Roman’s Rust Bucket ('67 Beetle)

[rstrobel]

Never did I think that I'd drive to Dallas, TX for this project, but I found a parts car that was in too good of condition to pass up. Although it was hit in the side, it still had a lot of good metal on it. After all, using original metal is wayyy better than trying to mess around with the repair panels. The main parts that I needed were the rear luggage tray, rear clip, and rear shock tower areas ('67 only).

These were a few of the initial pictures that I was sent.

After the seller sent me a lot of pictures, I thought that it was in good enough condition to warrant the drive. So, I replaced a coolant pipe, took the back two seats out, and loaded the minivan up...

The next morning I got a U-Haul trailer...man, that thing was bigger than I was expecting. And let me tell you, the minivan noticed that it was in back. The consumption went from ~19mpg to 14mpg.

Since I hadn't eaten anything the whole day, my brother and I stopped at Tops Bar-B-Q in Marion, AR. It was quite good!

After 11 hours of driving, my brother and I stopped at a rest stop in Texarkana...which is when I discovered that my air mattress had a leak in it. Luckily, we only slept from 1am-5am, then we were back on the road.

We picked the bug up around 10am, and then headed to Bug Acres to pick up a '67 hood and front left fender.

Luckily, we got the last '67 hood and fender at Bug Acres...that was a close one. So, we made our way back to Indy.

We decided to make a stop at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.

Finally, we made it home!

The next day, I took the body off. The tractor makes that a much easier task.

Time to start taking the body apart...
_________________
1967 VW Beetle
1993 VW Cabriolet
My 67 build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716767
•(__)•
(O\!/O) <--- supposed to look like a beetle

[TinCanFab]

I'm quite impressed! You took the advice that SOOOOOO many of us try to tell people doing major body repairs! You are saving your car, making use of a wreck AND using the best metal out there. Time and money well spent, with a cool road trip you'll always remember. It's always worth it to go old school and hunt for stuff when you have the means.
_________________
Check out my truck brought back from the dead... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=420762&highlight=sprayed+blood

They're never really ever finished 58 rag build...
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=658092

[GreeneHoosier]

Looks great! I am just south of you in Bedford (just south of Bloomington) and am in the midst of a 67 resto myself! If you come across any fenders, hood, deck lid or bumpers for one of these I would appreciate a shout out! Great job and good luck!

[rstrobel]

[rstrobel]

[rstrobel]

I made a video of the road trip and an initial walk around of the parts car. They did some interesting metal work on it...



Link

_________________
1967 VW Beetle
1993 VW Cabriolet
My 67 build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716767
•(__)•
(O\!/O) <--- supposed to look like a beetle

[GreeneHoosier]

Sounds great! Thanks.

[rstrobel]

[rstrobel]

Here's a video of me doing a walkaround of the repairs I have done and what repairs I still need to do.


Link

_________________
1967 VW Beetle
1993 VW Cabriolet
My 67 build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716767
•(__)•
(O\!/O) <--- supposed to look like a beetle

[rstrobel]

I got a bunch of extra parts with the '67 parts car, so my brother, sister, and I built a shelving unit. All of a sudden, the garage is so spacious. Should've done this years ago...

I enjoyed the first sunny day in a while working on the '67 parts car. I'm currently in the process of removing the rear luggage tray...man, the luggage tray has a lot of spot welds

Since these last few days have been quite cold and rainy, I decided to clean my '67, as well as organize the parts from my '67.

I didn't label any of the boxes when I disassembled my '67, so I had to go through the boxes and organize/label them. This should make it easier when I'm in the reassembly process.

During...

After...

I also decided to look at the seats a little closer...looks like someone put aftermarket seat covers on at some point, but the original seat covers were still underneath!

_________________
1967 VW Beetle
1993 VW Cabriolet
My 67 build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716767
•(__)•
(O\!/O) <--- supposed to look like a beetle

[Pruneman99]

You ate INSIDE a restaurant? Wow, I forgot that was even a thing!

Great looking project. Other than the crash damage, the rest of it looks pretty solid. Should make for a nice project.

[67rustavenger]

Lots a nice space in that huge shop.
I need to build a shelving unit in my garage as well. Mine loots like a cluttered mess. It's only a single stall. So things get tight fast when working on an engine.

Whatda ya figure? About 200 spot welds.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[rstrobel]

[rstrobel]

[67 Florida Deluxe]

[rstrobel]

[rstrobel]

178 spot welds later...the rear luggage tray is finally out of the parts car.

Now, I get to do the same on my '67...half of those spot welds are rusted out though, and I don't have to worry about removing it in a nice manner, so that makes it a bit easier.

It started snowing pretty hard at the end, glad that I got it out in time.

_________________
1967 VW Beetle
1993 VW Cabriolet
My 67 build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716767
•(__)•
(O\!/O) <--- supposed to look like a beetle

[rstrobel]

We ended up getting about ~3-4in of snow...which was the most we have gotten all year. Now, I just have to hope that it melts quickly, so that I can go back out and remove more metal from the parts car.

_________________
1967 VW Beetle
1993 VW Cabriolet
My 67 build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716767
•(__)•
(O\!/O) <--- supposed to look like a beetle

[rstrobel]

The luggage tray was in very good condition, so the next step was to sandblast and prime it

Then, I began to remove the body mount/shock tower areas.

I first had to cut inside, where the shock tower area is spot welded underneath the rear window.

Once that was done, I marked where I was going to cut on the outside.

This then allowed me to remove the shock tower areas with the cross members still being attached.

There it is...the death foam

I then began to disassemble the rear cross member/shock tower metal. Boy, that created quite the mess.

Once that was disassembled, I sandblasted and primed the metal.

Since the aftermarket cross members fit well enough, I didn't end up using the rear cross members, as they were in worse shape than I liked.

Now, I need to grind down the welds on the cross member and begin welding the shock tower areas in.
_________________
1967 VW Beetle
1993 VW Cabriolet
My 67 build thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716767
•(__)•
(O\!/O) <--- supposed to look like a beetle

[Chickensoup]

nice work and good on your doing things the right way!
_________________
-'85 c10 5.3 LS, 222 cam, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP
'69 RIP
Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"