56 Prairie Beige

[type241]

Decided to start a thread on my newest project. EXTREMELY solid and unmolested. I believe it to be a US spec car with a NON export cloth interior. I would of never guessed it would of had the Euro interior package but it had the OG door panels(ratty) that are cloth.

Here is a pic of theOG door panel:

And the replacement upholstery sourced from Germany (WCCR):

[type241]

The car has been local to central Washington for a long time stored indoors. The last registration is from the town of Stratford(not even a town per se).

It was last on the road in 90-91. At that time someone decided to repaint the car a very horrible canary cream yellow. I couldn't stand the yellow buttercream paint so my ole lady and I spent the last couple months stripping the respray with citrus strip and plastic razor blades. It was heavily sanded prior to paint and it took FOREVER cutting and buffing the OG paint. Will do more buffing as spring comes. It is turning out pretty good considering how much it was sanded. I did do some paint blending on a handful of areas due to sanding damage. Will show those areas when I can get better pics. One area that needed tig welding was the infamous droopy front hood/crack. The hood repair turned out great.

[type241]

All the interior rubber mats are great. I shipped the fire wall mat to WCCR so he could sew the new German carpet to the OG mat. Seats covers are being put on the seats right now. Hope to have them back soon. Basically interior and rubber seals are the only things I have had to replace.

I added the cruiser pedal and the Bambus parcel tray.



Wheels I blasted and painted L-277 Silver Beige and
L-77 Dark Beige(modified nutria, I forgot as the real paint code isnt available). Didn't even have to replace hub cap clips. Mounted new bias ply Firestone 5.60 x 15.

[*Darren]

Hope to see those wheels cuz the whole L77 dark beige has been a mystery. Even better, a formula and mystery solved.

[type241]

The wiring in the car is perfect. I didn't have to repair anything. All lights work.
Horn is the only not working. Haven't tried to fix yet. All the light fixtures are great.

This car had two fenders painted at the factory a different color car from 56.
Drivers front looks to have been multple 56 colors but the most recent showing through is Polar Silver. Drivers rear was black.


Here are the door panels from WCCR:

[stale air]

Very cool, and nice work on stripping off the crappy repaint.
Lest see some more pics with the whitewalls now on.
_________________
WANTED: Henry Veale Santa Rosa plate frames
WANTED: Brittsan Motors Fresno plate frames
WANTED: Any Georgia plate frames

[type241]

No white walls. The tires on the wheels are the Firestone 5.60 x 15.

You can see in this pic the car wasn't undercoated. Another reason I think this car didn't orginate from around here. With our harsh climate they all got undercoated aound these parts. EVERY VW I have had in the past has been dealer installed undercoating. You could buff the paint in the wheel wells. No Rust.

[type241]

[aa390392]

From 1 prairie beige to another, you have 1 strange bird there, I like interior.
BTW nice work.
Thomas
_________________
.
getting grumpy & less tolerant!


55 ragtop
56 delux sedan
56 Kabriolet

[type241]

I recently noticed my NEW door panels are not the same as my OG panels.

The OG panels had vinyl top and bottom. These came with vinyl only on bottom. I think it is a mistake by WCCR. The interior is great, no complaints at all, EXCEPT that there is suppose to be vinyl top and bottom. I have contacted WCCR, just waiting for response. Might just turn into a one of a kind custom interior.

Here is a pic showing what my door panels should be. This is the pic of the door panel I sent to them to copy minus the brown trim.

[Bub]

That is a beautiful car...amazing. But that door panel situation is kind of a tough pill to swallow for a car like that. You'd want as correct as possible, even though it's basically 1-off car.

You're in my neighborhood too! Hit me up if you need company this summer going to any fun outings. Vintage meet or anything.
I'd love to see that in person.
_________________

[type241]

Tough pill to swallow for sure.

I am picking up my seats in few hours. They turned out sweet. Will post pics later when I get home.

Bub - I was looking at your new oval prior to your purchasing it. Cool color you got.

[Bub]

[type241]

Seats are done. Turned out very good. I had the local upholstery guy in town install the WCCR seat covers. He was very impressed with the quality of the seat covers. Was able to use all the original horse hair seat pads. Seat frames were like new with manufacturers tags attached to seat springs. No hog rings were used in seat cover install.

Need to clean the floor mats some more and install the rear mats.

Gonna have to wait to install rear seat as I am waiting on the door panel confusion to be ironed out.

[motofly196]

Beautiful car! You've definitely been putting in some serious work. Seats turned out awesome! I'd be sending those door panels back though...shouldn't be too much work for them to add the vinyl. For the money you spend there, it should be right.

[Kjell Roar]

[type241]

Still need vinyl top and bottom of door panel, no matter the car color.

[ricobiker]

I am restoring a 57 oval, I purchased the birth certificate from vw and the original color was prairie beige. 56-57 prairie beige was the only color that had the copper red cloth. Or light beige or red leatherette.
I have been searching for 10 months for that cloth interior.
Where in Germany did you find it?

[sled]

[type241]

Thanks, Sled.

We should plan a North Cascades Treffen when the pass opens.


Here are some pics of the interior with the mats freashly cleaned.

Still even has the area in the rear floor mat around battery strap.

Here is a picture of the dash with the sticker.

Here are some pics of the factory installed scraps(for the purist nerds). The piece around the door handle and window winder is bus seat material turned inside out. The durable weather resistant side to the outside. Door handle has piece of headliner wrapped around bracket.