SleepAIR Build Thread

[Bogara_ZO]

The next step was Sandblasting..






..than primer:



Few days later the body came back as well:

[Bogara_ZO]

More or less what I expected.



Left quater was demaged (nothing else) and poorly repaired




Towers are a bit... there are no towers




Otherwise it's not too bad.

[Bogara_ZO]

The Body Shop



October, 2011 - bodywork began.






I was storngly thinking to save more money and buy the complete front panels, but decided to go with just the repairs as they should be as strong or stronger than the aftermarket complete ones. Not my favourite picture.

[Bogara_ZO]

My buddy sent me a picture of the car and a girl with 3 legs



Well, I was always a big fan of sunroofs so it was predictable that the car should have one. I managed to find a perfect example, rust free and fully working.



Instead of cutting off the original and welding the new one, or cutting just the sunroof into the original roof (as we did on the yellow car and worked perfect) I've chosen the 3rd option



so structurally all the pillars and the roof remained original. Turned out well I think.







It's glue inside, no rust.

[Bogara_ZO]

Till January 2012 nothing happened than finally the pan was almost ready.






Was missing only the upper side, when I came up with an idea: a colore matched tunnel would look fine (planning no or few carpets inside). But, hey what color will the car be?

[Bogara_ZO]

So I had to find out the color ASAP..not an easy decision. After checking (nearly) all the factory Porsche and VW colors I decided to choose from the original ones to make the car as authentic as possible (thus keeping the value...seems I'm getting older or don't know)

For the 8/1971 - 7/1972 model year the following colors were available:

Texas Yellow / Texasgelb (L10B),

Brilliant Orange / Leuchtorange (L20B),

Kasan Red / Kasanrot (L30B),

Black / Schwartz (L41),

Gentian Blue / Enzianblau (L51B),

Marina Blue / Marinablau (L54D),

Sumatra Green / Sumatragrün (L61B),

Pastel White / Pastellweiß (L90D),

Kansas Beige (L91D),

Turquoise Metallic / Türkismetallic (L95B),

Silver Metallic / Silbermetallic (L96D),

Gemini Metallic (blue, L96E),

Colorado Metallic (red, L97D).

+ the special editions like the Marathon Beetle/Baja Champion SE - Marathon Metallic (silver, blue L96M); Cabrio and Jubilee models (20th million edition) -Saturn Yellow (L13M) except USA and Europe "May Beetle" editions, that were available in Saturn Yellow (L13M), Blood Orange (L21E) and Willow Green (L63K).

Since it is going to be a summer car it should be light & some others were out of my taste. I kept Marathon Blue (you know Christian Stelzer's ethalon), Turquoise and Silver Metallic plus the original Marina Blue and Kasan Red. Than I realized that an 1302 have to be built in oldschool so Marina Blue and Kasan Red final arrived. MB is quite rare in the GL scene and it was the original color of my car, while the KR is more sporty, looks better with chrome and it was a one year color for Beetles as far as I know.




Being different is cool, a 2 year only car in a 1 year only color is a ticket to this, so the winner is Kasan Red L30B.

[Bogara_ZO]

Since I knew the color, the pan could be finished. (April, 2012)





However it's an interesting color (not so red but somwhere between red and orange) the pictures don't show it well, it seems more orange than it is (maybe the lights + cell phone).

Actually I'm not sure about the tunnel, but let's wait it. If I don't like it than comes carpet

There are things to do till body gets painted.