuild the Kadrons and use those. The trans is supposed to be a built trans, so hopefully that will be OK.

Our plan for this build is to freshen and save all that we can to keep the cost low, new paint , interior, and replace all mechanicals that need replacing.
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Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[B Ramsey]

I spy T-Mag body lift. Old school cool.
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Go outside and do something.

[ConcreteAce]

[veeweeman]

Nice foundation to start with and it looks like you got a great start.
waiting for more pictures
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Never be a follower...Do your own thing, make it your own!

[ConcreteAce]

[Dark Earth]

[ConcreteAce]

Well I knocked out a few things on my list. Got the trim holes welded up and fixed a rust hole around the front windshield.

I am also just about finished sanding off all the nasty peeling clouded clear coat.The black paint was just rattle can, I will get all that off prior to priming it.
I still think the old graphics are cool. My Dad doesn't want red, if he did I would talk him in to painting it just like it use to be. That would be pretty cool, I wish I could find pictures of the Baja in its glory days. I bet it was a nice looking Baja at one time.

My garage is a mess, that's a 56 under plastic to the right and 51 split to the left. It is gonna take a few days to pull everything out and clean it once I am done sanding. I am just doing prep here once it is ready to spray I will spray it in a buddy's booth.

This next picture is one that my wife snapped, she sent it to me and told me to blow it up, she said it was creepy because I looked like I was having too much fun. Well I was, it is work but it is fun to me.

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Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[dustymojave]

What color does Dad want?

Since he doesn't want red as the basic color, I suggest a flip of colors from the old red to say...Yellow overall, ... with red/orange/blue stripes. Or the base color of metallic gray, or silver, or orange, or blue or even black (not a good color for an offroad car, IMHO). That pattern could be done on any base color with the stripe colors adjusted to work with the base color. It would still provide the same effect.

Originally I planned similar stripes for my Hi Jumper in my avatar back in the 1970s when I was building it. Btu I started racing it with the base yellow gel coat on the fiberglass, and grew to like it that way. Plus Ididn't have to worry about needing to touch up the stripes as grit and rocks and desert brush scratched and chipped the stripes. It's still in the original gel coat with no other paint on it. But STILL...I LIKE that paint that you uncovered on that Baja of yours.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[ConcreteAce]

[ConcreteAce]

So I scored some awesome free stuff today. Which really helps because I am on a very limited budget on this build. I have to keep the cost all in at 10K. Buying the car was 3K then I scored a 1641 with new heads, P&C, and all new tin for $400 and I scored the passenger pan for $125. So I started the project with only $6475 to spend. So anything I score for cheap and or free really keeps the cost down.
So today was an awesome day. I scored a rear window, both side windows, and an exhaust. The windows I really needed bad, the ones I pulled out where plastic and purple from age. When I was looking at the Baja I just assumed that it had old tint. I never gave it a second thought until I stripped the car down and realized they were plastic.

Of course it's not the exhaust that Dad wants but it being free really helps the budget out.And as he saves more money he can eventually switch out to what he wants.

So today I ordered some things. I Ordered up the rebel harness like the one that is in my baja, everything needed to rebuild the doors, an Alt. for his motor and manifolds for the Kadrons that came with the car. I also ordered door panels from BigWig Racing, these are what Dad picked out:

and a new fuel tank.

I am replacing the current tank because Dad wants to have a gas gauge, and I could have probably got someone to weld in a sending unit stand but I bet it would cost me over the 200 a new tank cost. So I went the new tank route. This brings my total (including purchase price of the car) $5660. Already halfway through Dad's budget. I think I will be able to make it, luckily we do not have to pay for ANY labor, I have that covered, just parts.
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Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[dustymojave]

I love Grabber Blue. That Baja with the wedge paint looks great. The seats look great.

So maybe a wedge paint scheme in white over Grabber Blue or vice versa, with those stripes redone on the sides in a variety of blues, including Grabber Blue?

So you understand my affection for Grabber Blue, this is my Baja. Note the color of the cage work (although it's Rustoleum Sail Blue - not exactly Grabber Blue):

And the chassis color on my Hi Jumper chassis in this 35 year old picture (and it's still the same) (I'm the guy in the cowboy hat - note the jacket too):

So I suppose you could say I agree with your dad about color for a Baja.
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Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[ConcreteAce]

Funny thing Dad wants to paint his roll bar grabber blue as well
_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[dustymojave]

_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.

[cbeck]

Here is some more sail and navy blues.

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My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[joemama]

Love Grabber Blue. I had a '64 Ranchero that I painted Grabber Blue. Looked awesome. That was about 30 years ago. Wish I still had that car.

[ConcreteAce]

Well I didn't get much done today but a little progress was made, I fixed some holes in the fiberglass front end. That was my first time working with glass. I also welded up about 10K random holes drilled under the dash and deleted the fuse block hole. After that I turned my attention to the passengers door and rear quarter they are the worst areas on the whole body. Geez that took all day but I did get the first few coats of primer on. I will block it and fix anything I missed and prime it once more.

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Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[heywebonya]

Great looking rebuild, I love the old school paint job too
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If I knew what I was doing; I wouldn't be building a buggy!

[ConcreteAce]

chipping away a little at a time, ran a bead of seam sealer on the inside of the pan between the lift and the pan and between the lift and the heater channel and treated all the surface rust with rust converter. Then installed some sound deadner ( yep the cheap kind from Home Depot) also got the front end primed.

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Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[ConcreteAce]

Well I got some cool history on the Baja today. I had a visit from a buddy he was checking out the Baja and said it looked like a friend of ours old Baja. So I sent him some photos and sure enough he owned the car back in the early eighties. This is the info he passed on...He bought the car from the original builder.

It was built in 79 by Fred Hall, car was named Miss Stake 5. Mark purchased the car from him in 1986. Below I have posted a picture of it at the 1987 Houston AutoRama. The car originally came with a 2lter 914 engine with a 66 bus transaxle. It still has the two piece centerline wheels on it today and from looking at the picture he sent me still had all the same gauges and radio. He sold the car he thinks in 89 or 90 to a guy named Joel. He thinks Joel added the graphics on the side and painted front and rear bumper bars and running board bars yellow.

Cool to dig up old history.
1987 AutoRama

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Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[dustymojave]

Very clean Baja.

But note the drip pan under the engine.


_________________
Richard
Offroading VW based cars since 1965
Tech Inspection 1963 - 2012 SCCA/SCORE/HDRA/MORE/MDR +
Retired from building Bajas, Fiberglass Buggies and Rails in the Mojave Desert. Also Sprints & Midgets, Dry Lakes, Road Race cars. All types New and Vintage
SoCalBajas Member
Kicked Cancer's A$$...1st and 2nd round...Fight ain't over yet.