1968 VW Beetle Convertible Build

[bosco0633]

Hello everyone,

I am starting this post as a journal into my dads rebuild. A quick history... my mom learned how to drive standard on a beetle, my dad has bought and sold project beetles as long as I can remember. When I was 15 he came home with two 1974 Super Beetles that we just never really got into. My first car was a VW Golf, then a Jetta....

About 12 years ago my dad saw a 1968 VW beetle convertible sitting in front of a small auto shop in my city. My dad stopped in and chatted with the shop owner. He purchased the car from California and drive it to Ontario Canada. The car had one owner and under 60,000 miles on it. The shop owner bought it to rebuild for his granddaughter. He took the body off and did a full restoration on the frame, new floor pans welding and all new brakes, shocks lines etc. My dad offered to buy it from him, however, he wasn’t ready to let it go.

Sadly the shop owner passed away and someone that my father knows purchased the shop. After having the car sit for a few years my dad was able to purchase the Beetle. Winters and sitting outdoors took a toll on the body, however, there was something about this car that my dad fell in love with.

The car has sat in my dads garage for the past 8 years. He just recently sold his 74 Dodge Dart Swinger and made the decision to restore his car. He is retired now and ready to fix this car up it’s original glory.

My dad has bought and sold over 15 Beetles over the past 8 years. He strips parts and buys out surrendered project cars from people. He has stock piled a massive collection of parts for his restoration.

I am 42 now and able to help out financially and I wanted to document our restore journey and share it with other VW peeps. Spending this time with my dad is something that I am so fortunate to be able to do.

I hope to lean on the samba community for support and share our journey with you all. I have been a member here for years, however, we weren’t ready to get going until now...

Let the journey begin!!

[Q-Dog]

Looks like it was originally Yukon Yellow. Where have I seen that color before?

_________________
Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[wcfvw69]

I've been down the road you and your father are about to travel. Above is a "what the hell was I thinking" photo and then "I can't believe I finished it" photo"..

Feel free to reach out if you guys have any questions! I'm glad to help direct you with questions or to good parts.
_________________
Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc

Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[Buggeee]

This is awesome for a million reasons, the most important of which is that huge smile on your dad's face. Great opening to an epic journey.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[bosco0633]

I've been down the road you and your father are about to travel. Above is a "what the hell was I thinking" photo and then "I can't believe I finished it" photo"..

Feel free to reach out if you guys have any questions! I'm glad to help direct you with questions or to good parts.[/quote]

thanks so much I cant wait to see everything after body work and paint. Quick question about the side mirrors. We ordered mirrors from CIP1 today and we got a straight arm on the drivers side and a curved one on the passenger side. The website shows them both straight arm, however, I notice in your photo that the driver and passenger side are like the ones that I ordered. What was stock for 68? I cant seem to find straight goods.

Your car looks incredible. Is that royal red by chacne? I hope ours turns out half as nice as that one!!!

thanks again

[bosco0633]

[quote="Q-Dog"]Looks like it was originally Yukon Yellow. Where have I seen that color before?


I love this colour. I wanted Dad to do this and a brown interior to keep it original. My dad is a red guy and we were going with ruby red, but I learned that they dropped ruby red for the 68. So we are likely going with royal red with black interior.

I cant wait to see yours finished, that yellow is so nice!!

[wcfvw69]

[sb001]

[bosco0633]

[quote="sb001"]

[vernonc]

Bill, (wcfvw69) I thought you kept that car in your living room all the time and just show it when need be.

mort
_________________
"Those who don't read newspapers are un-informed. Those who do read newspapers are mis-informed." Will Rogers

'69 sedan, low mileage, all original.....currently being 'freshened-up' for road trips and daily driving...just not every day

Freshening-up link http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617386

[wcfvw69]

[bosco0633]

ill Grab some better photos next week but our frame and floors have been fully restored. We have everything new on the bottom and just getting ready for body. We found an excellent shop that will be doing our body work and paint.

My dad found a local school had purchased an old 68 and cut it in half for a school play. We bought the back end for 20.00. Our luggage area was in really bad shape so dad cut it out. We took the steel from the chopped car and we secured it in our car. Looks pretty good.

[Buggeee]

[bosco0633]

Body and paint is about to go down. We stripped as much off of the car as we could. We removed all the windows and seals and the car will get a total paint job inside and out once the body is done.

Turns out the front end was in a crash at some point. We did t even notice the crumpled steel in the front wheel well area. They say it won’t be a problem as they have the equipment to pull it straight.

Our hood and front fenders may be in trouble. We have some good rot in them but he said he will see what he could do. I am guessing that we will be looking for some replacements soon.

[bosco0633]

As we suspected, our front fenders and hood have a lot of rot. Our body guy will be able to work with the rear fenders. He sent them off for sand blasting.

We found an amazing contact locally who runs a VW repair shop out of their garage. We found 30 year old NOS bumpers never used. We got a pretty good deal so we were happy. We also lucked into to NOS bumpers and running boards.

We searched every add for a hood with no luck. Our hood is rotted out now that we have removed paint. The body guy said that when he sand blasts it there will be way to much rot. And we learned today that it had already had a ton of bondo work done prior to us purchasing the car.

We found a 17 year old hood brand new. Definitely aftermarket as the circle area for the emblem is missing. It appears to be good quality and as heavy as our original hood. We are pretty bummed out about the hood not being OEM, however, it will allow the body work to get going. If I come across a good condition hood for our 68 soon I may buy that instead. So if anyone in Ontario has one laying around please let me know!!!

Ordered rubber seals for all the doors and windows OUCH!!!

Also treated my dad to new stainless polished trim kit, emblem, rear badge and side badge, black TMI door panels and kick plates, side mirrors, antenna, and exterior handles. Hope he loves it all!!!

We have collected pretty well everything else that we need to put the car back together over the past 8 years of buying and selling.

You can see the crumpled area in the fender wheel wells. This will be getting pulled out this week and everything should be getting realigned really soon.

[bosco0633]

As we suspected, our front fenders and hood have a lot of rot. Our body guy will be able to work with the rear fenders. He sent them off for sand blasting.

We found an amazing contact locally who runs a VW repair shop out of their garage. We found 30 year old NOS bumpers never used. We got a pretty good deal so we were happy. We also lucked into to NOS bumpers and running boards.

We searched every add for a hood with no luck. Our hood is rotted out now that we have removed paint. The body guy said that when he sand blasts it there will be way to much rot. And we learned today that it had already had a ton of bondo work done prior to us purchasing the car.

We found a 17 year old hood brand new. Definitely aftermarket as the circle area for the emblem is missing. It appears to be good quality and as heavy as our original hood. We are pretty bummed out about the hood not being OEM, however, it will allow the body work to get going. If I come across a good condition hood for our 68 soon I may buy that instead. So if anyone in Ontario has one laying around please let me know!!!

Ordered rubber seals for all the doors and windows OUCH!!!

Also treated my dad to new stainless polished trim kit, emblem, rear badge and side badge, black TMI door panels and kick plates, side mirrors, antenna, and exterior handles. Hope he loves it all!!!

We have collected pretty well everything else that we need to put the car back together over the past 8 years of buying and selling.

You can see the crumpled area in the fender wheel wells. This will be getting pulled out this week and everything should be getting realigned really soon.

[bosco0633]

I took a few pictures of the inside today when we went to the shop. They are making some great progress so far. I’m glad we went as we were able to catch two holes for an old aftermarket mirror that they forgot to patch. They are going to patch them before the doors get sprayed.

[bosco0633]

I took a few pictures of the inside today when we went to the shop. They are making some great progress so far. I’m glad we went as we were able to catch two holes for an old aftermarket mirror that they forgot to patch. They are going to patch them before the doors get sprayed.

[bosco0633]

After reviewing a chart for the wheels on our 68 it appears that the royal red with black interior called for lotus white paint.

I have read that the middle of the rim is a black grey and I want to confirm that the colour is actually LD34? I don’t have the code for lotus white but I will work on that

Thanks in advance

Ryan

[wcfvw69]