1968 vw beetle woody wagon

[Mikhail_lewis]

I noticed my rear wheel camber when i got new rubber put on. I was wondering if the rear shocks were upgraded for heavier loads and that is why i have my.wheels camber like that. Im sure with passengers and more weight the wheel camber will go back to normal?

[andk5591]

Mike, I bought a basket case that was built from your plans before I designed and built my car. I used your plans as a jumping off point and a good source of information, but there really was nothing that I built that was directly from the plans.

The other woodie I have was built many many years ago by John Slusar from Milwaukee.

And by the way, the 2 yahoo groups (Vwoodies and Vwoodies2)have recently been brought back to life since the group owner has rise from the dead LOL. The Stevenson cars are the primary cars on those pages.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone 1914. Ex wifes car.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Ex-wifes car.
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[carmelmike]

Nice to see so much interest in VW Woodies! I still drive our prototype all the time. I try to get it out at least once a month, and more if possible.

It's been holding up GREAT, but it has been in a garage for the past 25+ years now. They're great, and I really love mine (but I have been driving it for over 35 years now!)

I need to take it up to the Santa Cruz Woodies On The Wharf, if it's still going...I was invited about 19 or 20 years ago, but something got in the way, and I still have yet to get to that event...My lady is pushing to put the Woody in the Small Car concours in Pacific Grove this August, so we'll see...

Send us pics, if you have one built from our plans! (or inspired by, as I see some heavily modified VW Woodies built from parts of the plans...We were going to do a Town & Country-inspired roadster at one point, but that project got diverted by something else (as many of them do!)

Happy building and driving to everyone!

Mike Stevenson

[andk5591]

Awesome....
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone 1914. Ex wifes car.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Ex-wifes car.
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[CarlIseminger]

I don't know if someone on the Woodies Yahoo Group helped or the "owner" finally got my emails, but I received access to the two Yahoo Groups this past weekend.

Lots of good information and the photos that I have been looking for showing various parts of the finished VW Woodies so I can see assembly details.
_________________
1969 VW Beetle Convertible

[andk5591]

I have not had any luck with the group owner responding to emails.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone 1914. Ex wifes car.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Ex-wifes car.
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[CarlIseminger]

Does anyone know someone from the VWoodies2 and the Volkswagen Woodies Yahoo Groups?

I have tried now for the last couple of months to join, but have not had any success.
_________________
1969 VW Beetle Convertible

[andk5591]

Gonna tell ya - I started the woodie and just got a running chassis....took me 2 more years to get the balls to start on the rest....and a notebook of sketches and zillions of pics.....
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone 1914. Ex wifes car.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Ex-wifes car.
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[CarlIseminger]

I can see using the lumber to make the rails would lead to a much nicer finish to the car, but with my limited woodworking skills, the Stevenson Project build with plywood will suit me just fine.

Thanks everyone for pitching in with suggestions and photos. I always like to research a project to death before I start so I know what I am getting myself into.
_________________
1969 VW Beetle Convertible

[andk5591]

Sent you the commentary on the Stevenson plans...The yellow one did the changes using dimensional lumber instead of plywood for the rails....Looks much better.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone 1914. Ex wifes car.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Ex-wifes car.
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[andygere]

Here are a few pictures I took at the Woodies on the Wharf car show in Santa Cruz, CA.

This one was really nice.

A little funky looking, but variations on the theme.

[weasel_ugs]

[Dan the workingstiff]

I would love to take this type of project on. I'm patient enough to make up for some shortcomings in my talent department. Unfortunately, time is not on my side with 4 lil ones.
_________________
'69 Beetle
'66 FG buggy
My other air-cooled's
'76 IH 1200
'75 IH 1200

[CarlIseminger]

Thanks for the suggestion to order the plans. I did and they have arrived.

I have poured over them and of course, they answered quite a few questions.

But photos sometimes show more than just the directions can.

My main interest in the photos is to make the windshield header smooth as some of them are awful.

andk5591-I sent a PM with my email address for the photos you offer to send.

Thanks everyone for your support!
_________________
1969 VW Beetle Convertible

[andk5591]

Not enough of a market. There are/were "sedan delivery" fiberglass kits such as the Vandetta and the one from BGW. I was contemplating using one of those as the base for mine early on when I was floundering with the design and construction.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone 1914. Ex wifes car.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Ex-wifes car.
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[Wolfgangdieter]

Shame there isn't a fiberglass kit for the station wagon "Woody" portion. It is relatively easy to replicate wood grain with paint or even vinyl decals. It would be much more durable that real wood. And not take a wood workers skill. Then just slap on a '40 Ford fiberglass front end.
_________________
CMC '57 Porsche Speedster Replica and Dolphin boat tailed full pan VW MOD-T Street Buggy

[andk5591]

Thanks Dan. Yeah, the car came out OK and I am having fun at the shop. Just need to get time to work on my own cars LOL.

Carl, what I would suggest is getting the Stevenson VW Woodies plans. http://www.stevproj.com/VWWdyPg1.html They cost $40 and will address your questions. I think this was posted before.

Shoot me your email address and I can send you some pics of a piece of shit VW woodie that I bought and scrapped except for the pan. The doors are typically just covered with a plywood skin and then filled with bondo around the windows. The windshield header is a place that most folks totally mess up because its a real pain in the ass to get right. Many of them are really boxy and can look like a school bus. I don't even want to guess how much time I have in that on my car.

There were 2 yahoo groups on these cars and I don'y know how active they still are. This is one of them https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/VWoodies2/info The pics on the first page are actually of my car.

The one thing that really makes a difference if you are doing it is to use a convertible instead of a sedan. Viewed from the front, a sedans A pillars angle in quite a bit more than a vert. Changes everything. I still don't like how mine came out in this area, but it's better than most.

What it really gets down to on these things is how far you want to go. I acquired the very first VW woodie ever built last summer and the construction is totally different from mine. And both of these cars are not constructed at all like a Stevenson. There are no rules for this.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone 1914. Ex wifes car.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Ex-wifes car.
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[Dan the workingstiff]

[CarlIseminger]

Thank you. I have searched and found quite a few images here on The Samba. But most of the photos are of the entire vehicle. I am looking for close ups of how some areas are handled.

Such as the area around the door windows. Or how the front of the soft roof meets the windshield header.

This is why I asked for photos if possible.
_________________
1969 VW Beetle Convertible

[andk5591]

If you do an image search on here for woodie or woody, there are a LOT of pics. there are quite a few build pics as well. I know there are a shitload of mine on it, but you want to ignore the white or real light blue 73 Super woodie since his construction technique is very different that the Stevenson. There was a guy named Pedro I think that showed a lot of Stevenson construction.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone 1914. Ex wifes car.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Ex-wifes car.
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...