Canadian 71 vert resto mod build

[sloNlow]

Okay so here we go ...

I posted up back in 2010 when I first purchased this ride - View post here

I drove it for a few years enjoying it as it was, and what fun!!

Little background, I'm an avid water-cooled guy who has owned solely VW/Audi since 16 (now coming 36). 2 GTi's, 1 TDi golf, and 5 Audis .. oh yeah and my 3 aircooleds .. I won't own anything else, won't even think about it .. Okay maybe a Porsche!

I have had a 73 Dorper Camper since 2000, which is now just a Kombi.

Also have a 63 notch that I snapped up and threw in storage, it's the "some day" resto, and arguably shoulda been done b4 the beetle, but meh.

So it's always been a dream of mine to redo a Beetle, no idea I would get this carried away lol

Okay on with the Vert .. 71 vert pretty decent original shape. After a couple years of enjoying it the way it was, I got backed into right after I pulled it outta storage (I think 2012, pics below), I was heartbroken as it ruined my summer. Anyway it eventually got fixed, free of charge as it wasn't my fault, but it wasn't fixed very well IMHO ... Drove it for one summer (2013), then in the fall 2013 I decided I'd just redo chassis stuff, brakes, suspension etc etc (pics of below). When I got pretty far into what I was doing I noticed some rust in the usual places which looked worse then I originally thought. I was hearing from lots of ppl if I'm going this far I might as well take it that little bit further, tear it right down and body off resto! ... Needless to say things might have gotten carried away lol but in a good way!!

So after I basically gutted the whole car and separated the body from the pan (Pan was still under body on the dolly but separated), it was shipped off to the body guys as I have no skill in that dept and rather leave it to ppl that do. It actually sat in my buddys shop for the winter till they cud pick it up in the spring of 2014.

So a year later, summer 2015, I get the beetle back and i was pumped, it looked great. I chose one of my favourite Audi colors, Monsoon Grey. This beetle was never going back to stock, besides i hate yellow lol, i only bought the car cuz it was in great shape, I'm color blind when i comes to old cars . I also got them to shave the turn signals as I'm going with a Cal/Mexi front bumper, and had them fill the gas heater holes, this car will never see a snow flake.

So since I've had it back, I've been getting set up, needed to straighten out my work area, small one car garage, and ordering more parts and also getting some of the smaller pieces cleaned up and inspected for this winter project. One thing that still needs to be done is construct a dolly so i can slide the body outside while I build up the pan, I don't wanna leave it outside and want the ability to put it away when i'm done working on it for the day.

Okay enough talk more pics right?!!? I will have several questions along the way I'm sure. Look forward to sharing with you all as I have enjoyed watching other ppls builds over the years! Cheers for now folks.
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'71 Super Beetle 'vert build - '73 Kombi - '63 Notchback

[sloNlow]

Okay heres what I started with ...

The day I got backed into ..

Almost to the point where I originally intended on stopping ..

But I didn't stop .... lol

More to come ...
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'71 Super Beetle 'vert build - '73 Kombi - '63 Notchback

[sloNlow]

So here are some of the areas that made me think it was wise just to keep ripping it apart and to totally pan off the sucker ...

Passenger rear was probably the most crusty, hole right thru once i started picking at it ... whoops lol .. Looks like it had been patched a while back probably when it was resprayed years and years ago.

Driver rear, not as bad but did seem fishy ...

Driver front, not so bad, but in the second pic i tried to show the poopy repair job, needless to say I had the whole inner fender replaced and fixed the way it shoulda been done the first time. Theres no pic of the front pass well but it was in probably the best shape of all 4.

Pans, not too bad but had them replaced with the thicker new pan halves ..

Then at the body shop ...

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'71 Super Beetle 'vert build - '73 Kombi - '63 Notchback

[sloNlow]

Then the body shop (which is also owned by a good friend) started teasing me with pics lol ...

Then the day came ... It was DELIVERY DAY!!

Now here are most, not all, but most, of the parts i was going to install with my freshening up of the chassis and such, but now the pile has gotten larger lol ... I was going to run 914 original fuchs after i got them cleaned up but I am now thinking 17' fuchs might be a better move, if that's the case I'll need to get 5x130 brakes, already had the 4 bolt purchased ...

Image is not mine but of the image from the seller when i bought them, rims are buried away somewhere hah.

Well that is all for now, I do have some photos on my phone I'll have to get uploaded to the comp and then to photo bucket, hopefully do that soon .. but for now check it out .. lets talk vdubs!
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'71 Super Beetle 'vert build - '73 Kombi - '63 Notchback