My 53 oval project

[Matthew Tolbert]

Well I have finally decided to start a "build thread" for my project. It is a 1953 oval built on May 12th and delivered to Kaiserslautern, Germany on May 13th going by my birth certificate I have for it. It is a mostly complete car, just missing a few 53 parts that right now Im not that concerned about I just want to get it back together and I might start looking for the missing stuff then. It has all 4 original fenders, the original 6 bolt hood, the original 25hp engine, original transaxle, and on and on. It was a fairly nice car when got it, but I wanted to make it nicer and thought it would take no time at all. Well over 13 years later and Im not even close as you will see from the current pics. I have bought tons of parts for it over the years that have been sitting and waiting for me to get around to needing them. Well here are a few pics i took with my cell phone of OLD film pics for you to hopefully enjoy to get it started and a link to my gallery of a ton of slow progress pics over the years. ENJOY!!!

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=Matthew%20Tolbert


this is a pic from September of 98 on my wedding day sitting outside the church just a short while before I decided to "restore" it

the original 25hp engine

the interior

rear shot

old pic of me working on it

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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[Matthew Tolbert]

totally dismantled sitting in my shop in 98 or 99

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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[Blauchen L331]

L 35 metallic blue a pretty uncommon color for 1953 (also the FIRST) metallic color offered by VW
(L 276 ultramaroon was offered in late 1953)

What month 1953 is it? April and May 1953 cars had *ribbed semaphores* that's why I ask? *ohh do I see ribbs there?* Semaphore lenses were also orange as well.

Hard to tell by the photos but is that the original Powder Blue/Grey Bedford Cord interior? Headliner was also Blue/Grey as I recall, seeing on other L 35 cars.

Heart Tailights were original (with Orange Hearts) - early 53 to mid 1954 cars had Orange Heart brake lights, post summer to 1955 (Euro) cars had Red Heart brake lights, not too many folks know that, just thought I'd add that tidbit

Really great having a car as long as you've kept it and also such luck having such a rare pretty color to bring it back too.

I'm diggin that "coffee can" and your lucky original matching numbers motor and transmission 25hp and single tip exhaust.

I also remember seeing a 99% original Swedish car same color, had those Medium/Dark Red wheel trim, insides with L 35 Metallic Blue outside rims, also the VW emblem was Red as well.
(that car came from Sweden and sold to someone in California like 5 years ago, the car was like super low KM's and like 99% ORIGINAL) a museum grade *Un-Restored* car, does anyone know who owns it?)

It will be lovely to see a L 35 car restored, I hope your keeping it all original, it's too nice/rare an Oval to dump and put alloys on!

Enjoy!

Tom
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OG PAINT L331 1957 TYPE 1 OVAL WINDOW
(US Navy In Germany/ Special Ordered Car from MAHAG Munich)
Delivered with Semaphores - German "Puntchen" Cloth Polkadotted Interior -
USA RAM Protection/Export Overrider Bumpers - MPH Speedometer -
Sealed Beam Headlights and Bullet Front Turn Signals!
99.9% ORIGINAL PARTS WITH ONLY 36,500 ORIGINAL MILES/ GARAGE FIND/ UNRESTORED CAR

[Matthew Tolbert]

it was built May 12th and i do have the ribbed semaphores.

the lenses that came with them were badly damaged but i still have them. they have a large VW logo on them. i bought some with a large SWF logo from ovals only years ago that i will use until i can find some with the VW logo. and yes they are orange.

the interior you see is not original but looks to have been done to replicate the original pretty close. it has a lot of fading and water stains so it will have to be replaced when the time comes.

i have a set of hearts to go back on it but they have red lenses.

i think i have pictures of the car you are talking about saved on my computer. i remember reading the thread and saving the pics for reference later. it was definitely a nice original car.
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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[Matthew Tolbert]

this is in 2003 loaded up to go to be blasted

here are a few pics from around 2004 where it was sand blasted and primed.

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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[Matthew Tolbert]

around 2005 waiting on me to start working on it

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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[lurkinstock]

[6Speed]

Looks like a very nice ride. What has happened since 2005?
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'57 Beetle

[vw57drvr]

Im surprised you have all those pictures. More surprised that you got off your a$$ and posted them. Ha! Cant wait to see the reactions when you post the current pics! Now that you have started the thread means you have to work on it consistently.

Funny, in the first pic you have my 57 there too. Didnt know that picture existed. Memories.

Lurkinstock, He isnt going 12 volt. I think he has the "D", as noted by the first pictures posted, but needed it to charge more than look correct at the time.
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60 Rock Grey Vert

[RareAir]

Has that air cleaner been reinforced? Balancing the body of the Beetle on it is incredible.

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1947 Typ 11a
1954 Typ 117
1956 Typ 151
1959 Typ 117
1959 Typ 265
1961 356B
1966 Typ 151
1966 Typ 241

[Matthew Tolbert]

lurkinstock i am going back with the original L35 metallic blue. i do have the D regulator still and plan on keeping it. to be honest i really cant remember why i put the other one on there. like vw57drvr said i may have had charging issues but who knows anymore. when i get to that point i will put it back on to see if it still works.

as far as more pictures go i have a TON of them, at least 6 or 7 hundred probably and taking more every time i work on it, ive just got to get time to post them all. i plan on continuing like i have so far and post a few of each year up until the present.

rareair that is the super duty, extra heavy load capacity, industrial model T air cleaner. if you notice it is only sitting on one heater channel and is balancing the entire car.
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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[janerick3]

[Blauchen L331]

[Matthew Tolbert]

finally got some time to add some more pictures to get up to date.
not a lot happened in 2006, but in 2007 i started up again by stripping the fenders, doors and hood to bare metal.
it was a slow process with the stripper but in the end it worked pretty well.
after getting most of the paint off with it i then used my DA sander and cleaned them up good.
i then sprayed them with a coat of black epoxy primer
it was the same long boring process for all the panels so if you want to check them out take a look in my gallery and they are all there.
i will post a few highlights of the other parts.

passenger front fender

running board hump

bottom side

good coat of paint stripper

paint

paint stripper working

first layer gone

small amount of filler

almost finished

shiny metal

passenger rear mostly stripped

old crack repair

bottom of repair

all clean

correct 3 bolt hood

hinge mount

crappy old repair for typical hood crack

halfway there

in primer

passenger door outer

drivers door inner

primed

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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[Matthew Tolbert]

here we are in 2008 and the last pic in full primer is early 2009

have to upload some more pics before i can post 2010 until the present.

I started stripping the unknown primer off the shell so i could put a layer of epoxy primer on instead for future rust protection...i hope

i would strip an area to bare metal, then shoot it with the epoxy primer and move on to the next area.

the original rear apron

passenger rear fender well

passenger front fender well

drivers rear fender well

drivers rear bumper mount area

drivers rear quarter

drivers front fender well, and quarter panel

front apron

passenger roof and cowl

rear window

now we make it to January 2009 where most of the exterior was stripped and in epoxy
although its a bit dusty

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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[splitjunkie]

Matthew,

You may have already figured this out but the upper half of your firewall was original.

The lower part was from '60 or later because that is when they added the passenger side foot rest which required the slots that you pointed out in one of your pictures.

The firewall you have from Gerson is not quite correct for a '53. It should have the pressing for the choke cable which is does, but the hole for the reserve tap should be like the one on your correct upper half.

It looks like the lip around the hole on your original one is a little ground down.

This is what it should look like. This is from a split firewall that I am grafting onto a '59 firewall.

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Chris

You know, a lot of these scratches will buff right out... Jerry Seinfeld

[Matthew Tolbert]

Chris yes i do know about the upper half being original, but thanks for pointing it out for those that may not have known so they will know what it should look like.

my plan is to only use the lower half of the gerson panel and graft it to mine to hopefully end up with a more correct looking part.

the reserve lever hole does look a little ground down comparing it to yours.

I still have to find the inner section of the firewall from a donor car since the gerson one looks to be for a little bit later car.

the pressing for the dimmer switch is slightly different.
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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[splitjunkie]

The blue one is from a '51. The gold from a '59 Note the extra bulge on the right side where the high beam switch would go if the car were a right hand drive. This detail continued into '58. The '59 has had this reduced. This change probably resulted in less waste sheet metal.

On the split the high beam switch screw holes have riv-nuts that accept machine screws.I don't now if they were still doing this in '53 or not. At some point they just had a hole punched in the sheet metal and the switch was held on with sheet metal screws.

This is from the back.

This is from the front.

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Chris

You know, a lot of these scratches will buff right out... Jerry Seinfeld

[Matthew Tolbert]

Chris mine should be like the one from the 51 with the riv-nuts. or as far as i can tell from the pics i posted earlier. it has been so long since i saw the original firewall in person that i cant remember for sure.
here are a couple of pictures of the klassic fab firewall that i have
it has the smaller bulge on the right and dimples to mimic the riv-nuts
it is a hand formed piece and not die stamped.
the outer flat panel is a die stamped piece now, but the one i originally bought from him was hand formed also.
when he started stamping them gerson and i swapped them out.
as you can see in the last picture of the outer panel alone the lower half looks to be a very close match from what i can tell so should look pretty good mated to my upper half...i hope


oh and if anyone has either of the correct original pieces in decent shape let me know

both pieces

right side dimmer switch pressing

left side pressing

outer panel

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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S

[Matthew Tolbert]

here we are in Nov of 2010 when i finally decided to just cut out the incorrect firewall and try to make it more correct.


the outside

the inside

removing filler

and more filler

most of it gone

where it belongs

firewall gone

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Matthew Tolbert
1958 ragtop
1961 doublecab
1965 Notchback S