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Chris Paterson
Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2010
Posts: 1068
Location: Newbury Park, CA
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 Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 2:55 pm Post subject: Early convertible build thread |
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I thought I would start this build thread to showcase my project. Be warned it is no small project. I bought a thrashed 62 convertible from Kona in Idaho. Had it shipped and shortly after acquired a 63 sedan for parts from a local guy. I got the convertible for $450 and the sedan for $500. Here are the photos of the 62 vert condition:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036298&id=205500033&l=5c0aea711c
Here's the sedan (mostly complete):
The vert is in pretty rough shape, but all of the important convertible parts are there. My first task was to go in and remove the luggage tray area as it was rusted where it meets the heater channels, and the area is extremely good in the 63 sedan. I've also been selling parts that I don't need off the sedan. In fact I sold the roof clip to a guy doing a chop-top project. It started to get me to think, what I should do is transfer the parts of the body of the convertible that are good and weld them in to the sedan. I'm taking the whole rear off the vert and welding it in to the sedan. I'll be taking the windshield frame off the vert and transferring it over as well. Then it's a matter of welding up the support rails and misc interior metal and supports that convertibles have to support the body. I'll post some pictures of the condition of the vehicles in a short time.
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- Chris
58' PGSG |
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rezidu
Samba Member
Joined: November 08, 2004
Posts: 197
Location: Fayetteville NC
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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| dude...that 63 is bad ass. I damn sure wouldn't cut it up. |
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stale air
Samba Member
Joined: August 23, 2007
Posts: 5151
Location: Senoia Ga, formally NorCal
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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| rezidu wrote: |
| dude...that 63 is bad ass. I damn sure wouldn't cut it up. |
X2, that 63 looks like it has great potential. Im all for saving the vert also, but in my opinion not at the 63's expense. 
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WANTED: Henry Veale Santa Rosa plate frames
WANTED: Brittsan Motors Fresno plate frames
WANTED: Any Georgia plate frames
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mixedup59
Samba Member
Joined: August 07, 2002
Posts: 704
Location: Tacoma Washington
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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| stale air wrote: |
| rezidu wrote: |
| dude...that 63 is bad ass. I damn sure wouldn't cut it up. |
X2, that 63 looks like it has great potential. Im all for saving the vert also, but in my opinion not at the 63's expense. |
.....x3
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=355803 |
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Bart Dunn
Samba Consiglieri
Joined: May 09, 2004
Posts: 2354
Location: Sea level (Mid Atlantic)
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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This line of thinking is why I now have two '58s and not enough sheet metal to complete the 'vert project. At some point, you do have to let the parts car be a parts car.
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Not enough car seats fit into my:
'58 Beetle convertible
'58 Beetle sedan |
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hsosa1
Samba Member
Joined: January 17, 2005
Posts: 1897
Location: Fontana
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| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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yeah your right but that doesnt really look like a parts car its nearly complete ...  a parts car is something that is cutup missing shite a basket case ...
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Just Cruzin Sur Califas VW Car Club est♤1998 |
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Patty B.
Samba Member
Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 2181
Location: Brampton, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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Just to get this in my thick head--you are taking the verts parts off the vert and grafting it to the '63 sedan.
I wish I could have got that '63 for $500! |
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6Kabrio7
Samba Member
Joined: July 22, 2006
Posts: 2387
Location: California
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| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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original door panels, radio with uncut dash turkis green 63..that is definitely one to be saved.
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67 Convertible July 67 Yukon Yellow
67 Sedan May 67 Zenith blue |
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hsosa1
Samba Member
Joined: January 17, 2005
Posts: 1897
Location: Fontana
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| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:00 pm Post subject: |
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its too late he said he s taking the roof off  You know I made the same mistake when i was about 17yrs old . I cut up a complete Ca black plate 62 beetle. I still regret . and I used the parts to put a 61 ragtop baja back to sedan status but looking back I should just kept the 62 OG paing black complete car dammmitt 
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Just Cruzin Sur Califas VW Car Club est♤1998 |
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okdecay
Samba Member
Joined: September 29, 2006
Posts: 42
Location: oakland
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| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:22 pm Post subject: |
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maybe if the sedan was rolled, id consider hacking it up to make into a convertible but thats too nice to begin with to start chopping up
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cgs |
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KustomLarry
Samba Member
Joined: November 29, 2007
Posts: 558
Location: Lincoln University, PA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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You can but channels and pieces form a car that was already parted out....That thing is awesome....
Sell it. I know someone will buy it no problem.
Larry |
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6Kabrio7
Samba Member
Joined: July 22, 2006
Posts: 2387
Location: California
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| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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Original decklid too 
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67 Convertible July 67 Yukon Yellow
67 Sedan May 67 Zenith blue |
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6Kabrio7
Samba Member
Joined: July 22, 2006
Posts: 2387
Location: California
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| Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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Looking through his gallery..Did he chop the windshield on his convertible? Ouch 
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67 Convertible July 67 Yukon Yellow
67 Sedan May 67 Zenith blue |
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MANNAXMAN
Samba Member
Joined: March 25, 2009
Posts: 485
Location: Cali
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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| 6Kabrio7 wrote: |
| Original decklid too |
The decklid is gone. I bought it about a week and a half ago.  |
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Chris Paterson
Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2010
Posts: 1068
Location: Newbury Park, CA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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| 6Kabrio7 wrote: |
| Looking through his gallery..Did he chop the windshield on his convertible? Ouch |
No the windshield is not chopped.
Yes I am grafting the convertible parts onto the sedan. I will be saving most of the sedan. Trust me it was not easy to cut the top off :-/ but at some point you have to do what you have to do. The vert was so far gone, there are almost no usable parts except for the convertible specific ones. So the car will be mostly the sedan. The pictures don't show it super well, but a lot of the sedan is rusted. To buy all of the aftermarket sheetmetal would be too expensive and probably too flimsy to work. Bart Dunn said it, sometimes a parts car has to be a parts car. Trust me I struggled with it, but the wife wouldn't let me restore two, plus I don't have the space. Also, I'm enabling others to allow their cars to live, like Mannaxman! She will be remembered for her sacrifice.
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- Chris
58' PGSG |
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Hugo Stiglitz
Samba Member
Joined: August 07, 2009
Posts: 782
Location: Southern California
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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If you have any parts from either that you'd like to get rid of, let me know. I'm restoring my '63 and am looking for OG german sheet metal. If you have a spare hood and/or rear fenders, let me know. I'd make the drive to pick them up.
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'63 slow n low build thread...
Jay Leno's Garage
(o\ ! /o) | o \/ o | (o)=|=(o) [o\|_|_|/o] |
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Chris Paterson
Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2010
Posts: 1068
Location: Newbury Park, CA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Hugo Stiglitz wrote: |
| If you have any parts from either that you'd like to get rid of, let me know. I'm restoring my '63 and am looking for OG german sheet metal. If you have a spare hood and/or rear fenders, let me know. I'd make the drive to pick them up. |
I have a spare hood, but it's off the vert and was cal-looked:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=954415
Alright, this is gonna make you faint-hearted folks cringe a little... Here's an update. So I sold the roof to a fellow up in Santa Rosa working on a chop-top project, he came by with a sawzall and clipped it.
If you look at the photos, I removed the interior quarters to fit the convertible quarters that are different because of the roll up windows. Also clipped the top of the engine and most of the firewall. I'm figuring that I can overlap the pieces a bit and trim to fit. The grooves in the firewall will help with aligning the pieces.
On to the vert. I removed the rear half basically and cut out the luggage area and cut the quarters just below the beltline on the outside, while keeping the inside quarters, crossmember and other convertible specific parts intact.
The amazing thing is that all these parts are good on this car and not rusted beyond repair. The next phase will be to clean up the areas I cut and fit the rear clip section onto the sedan. After that will be the task of cutting and welding up the windshield frame. As you can see the sedan's windshield frame is pretty jacked.
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- Chris
58' PGSG |
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Chris Paterson
Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2010
Posts: 1068
Location: Newbury Park, CA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a video of me grinding off the rest of the interior quarters.
Link
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- Chris
58' PGSG |
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Neil Davies
Samba Member
Joined: July 31, 2005
Posts: 393
Location: Kidderminster, West Midlands, UK
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| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:29 am Post subject: |
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Dude, That's some nice work you're doing but a word of advice - keep the windscreen frame with the vert scuttle!
Karmann made the windscreen frame in one pressing for the front and one pressing for the back, with strengtheners that run down into the front quarters for the fresh air pipes to connect to. To graft the windscreen frame onto the sedan scuttle is a pain in the arse and you need to pretty much re-make all of the strengtheners. It'll be much easier to split the scuttle across the top of the front quarters and to top of the dash.
ON my vert I've done it the hard way, but I've got a spare scuttle and frame section that I might re-do the work with!
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'67/'68 Cal Look Beetle, 2007cc, 48IDFs, 14.4 @ 93mph, Oct 2017.
'68/'70 Karmann Beetle, wife's project, progressing slowly.
'80 Devon Moonraker, wife's ratty but cool toy.
'86 Scirocco special project - still measuring up... |
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Chris Paterson
Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2010
Posts: 1068
Location: Newbury Park, CA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:06 am Post subject: |
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| Neil Davies wrote: |
Dude, That's some nice work you're doing but a word of advice - keep the windscreen frame with the vert scuttle!
Karmann made the windscreen frame in one pressing for the front and one pressing for the back, with strengtheners that run down into the front quarters for the fresh air pipes to connect to. To graft the windscreen frame onto the sedan scuttle is a pain in the arse and you need to pretty much re-make all of the strengtheners. It'll be much easier to split the scuttle across the top of the front quarters and to top of the dash.
ON my vert I've done it the hard way, but I've got a spare scuttle and frame section that I might re-do the work with! |
Thanks Neil, that is exactly what I was thinking ( accross the front quarters and top of dash). I'm not quite there yet... I still gotta get this rear piece to fit. I'm taking my time and trying to do it right!
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- Chris
58' PGSG |
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