1955 Stock Rebuild

[ConcreteAce]

Well we took off last weekend for our club's annual show DubSplash. It was worth it I got to clock a ton of time behind the wheel of a '43 Schwimmwagen, taking it schwimming was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Shin took an awesome drone video while I was at the helm if you are on facebook check it out https://www.facebook.com/HotVWs/videos/323273451722283/


Anywho moving on, while Jeremy worked on the front apron I worked on the vents under the rear window. At one time someone had either a badge or a ski rack bolted on and the left side several of the vents were smashed , I hate that I forgot to take a before picture to show how bad it was. I ended up using several different tools from a PDR set and was able to massage it out.

I was able to blow up a couple of pictures from the booth, You cant tell but a couple of the vents were pulled out at least a 1/4-3/8

This is the PDR set I used

and what I accomplished (in about 2 hrs...lol) I am not 100 % happy yet and I will work on them a little more, but sometimes you gotta just walk away and give it a rest.

Then it took both Jeremy and I to knock out the roof, if you have seen any of my other build threads I am not opposed to posting pictures that show the car in filler. The roof she was wavy as heck. We tapped down the high spots , and wiped and sanded till my arms hurt. It's now in primer and it will be blocked and primed once more, but its real close now. The next block will be a breeze.

_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[ZENVWDRIVER]

… i'm a sucker for semaphore 1953 to 1955 ovals too - solid is a plus - very nice.

I painted our '54 in black, but left the top of the doors alone - are various layers and shades of grays - primer to black and surface rusty too - that is over 60 years of someone's arm just rubbing that paint to the bone - would be a shame to cover that evidence with new paint, is my feeling. We are all different, I know... someone added a cigarette lighter too - is on a weird spot in the top curve of the dash... poor planning.

… bet the center bar, in your speaker-hole was cut out for a center grill clock.
_________________
5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK

[TDCTDI]

I was wondering if you were going to address the bent louvers. I saw that they were not quite right when you posted pics of the car after blasting.

[ConcreteAce]

[ConcreteAce]

Well still pecking away at the beast, mostly been waiting on parts. It is getting close to being ready for paint. Had to set the body back on the pan due to needing the room for a party.

_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[ConcreteAce]

I got the goodies back from the chromers

_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[ConcreteAce]

Had Koch's restore the steering wheel. It looks amazing but I am not sure why he went with this color. That kinda bummed me out.

I am pretty sure it was ivory.

When he called I told him I wanted the original color.
_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[Major Woody]

Those quarter panels look really nice.

[*Darren]

[ConcreteAce]

[ConcreteAce]

Maybe I misspoke by calling the color ivory, when I should have said light beige. but I still think the wheel Koch restored for me is no where close to the original color.

picture quote for reference, this batwing is the exact color of the one I sent.

[*Darren]

Ok right. Gotcha yes light beige. Those two do look right. I thought the restored one looked dark, but thought it was just lighting. But yep light beige.

[René R.]

My '54 came with an ivory colored wheel when it was found unrestored. The wheel was in crappy condition, however, so I bought a restored one from Koch, in ivory. It looks absolutely factory-new:

I'm sure ivory steering wheels were not a late change. Here's a period photo of a '53. It's black & white, of course, but that wheel sure looks to be a light color to me:

This snapshot is less clear but it's another '53 and the wheel certainly doesn't look dark:

One more, undated but a factory photo of an early oval with a light-appearing wheel:

I don't claim to be an expert but I have no doubt that '53-'54 wheels were ivory, and maybe also '55.

When I bought my first 1950, back in 1965, it had the dark tan/brown wheel, with an ivory horn button. I have always associated those dark wheels with early deluxe splits.

Koch usually stocks restored steering wheels that are ready to ship, so I can't imagine he would have any problem simply swapping an ivory one (like he sold me) for the one he sent you. That one could be sold to someone restoring a split.
_________________
Gone but not forgotten: 1950 Hoffman split (restored in 1966) - another 1950 Hoffman split (restored in 1996)

[ConcreteAce]

I do need to note that Teresa with Kotchs called and made everything right. I just had them ship me the paint and I will repaint it when I paint the column and seat frames. and I will go on to say that the wheel does look amazing, I was just bummed that the color was wrong. But it's really not that big of deal this now keeps me from having to color match to the wheel when the other parts get painted.
_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[janerick3]

For future reference, 1967-70 Savannah Beige (L620/L10N) is a very close match to the 1954-55 "ivory" color.
_________________
Thanks,
Jan K.

[ConcreteAce]

Got a little shop time in today. Everything is in final primer now. The next 2-3 weekend will be used blocking everything down one more time in hopes that nothing will be missed. After that we will start spraying some color.

welded up the lighter hole in the dash

_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[ConcreteAce]

After a full day of blocking we got the body in final primer today. Might see some color in the next few post (hopefully)

Rear vents turned out nice.

_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[ConcreteAce]

got a little booth time in.
Wet sanding

Sealer applied

Base Coat

Clear Coat

_________________
Ethan Dunlap
Spring, Texas

'51 Deluxe
'61 Build
'68 Turbo Diesel Baja
'64 Ghia Vert
'61 Baja Build

[motofly196]

Looks really nice with color on it!!! Did you guys just knock it all out at once? The pictures make it look that way. Got all the base on, hung the doors, then did all clear at once? That's a TON of work to do at one time! Good job!!!

[ConcreteAce]