Thread: Road trip and new project.

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We were just talking during the trip about the point Bob and the rest of you make. Even hardcore hot rod guys accept VW bugs as being pretty cool, most other imports do not share that respect it seems. I guess the reason is exactly what we have said, most of us have fond memories of one we owned in the past. My first car when I was 16 was a 57 oval window, all 36 HP of it. I beat that poor car to death and it never quit running.

As I mentioned, when Dan was 14 we bought a total of 8 bugs (this was back when they could be found for $ 25-$100 everywhere) and we built him one Cal Look bug out of all of those. Over the years he rebuilt it 4 times, at one time Porsche Lime green with flames, and at the end with suicide doors. He and Don also had a blue stocker they drove through a lot of high school.

All I have to do now is convince him to push it into a corner of the shop and cover it up until the RPU is really done and running.

Jim, you asked about the 49 Ford.....it's gone. It really had some rust issues and was a fordor we were converting to a tudor, so I talked Dan into letting me cut it up and get rid of it. We kept the good parts for future projects (motor, dash, good tudor doors, etc.) so it will be incorporated into something else some day. It just would have taken too much to make a decent car out of it,as opposed to starting with a cleaner one.

Don

Don,
That will be a fun project, easy to work on, lots of stuff available for them.
Had a '56 with a 1835 in it.
I hope John Palmer sees this, he can tell you a few things about VW's.
I love new projects, good luck Dan
Ken

You've hit all the points why he wants to do a bug this time, Ken. As you know (only too well , I'm sure. ) building a car from scratch burns you out sometimes. After 5 years, Dan is a little tired of having to fabricate every little bracket on his RPU. It will be a nice change to reconstruct a car from readily existing parts (every nut, bolt, trim piece, etc is available in the aftermarket) so all he has to do is refinish the body and pan, build an engine, and start bolting on new parts. Those kinds of builds are fun IMO.

Sounds like the one you had was cool........and quick.

Don

Here is sort of what he has in mind.......stock looking, but cleaned up a little.

LOL, Just could not stay away could you!

I'm not sure that I can explain the VW attraction, and how it gets into peoples blood. This weekend we will be racing at the VW Bug In #35 and many old racers are now restoring their old race cars back to original for show. Two cars were shipped (back) over from England for this show/race that were originally raced at Orange County International Raceway in the 70's. One of our local specialty tool manufacturers is SP tools, Schley Products in Anaheim. The two brothers got into the tool business through their VW gasser racing efforts during the 1960's and 70's. I just saw their newly restored 1970 dragster at the header shop that they will be showing this weekend, very nice. All of their cars were called the Lightning Bug and were metalic blue.

Don, here's some advice from an old timer. First, you picked the right year to restore. 1967 or earlier is a "good rule of thumb" so you can get you money out of it when you sell. The early cars will always have a much higher resale demand. Also, don't bother with after market steel fenders, they do not fit, are thin, and require a ton of rework. Search for originals, and fix them, a stainless shrinking disk works wonders. There is a company down your way called Creative Fiberglass (or close to that) that makes the best quality parts by far, fit is as good as O.E.