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ronjonlasvegas Samba Member

Joined: October 08, 2004 Posts: 936 Location: Las Vegas, NV
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Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:20 pm Post subject: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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I bought this 1957 Vert about 6 weeks ago. It was converted into a Baja bug years ago. I am going to put it back together as a full body car. I have been acquiring parts. Here is what I have found so far.
Four tab hood, vert decklid, the correct top frame for the convertible top and the correct rear window and top latches, four oval fenders, 4 smoothie wheels and a 36hp engine. I’m still looking for front and rear clips.
I live in Las Vegas, NV. I bought the car off a local friend who actually found it in a tow yard here in Vegas. It was in the back of the tow yard and had been in that same spot for 20+ years. It’s going to be a big project, but it’s fairly dry and I think it should be brought back to life.
I got the birth certificate in the mail yesterday. The original color was Iris Blue.
_________________ September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint. |
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markendee Samba Member

Joined: April 30, 2009 Posts: 292 Location: Kyabram, Australia
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Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2023 7:36 pm Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Fantastic, nothing better than a special car being restored to it's glory.
Will watch on with lots of interest.
Best of luck.
Mark. _________________ Member # 145244 |
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henry roberts Samba Member

Joined: February 24, 2003 Posts: 1287 Location: australia
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 2:16 am Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Great start to the project. Looking forward to watching it progress. |
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type4split Samba Member

Joined: May 23, 2007 Posts: 718 Location: Hamilton, Indiana
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 5:22 am Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Super cool to find these oval convertibles. Looks like a real solid start.
Maybe these will be late enough for front clip. Excellent quality
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2053241 _________________ '67 deluxe bus w/the little windows
'52 beetle
'55 convertible
'50-something convertible (*need ribbed 'vert quarter panel )
'63 "milo" beetle
Part, parts and more parts |
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VW_Jimbo  Samba Member

Joined: May 22, 2016 Posts: 10673 Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 8:21 am Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Super cool! It will be fun to watch this thread! A Convertible Oval Bug is on my bucket list! _________________ Jimbo
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!
TDCTDI wrote: |
Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
67rustavenger wrote: |
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!  |
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stale air Samba Member

Joined: August 23, 2007 Posts: 5443 Location: Senoia Ga, formally NorCal
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 11:38 am Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Nice! I love to see people saving these cars, and bringing them back to their former glory.
Look forward to watching the progress. _________________ WANTED: Henry Veale Santa Rosa plate frames
WANTED: Brittsan Motors Fresno plate frames
WANTED: Any Georgia plate frames
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ronjonlasvegas Samba Member

Joined: October 08, 2004 Posts: 936 Location: Las Vegas, NV
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 3:03 pm Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Thanks for the lead, I will look into these.
Thanks, to everyone else. I'm at the parts gathering stage right now. I can't start any work until my new shop gets built. Once I have a good workshop I will tear into this thing. The goal it to get it back like it was when it rolled off the showroom floor. _________________ September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint. |
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Busstom Samba Member

Joined: November 23, 2014 Posts: 4571 Location: San Jose, CA
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Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2023 4:52 pm Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Awesome color. I found this in the forums, believed to be Iris Blue. I never heard of it till now.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=345795 _________________ My name's Steve and it's pronounced "Bust 'em" (cuz people think I'm Tom)
cory464 wrote: |
if you aren't perfectly centered in the hole you will have issues when you tap it. |
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ronjonlasvegas Samba Member

Joined: October 08, 2004 Posts: 936 Location: Las Vegas, NV
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Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2023 4:30 pm Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Here are the latest pictures of my 57 vert project. Nothing is welded back yet, but my friend Robert came over and we bolted on the 4-tab hood, decklid, top frame and loosely bolted on the four fenders. This is just a rough mockup, obviously the car still needs the front and rear clips welded in place. I have used front and rear clips but they are rough and will need some additional metal replaced. _________________ September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint. |
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BulliBill Samba Member

Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4691 Location: St Charles, MO
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2024 10:42 am Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Very nice to see you bringing this one back to stock from "Baja" status! I'll be watching your progress, as I also have a 1957 model year Kabriolett that I am finally getting the resto started on. Mine was produced roughly a month later than yours on Dec 29th, 1956 (making it a 1957 model year Kab also). L232 Iris Blue is a beautiful color, and as of the first few days of Dec 1956 Karmann changed to L333 Pearl Blue metallic, so that is the color I'm planning for mine. They are fairly close in color to each other...
Keep up the great work Sir!
Bill _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help! |
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ronjonlasvegas Samba Member

Joined: October 08, 2004 Posts: 936 Location: Las Vegas, NV
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 7:00 am Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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BulliBill wrote: |
Very nice to see you bringing this one back to stock from "Baja" status! I'll be watching your progress, as I also have a 1957 model year Kabriolett that I am finally getting the resto started on. Mine was produced roughly a month later than yours on Dec 29th, 1956 (making it a 1957 model year Kab also). L232 Iris Blue is a beautiful color, and as of the first few days of Dec 1956 Karmann changed to L333 Pearl Blue metallic, so that is the color I'm planning for mine. They are fairly close in color to each other...
Keep up the great work Sir!
Bill |
Thanks Bill.
You and I have similar taste, I remember following along with you restoration of your 59 double cab. I had a October 1959 double cab that was the only know double cab survivor painted in the Postal Yellow color. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I don't think I have ever seen a oval cabrio in that Pearl Blue metallic color, is that what your car came when it was new? I looked up that Pearl Blue in the technical section and it looks great similar to Iris Blue just a little darker. I look forward to seeing your 57 come back to life as well.
Ron _________________ September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint. |
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BulliBill Samba Member

Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4691 Location: St Charles, MO
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2024 10:38 am Post subject: Re: 1957 oval vert Baja |
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Hi Ron,
Yep, those two blue colors are pretty close in appearance. My Kab was L41 Black and USA spec from the factory. I've bought someone's mid-project Kab way back in 1994 and simply stuffed it into the back corner of my garage and buried it in its' removed parts. I did the DC and other projects higher up in the line of my projects while continuing to keep an eye out for more and better Kab parts and a few accessories at all the USA and Euro swap meets I attended for the next 30 years.
I was on the fence as to color and whether I would restore it just as it left the factory well over 60 decades ago, or whether I'd restore it as a Euro spec car (adding semaphores, etc). So as I shopped swap meets and on theSamba.com I bought everything for both types of specification so that I could decide on that later on. After seeing and experiencing several L333 Pearl Blue metallic Kabs at European shows, I've pretty much decided over the last several months to go "Euro spec" and also mild "Vintage era-correct speed" too. We just replaced the pan halves and installed proper seat belt mounts while we were at it, and we are prepping to add the Euro semaphore boxes and convertible semaphores that I've had stashed away, a set of NOS Euro bumpers/guards, a vintage VDO tachometer with its' generator signal sender, etc. Should be fun, but I've got to step on it. I'm getting old! I'll probably start up a discussion thread here eventually about my Kab build as we really get into it...
Keep up the great work, I'll be watching!
Bill Bowman _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help! |
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