"Mabel" 1961 Ruby Red Preservation

[Raisedup58]

[iowegian]

Don't you dare paint that car!!!!!!!!
The moderate paint loss (Ruby Red is good at that) and all of the records that you have just prove its provenance and add immeasurably to its collectability.

[Raisedup58]

[Raisedup58]

2016 was a hell of a year for this car, with just shy of 15,000 miles for the car in the year.
I finally found a pic of the stroker 40hp. She isn't a stunner but it gets the job done and looks stock. We didn't have a single hiccup with this engine in 2 years. Loved running 70mph on the freeway and took any mountain pass like a champ.

Starting out the year, we did all new brakes, rebuilt the original transmission and rebuilt the front end.
Here she is hanging out with our other original paint car. Our L245 Light Bronze ragtop.

After buttoning the car back up we had our first road test by attending the Vesi Spring Cruise. Not a big trek but a good test.

Then it was time for a good trip to get ready for our big trip. (ill document that in another post) We took a 3 day weekend and headed for Big Sky, Montana. Rented a cabin in the middle of the Gallatin gateway right on the river. Did some hiking and some water fall chasing. As usual the car seem right at home on the forest service roads.

We made it home with only a broken speedometer cable and a bad starter solenoid. At that point the car gave me full confidence for our anniversary trip.
_________________
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]

We set out June 2nd 2016 for the longest trip iv made in a vintage Volkswagen. Just over 2,000 miles over 10 days of the trip. Tool box, Spare parts, tent and sleeping bags are about all we packed. We did this for our 2nd anniversary, my wife had never seen the ocean before. I can't help that I planned it to start the same weekend as the Woodburn, Oregon show lol. Here was the planned route, we deterred a little bit but nothing major. We stuck to 101 for the whole costal part of the trip and stopped whenever we saw something we thought was interesting.

The first full day of the trip was a straight run to Portland, Oregon from Boise, Idaho. We had to get to Portland to meet up with our friends to caravan to the show. It just so happens that was the hottest weekend of the year for the two states. The first part of the trip was beautiful, but by the time we got to the columbia river it was passing 110*. The car was running amazing and we were loving life.

That is until we got just outside of The Dalles, Oregon. Traffic came to a sudden halt on the freeway and there was a ominous dark cloud of smoke ahead. We thought it would be nothing, just a brush or car fire. Boy were we wrong. After being stuck on the freeway for a good 45 minutes just outside The Dalles, we were able to stop at a McDonalds. Come to find out a coal train had derailed and caught fire next to the freeway. They had no idea when it would open back up.

They directed us to cross the river and take the Washington highway, to get past. It took us around 5 hours to get just about 30 miles past the fire. It was so hot in the stop and go traffic that the semi in front of us was peeling the asphalt off the road with its tires. Between the stop and go traffic and the heat I was very worried about the car. But she never let us down and we made it to Portland to meet up with our friends.

Unfortunately I have no pictures from the Woodburn show. Between being 6v and having limited places to charge our phones. I was also laying under the car the whole time trying to figure out a starter problem. We ended up buying a rebuilt Bosch starter and NOS solenoid in the swap meet area. Thanks to John Jensen, Adam Gentry, and Danny Byers for the help.
After the show we all headed to Seaside, Oregon where the temps were much more cool.
The wife was more than ecstatic to see the ocean for the first time. Threw her purse at me and ran straight in. That one moment made the whole trip worth while.

I swear we went up and down one stretch of highway 101 about 5 times because we were all having so much fun ripping around on the corners. We eventually ended up at a over look.

While we were taking in the views we watched some locals hop the wall and go down the hill. We decided to follow them, that decision paid off big time. We came to a clearing at the edge of the cliff that was beautiful. And the best part was that no one was around to mess the views up.

After that we drove to Astoria, Oregon and of coarse visited the house The Goonies was filmed at. At that point it was time to say farewell to our friends and start our journey north by ourselves.
_________________
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]

Once again, because we were camping most the time and the car is 6v I have limited pictures unfortunately.
We headed north from Astoria and camped for the night at Cape Disappointment. The town outside of the state park was a little sketchy lol. But camping on the beach made it all worth it. My wife loves light houses so we hiked to the light house at Cape Disappointment and walked the beach for a while then headed on our way.

We stopped at so many awesome places and ate a ton of amazing sea food. I wish I had the pics to show off. After spending 2 days in the Olympic National Park we wound up in the Sequim, Washington area. I was excited to show my wife around, as my grandparents had lived there my whole life.
The whole plan was to go whale watching while we were there. But us having our heads up our asses, we forgot to pack jackets. So we opted out of whale watching and decided to take a ferry trip to Seattle. But not before the obligatory coffee shop picture.

We got to Seattle right at the best time, found a parking spot right up front at the piers.

After doing the aquarium and all the other typical tourist stuff we set out for some beer and food. My wife was a little tense with the grade on the city street. I love driving the car in any area including the big city, people were giving us the thumbs up and of coarse playing the slug bug game.

We stayed in Everett, Washington that night. We opted out of camping and stayed in a hotel after we found out how ghetto that city is. I swear we saw a drug deal go down right in front of us while we were at a light lol. Thankfully the hotel had locked underground parking. It was definitely nice to have a actual breakfast also.
At that point we started heading back east, towards what is now easily my favorite town iv ever visited. Leavenworth, Washington. Of coarse we found a forest service road to take us over the pass and into town.

We drank A LOT of beer that night, stayed in a awesome little motel and ate our weights worth of bratwurst's. If you have the chance at least once in your life, I highly suggest visiting Leavenworth at least once. We had no idea but it just so happened that the weekend we were there, they were having a european car show. We got to meet a ton of people there for that, and even ran into a couple friends that had no idea we were up there.

After that we headed to Spokane, Washington which began our not so beautiful part of the trip. We have been around farm fields for so long that this kind of view is not in the slightest bit appealing haha.

And so goes the story. We made it home in one piece, the car did so amazing. The only problem we had was the starter at the beginning of the trip. With all the side tracking and sight seeing I think we wound up just shy of 2,500 miles for the trip. Not a bad way to spend 2 weeks in june.
_________________
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

[jvm]

[Raisedup58]

[Q-Dog]

Has the driver side door been repainted. In all the photos it looks a shade darker to me.
_________________
Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[Raisedup58]

Yup, that’s the only thing altered as in pint on this car. One of the previous owners did it. I’m tempted to try stripping it as it doesn’t appear to have any filer on it.
_________________
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

[Pruneman99]

Wow what a trip! I'm starting to plan one from SoCal up the coast to Oregon or Washington. It won't be for a few years, but I'm already excited! Time to get wrenching on my '64 sunroof car as I've already decided that's what I want to use.

I love threads that show the trips and the experiences that VW owners get to enjoy once the wrenching is done (or done enough as we all know it never is truly done)!

Thanks for sharing.

[Raisedup58]

To finish off the 2016 event season we made the 600 mile trek to Moxee, Washington for Volksfest. This is my favorite event to attend, Iv not once entered the show. We all just stay in the camping/swap area, and hang out. In 2016 we decided to drive out of the way by 100 miles and meet our friends in Portland and camp in the Columbia River Gorge before we cruised to the show. Beautiful sights to take in, even with the gloomy weather.

Volksfest never fails to be a blast. Its not a huge event but the caliber of vehicles and the great people make it better than any of the huge shows. If you have the chance make the trek to Washington wine country and have some fun.
Mr. Ogpaint's beautiful original paint single cab is always loaded with swap goodies.

Photos of my car at the camp area by Adam Gentry

The 600+ mile drive home is always a little fuzzy, but its hard not to have a smile on your face while your driving these cars.
_________________
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]

A few extra pics of 2016 to cap it off.
Probably my favorite cell phone pic of the year. Heading to a local VW dinner in early 2016.

Purposely getting lost somewhere on the Wyoming boarder.

Drove to Jackson, Wyoming for the July 4th holiday. Hiked to a ice cave to escape all the people in town.

Camping at Vw's At The Barn in Heise, Idaho

What happens when you cram 6 people in your car to head to the bar? Your stock car drags mud flaps.

Trees starting to change color.

At our local ski resort looking over the valley.

Thanksgiving eve snow storm caught us off guard. Time to get it in the garage.

Got a christmas tree for the first time with the car. Peoples reactions were priceless.

_________________
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

[Busstom]

[Raisedup58]

Now for 2017.
Honestly I started feeling guilty about changing stuff on such a original car, I was loosing sleep over it.
Last pictures with the Lemmerz on those are sold to a different home now.
As you can see it was a huge snow year for us in the 16/17 winter.

Right after I took this pic I was caught in the middle of a high speed chase. Jack ass came within inches of rear ending me.

I started by digging the original wheels out of my collection and getting them cleaned up.

The boss of the house making sure the wheels were cleaned up to his standards. Thats 25lbs of mainecoon judging you.

I can't believe that I ever had the 356 wheels on it. Looks so much better with those L471 Stone Beige and L457 Cadmium Red original paint wheels on it.

As you can see, the paint was super dry and oxidized. Iv had plenty of original paint cars, but Ruby Red has been the biggest pain in the ass to upkeep.

You can see some of the infamous barb wire fence scratches in this pic.

_________________
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

[Rome]

Beautiful cat.

Beautiful Beetle; graceful aging. Remarkable paperwork history for it. The integrity of the underhood wiring is amazing.

Fantastic that you are driving and enjoying the car, including on dirt roads and mountain passes. Does your state not use salt on the snowy roads?

When you built your stroker 40hp, do you remember, or have written down, the thickness of the shims needed under the cylinders?

I realize you have sold the 356 wheels, but did you ever consider to paint them in the same color scheme as the original smoothie wheels, and keep the hubcaps on them?

Excellent shots with the mountains in the background!

The rear bumper is tilted upward to the left slightly. Would take only about 10 minutes to loosen the bracket bolts and level it out.

[iowegian]

[Raisedup58]

[Raisedup58]

[Raisedup58]

After getting the stock wheels and bias ply's back on it was time to revive the paint. Once we got the fenders and everything else off, we really got to see how beautiful this car really is.
Started on the decklid first, it was a lot easier than i was expecting to bring the old shine back out.

When we were pulling the taillights off the fenders you could still see the original wax pencil marks.

The inner wheel wells are incredible. So much original paint, which is surprising based off the car living its whole life on dirt roads.

We were able to do most of the car with just a electric polisher and compound. Had to hit a couple spots with some light cutting compound, but nothing major.

We couldn't wait to get the car back together, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Upkeep has been a total bitch but thats to be expected with a Ruby Red car.

_________________
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