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62 RHD Vintage German Look
Hi guys
Thought it time I started a thread on my next ride. This project is on the back burner as I have a major project on the go at the moment which has to be finished first and that is taking up all of the time and £££'s! Anyway, I've always been a fan of the GL but prefer the style of the older Bug's so I went out and found a good base for the project which I'm calling Vintage German Look. It's a 1962 RHD Ragtop which needs most of the bottom six inches replacing (and I mean six inches!). The good news is that the car was fairly original and had not received too much welding before. God knows how it got through its MOT's though! The car has been off the road for 3-4 years and was partly stripped by a previous owner. Plan is for the shell to stay stock with running gear as follows: IRS 944 rear, Porsche 5-speed box (prob 915), 944 master cylinder, hydraulic clutch, Boxster S brakes, 17" Turbo Cup 3 wheels and fuel injected big type 4 engine. Not planning to do much to the interior with the exception of changing the front seats and steering wheel. Here's some photos of how the car looked when I acquired it: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...4.jpg~original At some point in its life it has received a bump in the rear so it doesn't have its original decklid (nor its original number plate! :mad:). No problem as this one is rusted out and I've already acquired a replacement: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...6.jpg~original Bonnet is original and can luckily be saved with a bit of remedial work here and there: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...8.jpg~original http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...0.jpg~original Front valance is good as is the panel below the fuel tank but it needs a spare wheel well: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...2.jpg~original http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...5.jpg~original Needs a rear valance and rear bumper hangers: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...0.jpg~original Doors are original and at least one of them can be saved. Not sure about the other one yet: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...1.jpg~original Dash is reasonably good: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...8.jpg~original Ragtop is all there and open and closes perfectly: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...9.jpg~original http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...0.jpg~original Needs both pan halves. You can see in this photo where a previous owner cut out the nearside heater channel in readiness for replacement: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...5.jpg~original The offside channel needs replacing too as does the front of the inner wings: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...2.jpg~original Lower bulkhead panel needs just some minor repairs to the bottom edge: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...3.jpg~original Rear is nasty. Need both lower quarters, closing panels, inner rear wings and both cross members: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...3.jpg~original So that's about it. I'll post some more pics in a while but in advance of that, all comments and suggestions welcome! :) |
Hi
I admire the dedication you have to restoring a car after being on salt infested roads, most people in Australia would pass on this one. Good luck with it, it will be a nice car when its done. Steve |
The rust doesn't look that bad (I've seen alot worse repaired) all the sheet metal you need is available. when your done with the rust repairs you will have a good foundation to start with for the GL. Good luck and keep at it. :)
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However, being an original RHD UK dealer supplied car it carries some provenance and is not bad enough to pass on, but is not good or early enough not to worry about carrying out some serious modifications to! ;) |
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Here are some pics of the car taken not long after it had been purchased by a previous owner, presumably just after it had stopped being used:
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...5.jpg~original http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...6.jpg~original http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...4.jpg~original And here's a pic of the fantastic Bug built by Alan Agyik which has provided the inspiration to build this car: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...a.jpg~original As I'd always intended on giving the finished item to the wife to pootle around in, she first said she wanted the car finished in a creamy colour, so I got my good friend Tonser to change the colour of Alan's car in PS: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...7.jpg~original However, we decided that colour made it somehow look a little too vintage or even, dare I say it here, Resto-Cal! :lmao: As I'm looking for the style to be a fushion of old meets modern and given the current desire for the top German performace cars to mix white with black wheels, Tonz changed the colour again to white and we decided this is how it's going to look (although with a black leather an alcantara interior): http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...8.jpg~original What do you think? I think the gun metal wheels against the white really make it stand out. |
So although I'd been given strick instructions by 'er indoors not to buy anything until the current project is finished I haven't been able to resist collecting a few parts. So far I've acquired:
A cheap repro heater channel: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...9.jpg~original Pair of Heritage floorpan halves. I've actually since sold these as I discovered via my other project these are a bit thin. So I went out and bought some of the grey WW ones: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...0.jpg~original Rot free decklid which I think came from Sweden: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...1.jpg~original http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...2.jpg~original A pair of NOS 56-61 tail-lights. Not correct for the car but I prefer them to the 62 on units: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...3.jpg~original Boxster S front discs and calipers, a steal from ebay: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...4.jpg~original 1985 year 2.5 944 master cylinder: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...5.jpg~original One 944 S2 wheel hub from ebay. Need to find another now! http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...6.jpg~original And complete IRS (steel) rear end from the same 85 2.5 944: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...7.jpg~original Managed to track down four never fitted 17" Cup 3's all with the required ET52: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...8.jpg~original All in pretty good shape with light scuff marks from storage but only one centre cap so if anyone has any please let me know. In fact I'm looking for another couple of wheels so again, let me know if you have any or know of any: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...9.jpg~original And finally a pair of 80's Recaro's from I think an RS Turbo Escort. Not sure though about these as I' m thinking a pair of 911 highback's or more race like Recaro's would look better: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...0.jpg~original |
Nice car! Definately worth doing all the investments on because of it being an original UK car as you mentioned and having a soft top.
Good luck man! |
Tks Wally. Love your car, especially the 1/4 times you post at the Pod!
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Also made a start on the welding. Not being done by me, I've entrusted the work to Gavin Jones at Trailer Queen Restos as not only is Gav one of the best VW painters in the scene he's also fantastically gifted when it comes to metal and bodywork. Here's what's been done so far, not much but it's a start: First job is to replace both pan halves and channels so with the nearside channel already cut out Gav decided to start on that side first. Before actually starting on the pan he decided to replace the cross member. Factory spot welds drilled out to remove the corroded lower inner quarter metal: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...1.jpg~original http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...2.jpg~original And inner rear cleaned up to see how bad it was. Not too bad really considering the extent of corrosion elsewhere: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...3.jpg~original Factory spot welds exposed along the top of the old cross member ready to drill out and remove the metal: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...5.jpg~original New cross member bolted and welded into place. As you can see, being a new type panel it doesn't match the shape of the original but with so many modifications being done on the car I wasn't worried about not having the correct shape cross members! :lmao: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...6.jpg~original Small closing panel Gav fabbed up in order to reconnect the inner lower quarter to the cross member: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...7.jpg~original With the repro heater channel's being made for a later Bug Gav modified both the heater outlet and the inner skin in order for it to look like a 60's item: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...8.jpg~original http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/e...9.jpg~original And that's as far as she's got.....but will update as soon as some more is done. :) |
Go for it man! Just don't tell your wife real cost of the parts...
It hurts less :D |
That's a hell of a project you started but it'll be all the more rewarding when you're finished. Keep the progress pics coming :)
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Nice...
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