It's been ages since I updated our projects. Unfortunately many of the restoration photos for this bug have gone missing, but suffice it to say the shots above show the results.
The car was a little more rotten than I thought, but by far it was one of the most solid survivor cars I have ever seen. Vanessa and I fell right in love with it. It's been very good to us, right from the first day we brought it home. The original owners told us it should run, but hadn't in a year, and would need a starter. Well, with a charge and two pumps it fired right up and showed us then and there the kind of experience we would wind up having with the car.
In the months following its arrival home I welded in a small portion of each rear quarter panel, and some other patches on the heater channels. Oil was changed, fuel lines were changed, brake lines (hard and flex) were replaced along with the master cylinder, calipers (yes, calipers, it has factory disc brakes), pads, and rear cylinders. I put another set of rear fenders on and ultimately decided to weld in a new rear apron as well to fix a poorly done repair from the past. A local shop mixed me some matching paint and I blended in the front section of the front fenders, the rear quarters, and painted the rear fenders and apron. We even got the sunroof to work with a new cable and seals.
I am very pleased with the overall result. The proof is in the usage it's received. In two summers of owning it we've put on over 8000 km!!!
This year we did a small tune-up, and part way through the summer put a new exhaust system on it.
This car is a real gem. It's won awards at Durham Bugfest and June Jitterbug.
Next year new tires are in its future, and so are thousands more km of fun I'm sure.
