Bob's Bug Resto - SHE'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures from the final assembly of Bob's Bug. On Friday night and Saturday I finished my part of the resto, with lots of help from Vanessa. During this time I completed the assembly of the doors (all the finicky window rubber and glass), completed the wiring under the hood, installed the AM/FM/CD/MP3 deck, installed and wired all of the lights, refurbished and installed the speedometer, mounted the front hood, latching system, and seal, installed the carpet and seats, mounted the shift knob, then finished things off by installing the emblem on the hood. Next I gassed it up and took off for a spin! A YouTube video will follow the pictures showing the startup and first drive.

The finished interior.



The taillights, prior to bumper installation.
Headlight and custom front signal. The final touch.Look mom, no hands!
A little go-go juice.
All Done!

Or was it.... Vanessa and I detailed the car (and our bus) and took it for a drive to the Ajax Cruise Night at CTC with no problems, however I soon realized the wiper motor I had installed was a 6V unit and wasn't parking in the right location. After a bit of swearing I found the correct 2 speed 12V motor in great condition in my 6V motor stash!! I guess I should have paid a little more attention. Woe is me, though, as the motor wasn't correct, it was from a Ghia with a longer shaft and the wrong park location. At midnight Saturday I pulled the motor apart, re-indexed the parking mechanism, shortened the drive lever, installed a new pin system, reassembled and reinstalled. Now it works like a charm!

The car was finally ready for hand-off to Bob with a short to-do list to perfect it. Bob and Dianne arrived promply Sunday morning at 8:30 and we were off to BugFest (http://www.bugfest.ca/). See the main blog here for details: http://ad-libs-main.blogspot.com/

So, do I have any final thoughts? Sure. In the end the trials, tribulations, bloodied knuckles and late nights are worth it. This is the first resto I've actually seen from start to end. It was nice to make mistakes with someone elses car (and money). If I could do it over again I would have waited for a more complete car to come along, like the '65 we have waiting in the wings. Working from a rotten shell meant we were "nickel and dimed to death" in the final assembly stages. On the other hand it was neat to save some more German iron from the scrap heap. I will also spend a little more time on future builds working with the hood, decklid, and door alignment prior to paint. If you had asked me at any time, "would you do it over again" as I locked up the garage after a hot night of welding or body filler sanding, the answer probably would have been "no." But, alas, seeing the car complete makes it worth the pain.