1964 Chop Top Build

[banana split]

After years of procrastinating, I've decided to start a build thread before I lose all of the photos I've taken.
This 1964 chop top Beetle was originally built by a friend of mine over 35 years ago. Chopped approximately 1 3/4" (if I remember correctly) with an oval rear window clip added.
As a kid back then, I drooled over this car. A few years later when it came up for sale, I couldn't afford it
It eventually sold to a young lady. She lived about 20min from me so I stayed in touch with her & her boyfriend for the next couple of years. My hope was that if she ever decided to sell it, I'd have first shot. Next thing I knew she and the car moved and I never saw it again.
Jump ahead to 2017 and I run into her boyfriend. Turns out they got married, moved, had kids and they still had the Beetle!
I was invited over to see it. It was no longer a driving car. It was all pulled apart with the intentions for re-doing it but as with most projects, life got in the way and it came to a halt... about 30 years ago!!

Covered in dust! You can see the floor pan hanging against the wall. So, some disassembly and metal work started and there it sat.
A deal was struck for $850 and the "project" was mine. No fenders, running boards, wheels, seats, gas tank, trans axle, rear apron or engine. All of that stuff disappeared over the years.
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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

A few more photos :

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

June 2017 she's coming home with me
The husband had built the wooden dolly to move the body around and it came with the purchase.
That's my buddy Stephen securing it to the trailer. Thanks for helping me out man!

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

Home safe and sound. Looks like I have a ton of work ahead of me!!

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

Now the fun begins... removing undercoating from all of the fender-wells and underneath the rear luggage tray. I used a heat gun, scrapers and solvent in a spay bottle with rags. That was nasty!!

And time to clean the floor pan. It had one pan half replaced and was painted in POR15. Unfortunately, it sat outside for years and rust was starting to bleed through again. Also found a mouse nest inside the frame head.

Now it's clean again. All the dust, grime and dried algae is gone. I bought a used swing axle tranny so I could get a set of axles, axle tubes, bearing caps, side gears etc. That was all torn apart and degreased etc. Plan is to purchase a Rancho Pro Street transmission for it.

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

Cleaning & painting original hardware, new tie rod ends & TRW steering box. Pedal assembly will get disassembled, bead blasted & powder coated black.

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[pierre2]

Keep the pics coming man!

Pierre

[matthew henricks]

Great story. Have fun with it.
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1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[slayer61]

I'm in. I'm also lovin' the chopped oval. Very cool.


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[banana split]

Time to start on the floor pan. It had one original pan half and the other was an older repro - they didn't match. The previous owner also undercoated the bottom side and everything was painted in POR15. Because the chassis sat outside for many years, new rust was bleeding through everywhere. What to do?

I enlisted my old VW friend to take care of things for me! Geoff Peterson. The kid has talent. He's the builder of the legendary Heb Rod :

Here's the pan at Geoff's shop. We decided that removing both pan halves was the best route and to replace with a pair of new matching ones.

Here's Geoff blasting the chassis in his cute little spaceman costume

Here is the fully blasted pan with new halves installed. Extra welds were laid down in various areas and a side access hole in the tunnel welded up. Geoff also replaced the metal fuel line.

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[cyclehobby]

Wow! Very nice project.

I'm no chop expert for sure (actually, not even close to knowing much), but I've seen some chops that look good and some that don't look so good. From what I can see in the pics, your chop looks like it was done well.

Again, being far from knowledgeable about the exact process and knowing there's a ton of work involved in chopping a car, yours appears to be nice and proportional in all the right places and looks as if it could have come that way from Wolfsburg.

This is a project I can't wait to see more of. Nice work on everything you did so far - including rescuing a nice oval. Kudos.
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1967 Beetle
Northern NJ

[banana split]

Picked up another oval rear window clip for the project. The internal louvers behind the vents on my car were hacked away leaving big square holes. I knew this would bother me & would have to be replaced. A new panel will be salvaged from this clip.

Also bought a new 4" narrowed beam from Samba member Keoki in Tacoma, WA. I shipped him my torsion leaves so he could narrow them to match. The beam will get bead blasted and powder coated as well.

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

[banana split]

Time to make it more complete looking. A W-deck lid was added, a pair of new rear IGP Brazilian fenders, a 4 tab hood from a 1958 Beetle that I parted out years ago, a NOS German left front fender and a mint used German right front fender.

But ugh!! That big hacked out radio opening. Hmm... rather than grafting in a new radio surround, maybe I just get my oval dash clip installed??

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

Looks like I need more of Geoff's help. He was nice enough to make the hour long drive out to my place with his rig and load up my Bug. He'll take it back to his shop and do some metal work for me. Of course, it had to be poring rain

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

Beam and control arms are back from the powder coater so it's time to get it assembled!!

Awe crap! A problem! The beam came with red urethane bushings - I don't like these. I replaced them with white Delrin axle beam bushings from Saco Performance. Once all assembled, I was left with a big gap between the bushing in the control arms. Totally lame! I assume my torsion leaves weren't narrowed quite enough. Ugh... how do I fix this?

After speaking with a few friends I still had no real good ideas. Then it came to me... how about just cutting down some stock rubber seals to fill in the gaps? My cut down skinny seals on the left.

Worked perfect! I'm happy with how it all turned out.

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

My buddy Gary made a set of Porsche pattern drums and rotors for me with press-in studs. I trimmed the studs down to length, bead blasted everything - including my wiper linkage and had it all powder coated. Then it was off to the brake shop to have the braking surfaces machined & cleaned up.

Also got the tie rods and pedal assembly back from powder coating and assembled.

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

Moving right along here... this was all done back in 2017. Floor pan is back from the powder coater so it's assembly time!

Got my Rancho Performance Pro Street tranny :

She's finally a roller! I'm using EMPI's 4.5 and 5.5 chromed alloys.

Russell Scots reproduction cruiser pedal :
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=724470
original copper Hurst shifter and stainless brake lines. I'm happy with how it all turned out.

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

Now the body is at Geoff and his brother's shop. Time to get busy!

The bug was de-chromed so Geoff started opening up the original body molding holes. Thank goodness they were only dimpled in and covered with Bondo! No welds to drill through.

A new Auto Craft pre 1955 H-apron being test fitted :

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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top

[banana split]

Bye bye 1964 dash...

Hello 1956 dash !! Test fitting :

Now the trunk metal has to go. Samba member restojohnny was nice enough to cut out the trunk panel from an oval he was parting out and ship it to me. A 1964 trunk panel does not match up with the profile of an oval dash so it has to be swapped out. Here Geoff is applying paint stripper to remove the many layers of old paint :

Out with the old!

Everything installed and back together !

Nice work Geoff
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My Beetles :
1951 Crotch Cooler 11G Split Ragtop
1953 Zwitter
1964 Chop Top