"Mabel" 1961 Ruby Red Preservation

[Raisedup58]

Well I'v decided to finally take the time and make threads for my cars.
This one will take you through the purchase and continuing preservation of my 1961 L456 Ruby red beetle.
Back in the summer of 2014 after the completion of my 64 sea blue, I came to a realization that super shiny built cars are not my thing.

The wife and I decided to start our search for another original paint early square window. Specifically another ruby red car, as that was the color of our first beetle. We already had a buyer for the 64 waiting for us to find the right car. While working in North Dakota I was constantly watching the classifieds until this beauty popped up in Sandpoint, Idaho. Within 24 hours and some back and forth emails with pictures I struck a deal. Fast forward a week or so, we packed up the truck and trailer and headed north. We fought a winter storm the whole way but it was oh so worth it.

After fighting a hangover and more weather we made it home and started digging into the car. Thats when we started realizing how original it was and the amount of history it showed and was documented. These photos are as soon as we pulled it out of the trailer and put it in the garage.

61 only kick panels

Complete original headliner, stained but perfect in my eyes

Unbelievably untouched original wiring. So nice having cars with perfect wiring

This car was ordered bare bones, not even a mirror was added at the dealer

And of coarse my favorite, 4 of the original paint wheels were present and in beautiful shape.

We will dive into history and paper work in another post. But the car spent its life as a forest service car in the greater spokane area. Some of the evidence was obvious without digging too far into the car.

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L245 Original Paint Light Bronze 1958 Ragtop
L456 Original Paint Ruby Red 1961 Sedan
Orignal Paint Beetle Wheel Collector
Instagram: Raisedup58
VW's At The Springs
facebook.com/vwsatthesprings

[67rustavenger]

Nice looking car you have there.
I used to live in Idaho Falls. And in the early 90's had a 69 Baja and a 67 sedan. Both cars are long gone but lots of fond memories drive around IDF. My neighbor thought I was nuts.

Thanks for the well documented post.
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[TheDon]

Can’t wait to see how this turns out.
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[lovethatconvertible]

[quote="layedout58"]
61 only kick panels

Nice Car, BTW, Those non vented Kick panels where also on 1960 Beetles as well.
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1960 Convertible

[Raisedup58]

[quote="lovethatconvertible"]

[Raisedup58]

Alright, on to the history of the car.
Here is what i have been able to piece together from the 2 binders worth of receipts and paper work found with the car.
Build date is 3/61 (still waiting on the BC for the exacts)
Car was sold brand new at Dawson Motors in Walla Walla, Washington. To William and MABEL Mantz of Walla Walla, Washington. The last registration with Williams name on it was Jan 6 1975, I assume he passed away. After that point the registration is in solely Mabels name, but all repair invoices are to a Henry Mantz. This lasts until 1977.
Based on all the invoices in these names the original 40hp was rebuilt twice. Once in 1973 @41,550 miles by Competition Motors in Walla Walls, Washington. And the second time in 1976 @44,928 by United Volkswagen in Spokane, Washington. As you can tell in the later years the Mantz's didn't drive the car much, which makes me think they were up there in age.
17 years worth of registrations to the Mantz's.

Registrations to Henry Mantz

More registration and tire warranty.

Competition Motors invoice for the engine overhaul @41,550 miles.

Dawson Motor Company Invoice for a lube @1,772 miles

Scheibe Motors, Inc invoice for a valve adjustment.

Sherwin-Hollenback Volkswagen invoice for a clutch adjustment @51,253 miles.

United Volkswagen invoice for a oil change @44,864 miles

The invoice for the engine overhaul at United is very hard to see. Ill try and scan it later.
_________________
L245 Original Paint Light Bronze 1958 Ragtop
L456 Original Paint Ruby Red 1961 Sedan
Orignal Paint Beetle Wheel Collector
Instagram: Raisedup58
VW's At The Springs
facebook.com/vwsatthesprings

[Raisedup58]

Now we get to owner number 2.
Joe D. Starkey's first registration is Aug 28 1978. Joe lives in Coulee City, Washington and works as a forest service ranger or some sort of employee. We have tons of paper work from the greater Spokane area, Including a bumper registration from Fairchild Air force base. From what I have been told, Joe drove the car until 1986. When he had a heart attack while driving and went through a barbed wire fence. The car definitely has the scars to back up that story. After the accident the car was parked until 2014 when we received it.

Registration from Joe

Fuel receipts and in the top right corner of the second pic you can see a trespassing permit from a property in his area.

The road pass

Valley Auto Service invoice for rear brake pads

Sherwin-Hollenback Volkswagen "Its Important" invoice

Leaf Volkswagen Invoice for heater box repair and replacement of fuel pump.

Here is the Forest Service, Service vehicle log book. Containing all the milage and service logs. In the back is notes from when he took someones ID's and called them in.

Spokane Forest Service maps

The Invoices and paper work I posted is only a sliver of what I have. Iv been trying to track down the family of both parties, but haven't had any luck yet.
_________________
L245 Original Paint Light Bronze 1958 Ragtop
L456 Original Paint Ruby Red 1961 Sedan
Orignal Paint Beetle Wheel Collector
Instagram: Raisedup58
VW's At The Springs
facebook.com/vwsatthesprings

[Digger89L]

Based on all the invoices in these names the original 40hp was rebuilt twice. Once in 1973 @41,550 miles by Competition Motors in Walla Walls, Washington. And the second time in 1976 @44,928 by United Volkswagen in Spokane, Washington

TWO engine rebuilds within 4,500 miles of each other!! Now there for sure is a red flag for those dealers / mechanics ...taking advantage of elderly folks. I wonder if they even did the work!![/quote]
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"If you can't fix it with pop rivets, crazy glue and duct tape, or hold it together with zip ties, velcro or magnets, it REALLY is broken."

[Raisedup58]

[joey1320]

What a find. Beautiful color and awesome history.
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[René R.]

Amazing car, amazing story. What a treasure to have all of those receipts!!!
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Gone but not forgotten: 1950 Hoffman split (restored in 1966) - another 1950 Hoffman split (restored in 1996)

[mukluk]

[Raisedup58]

[Mr. OGPaint]

This is a great original beetle, I’ve had a chance to see it in person and it is far far beyond your average “patina ride”. The paint quality and level of maintenance this car has received from its current loving owner and it’s entire lifetime is obvious . I can’t wait to see it all documented along with the amazing amount of paperwork already in this thread. This beetle is special and has led a special life. I’m tuned in for this thread because I already know it’s a fantastic story of loving restoration, maintenance, and usage of a vintage Beetle.
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https://instagram.com/mr.ogpaint
-
Patrick Hall

[Raisedup58]

[glutamodo]

[Raisedup58]

Alright, keep in mind this post is 2014. Im running through my history with the car and then will update current adventures after that.
This was its first was in god knows how many years. I was very happy with the shape the original paint was in. Unfortunately the paint on the hood and roof was so thin that most of it is already gone. You can see the beautiful Dawson Motors plate frame on it. On a side note, if anyone has a matching Dawson frame to this one let me know. I would love to have a pair.This car has a ton of awesome Dawson Motors dealer swag with it. Ill post pics of all that later.

The front bumper was pretty beat from running through the fence. So I pulled that off and straightened it as best as possible. Also fixed the bumper mounts. Luckily the front clip was not damaged during the accident.

Also started slowly reviving the interior and cleaning up the underlying areas of the car.

Look at that gorgeous original paint!

At this point the car is already getting driven like it was meant to be, but it hasn't seen nothing yet.

_________________
L245 Original Paint Light Bronze 1958 Ragtop
L456 Original Paint Ruby Red 1961 Sedan
Orignal Paint Beetle Wheel Collector
Instagram: Raisedup58
VW's At The Springs
facebook.com/vwsatthesprings

[Raisedup58]

In 2015, the car seen a lot of use and changes. I also started to stray away from my direction with the car, but in all nothing serious gets changed. And were back on track now days.
While pulling the random 40hp we blew up, out of the car. I found the original spare key tucked up in the engine bay. Still wrapped up in a piece of the Walla Walla, Washington news paper.

During one of our forest service road adventures, I started worrying about the original paint wheels. After some searching, I came up with a set of 356 Lemmerz wheels and had them powder coated.

I also fabricated some inner fender stone guards to protect the original fenders from rocks. These also act as the mount for a set of mud flaps.

After our trip to Jackson, Wyoming I'm glad we had the stone guards installed. Although on the trip back home we definitely could of used the mud flaps.

During that time we were having a stroker 40hp built out of a case we had laying around. Ended up with a 1492cc, it may not seem like much but it made that car so agile. I can't find a good pic of the engine unfortunately.
40hp case cut and clearanced.
1600cc crank
40hp rods
Cheater Cam
Straight cut cam gears
Big bore 40hp pistons
Square boss heads
Stock 28pict carb built by Ed Fall
019 screamer distributor
And I decided to build my own exhaust. Didn't want anything anyone else had. Kinda based it off of a Sebring.

The car sounded great, and that engine was super perky. Great engine for someone who wants to look stock but have some extra power.

Here are a few more pics from our road trips throughout 2015. This car really loves being driven, especially on dirt roads.
Playing around in our local national forest.

Hanging out in Boise, Idaho for the Bus Pilots Family Reunion

Good shot of the top of the car, unfortunately not much paint on that roof anymore.

Snapped a heater cable on the way to Busn' For Santa in Salt Lake, Utah.

Cruising some forest service roads on Christmas day 2015

_________________
L245 Original Paint Light Bronze 1958 Ragtop
L456 Original Paint Ruby Red 1961 Sedan
Orignal Paint Beetle Wheel Collector
Instagram: Raisedup58
VW's At The Springs
facebook.com/vwsatthesprings

[joey1320]

That's an awesome rack. The dark wheels give it a rally look
_________________
**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[alex857]

Hi,
your photos are amazing, thanks for sharing and my 1961 Pearl White says hello!