Jims 1952

[Jimone]

thanks bendango. it really is fun.

been working on the wiring. i broke one of the door buttons while forcing a screw but otherwise its been smooth. this is a whole new thing for me. closest ive done is replace some outlets around the house. i have a diagram from my friend mike, and my pops labled the wiring loom. How hard could it be right?

i pulled the front bumper down out of the attic and tacked it on the car. got a place to hang my plate!

its all very superficial. im tacking things together and using it as a checklist, storage and viability test. cant make a shopping list till i know whats here.

anyway... heres Smiley looking all...well...smiley:

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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[Grant Reiling]

[Jimone]

grant - thanks! its a heck of a learning curve. quite multidisciplinary too. its gonna be great.

my friend mike came by the other day. he got to sit in a 52 for the first time and was pretty tickled by the experience. dudes driven them all including rarities like kubelwagens and he has been in vws my whole life. it was pretty cool to give him a vw experience he hadnt had before.

he brought me a present. (he had already given me scans of of the late 52 section). it had been hiding in a pile of stuff that i had given him a while ago. i guess i need to do a better job sorting.

i gave the bumper a little bit of a scrub with some 0000 steel wool. that stuff is magical.

i have a lot of housework to do this week. i doubt ill get a ton done. slow and steady wins the race
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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[Grant Reiling]

[Jimone]

started cleaning up the sunroof tracks. i am really pleased with how they are coming out. started with a dull screwdriver and some mineral spirits. paper towels. a wet sanding block fit in the track nicely and really got the gunk out. finished with 0000 steel wool.

i dont know how many times in life i will need to learn that cleaning for just a couple minutes is a game changer.

i took some pictures of the numbers on the gearbox, transmission, splitcase, rear axle, transaxle or whatever we are deciding to call the thingamajig what makes the engine turn the wheels.

a-15542 is nov 52 or is it the a-2101? whats going on with the double date stamp thing? october 52 (9 10 12) and november 62 (12 11 22)? from what i understand i think that this is the correct one for a zwitter. can anyone confirm or deny that assumption? also please help me to understand why. ive read the faq stuff and googled...it hasnt clicked yet. thanks in advance.

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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[bally]

[Jimone]

-bally - ill check out that thread. maybe i can find some homes for some of the other cases i have lying around as well.

here is a picture of my dad and i wrenching on the split. it was used as the cover photo for the winter '97 Common Gear. the photo was a bit old at that time as i was a teenager in 97. funny to realize that ive been working on this car my whole life.

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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[ddutch]

Since the body is from late '54, the original colour is most likely L227 Strato Silver by looking at the original paint that you've laid bare on the rear fender.
Some examples of this great, blue-ish silver colour; https://www.facebook.com/hayburnermagazine/posts/t...088049333/

[Jimone]

ddutch - that looks like the right color and i must say that is a great color. thanks!

i like the way the bug looks, so for at least a while its going to keep its current appearance. its got a lot of personality. today i dont think i will ever paint it but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

one thing is for sure. nobody else has a bug like mine.
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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[Jimone]

got my hands on a physical copy of that common gear. here is the caption for the front page and some other pics of me and my siblings on the back of the same issue.

there is a mention of a 53 standard zwitter. i think that might be the car with the license plate that is sitting next to the vert in the snow picture i posted on the first page of this thread. it seems like my dad owned at least 2 splits and 3 zwitters over the course of the 80s. there are a bunch of photos.

i have the word documents for some of dads date coding articles. is that something that people would find useful? heres a screen shot of some of the topics.

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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[Busstom]

Very, very cool, thanks for sharing. You were essentially born into the hobby, which is quite fortunate! Neat history.

[Jimone]

busstom - thanks! im finding it pretty interesting to rediscover this history too. it had been a while (decades) since dad or any of us were involved in vws.

when we were little we would label and stamp all of the vvwca newsletters ~ once a month. it was a rather large undertaking doing a national bulk mailing as a family of 5. mike usually came too. we had HUGE bags of rubber bands and would have wars shooting them at each other. sometimes the kids even got paid. one of the more memorable was mike paying my brother john to be quiet.
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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[Jimone]

anybody have any information about the transmission serial numbers i posted a couple weeks ago? can anyone confirm my thinking?

(9) (10) (12) looks to be a date stamp. September 10 1952?
(12) (11) (22) another date stamp? no idea
a-15542 i think is the rear axle number and would be correct for a zwitter
22 a-21.01 part number for that transmission half maybe?
22 a-21.02.1 another part number perhaps? whose to say? definately not me at this time

here are the pics again:

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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[virtanen]

9 10 12 = 9th of October 1952 (the first work shift)
12 11 22 = 12th of November 1952 (the second work shift)
A15542 = Late November 1952 stamp (the last in November was A-16312)
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Mika
Split beetle restoration panels
Oval beetle restoration panels
New projects

[Jimone]

Virtanen - thank you so much

I forgot that it goes d/m/y instead of the month day year format i am used to.

Anybody have any thoughts about the other numbers?
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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[virtanen]

[Jimone]

cool. thank you again virtanen!

there are some people building bugs and they tend to speak highly of the quality of your parts.
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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[VW_Jimbo]

[Jimone]

mike wrote up a nice article about my pops for the most recent vintage voice. ill post it on my truck thread too.

i miss you dad
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november 1952 ragtop
november 1954 single cab

[bally]

Lovely words. Steve sounds like a top bloke!

Do sorry that he’s gone but so glad you have all those great memories and people to share them with!

Dave