Dude’s 58 Ragtop Beetle

[Deanodynosaurs]

Hello Cal-Look Lounge!

I been restoring my 58 bug for about a year now on and off, and though I'd post a few photos of how its going. The plan is to build a early cal look beetle, the car I always wanted. 

The car is fairly solid, if not a bit rough around the edges, but in fairly good shape for a 58!

Heres a few photos to give you a idea of what i started off with.












However, after stripping the car down it became evident she needed a bit more work than originally thought! (Isn’t it always the case!  )










Therefore in typical ‘Dude’ style the first thing I decided to do was to fit a Goldie ragtop! The car was actually a solid roof model. However, I had a genuine Goldie roof section from a 63, and the roof was badly dented, so I decide to fit it. Cheers to Phil from Autobodyworx for his help with the install. (I got loads more photos of this process if anyone’s interested! Or still awake after getting this far!  )






















Next up came the repairs to the front clip and spare wheel well. I decide that these panels were to far gone and thus I fitted new items, which also ended up in me doing both side of the nose sections. The front valance is an Autocraft pressing which is brilliant (I can't recomend Autocraft enough! Their panels are spot on! ), and the others are aftermarket panels re-shaped to match the original 58 steelwork.




















As usual nothing went easy, and I had to split the nose sections to fit the valance and wings, as well as splitting the wheel well!  Oh well, it all fitted in the end!















Ayway, I done plenty more, but taken me ages to post all that, and i better get some sleep!

I'll put some more up soon if anyones interested!

Dude 

[Sam K]

Nice work so far! What are the future plans (color, drivetrain, wheels, etc.)?

[wolfswest]

wow     nice...  yes, please give us some details how she will look like.

[Peter]

Hey Dude, i recognize you from beetle crisis!!!

[louisb]

Nice looking work. Keep us updated on your progress.

--louis

[Deanodynosaurs]

LOL! I didn’t realize this forum didn’t send you an email when somebody posted, so I didn’t know anyone had commented! Thanks for all the positive and supportive comments!     

I've actually done loads more than this, so I’ll update you with some more photo's after this! (Prepare to be very bored!  )

Here’s a sort of ruff idea that I’ve got in my head (a scary place!) of what I want the car to look like. It's gonna be a cal looker, but not a strict call looker as I want to keep the trim and quarter lights etc. I put some slicks on it in the photo as it will be used occasionally on the track, but it's gonna be mainly a street car. I’ve got a full out race car, but now I wanna build something I can enjoy on the street!

Anyway enough waffle, here’s a rough idea of what she’s gonna look like!



Dude 

[Deanodynosaurs]

Hey Dude, i recognize you from beetle crisis!!!

LOL! The tv put pounds on you! I'm not really that fat!   

Dude 

[Deanodynosaurs]

So here’s some more! 

Next up was the channel. Although initially it looked as if there were only a few holes in it, once it was cleaned up I realized it was worse than I thought!

I decide to replace just the outer channel rather than the whole thing as the inner side was rock solid as well as most of the bottom plate, and I’m trying to keep the car as original as possible.












A repair panel was used from GSF. However this did not have the original ‘indents’ so I mad a tool up and pressed these in! (Geek alert!  )
 







Next up was the A post. I used one of the excellent Hookey’s repair panels (God I’m sounding like a commercial for panel suppliers!  ). For once this panel went in pretty easy!












Next up was putting the rear quarter back in. This actually took me two attempt to get right, as I wasn’t happy with the fit the first time, but it went in well in the end! (I don’t seem to have many photos oh this. Thank god I hear you say!  )

I wanted to get the panel exactly the same as the original, however the GSF repair panel that I used did not have the original drain holes (the 3 half moons at the bottom). Therefore I made a pressing tool to put these back in (Yes I really am a geek!  ).






Next  was repair the inner wheel arch! Now this was hard, as you can get repair panels which are anywhere near the correct pressings! Thus I (with the help of Phil from autobodyworx again!) hand made most of these!

As can be seen in the first photo this area is pretty bad, so using measurement taken from the other side I tried to recreate the panels as per standard spec. It would have been better to do it from one sheet, but this was a bit to complex so I did it from a few panels, which I think turned out alright.

[Deanodynosaurs]

Next i did the rear quarter stud line. This was generally not to bad, and as the rest of the inner quarter panel was solid I decide to repair the rust holes rather than do the whole panel. Where the welded on nut were removed I re-used the original ones, by cleaning them up and welded them back on!
























The rear bumper mount from the outside looked reasonably ok. However, looking at it from the underneath showed a few small holes. Once the bumper hanger was removed these small holes became a lot of rot!  I decide to replace the whole area here using a wolf bumper repair panel. Although these panels cost the same as the third world debt, they are excellent being perfect reproductions, and also a very good fit. Although it took a fair bit of measuring, the panel was actually fairly simple to fit.














The next photos are for the panel geeks. 

Underneath the rear seats, although solid for an early car, a bit of rot had crept in. Although I could have got away with a simple flat plate here I again decided to copy the original pressing. (NOTE: I know the weld haven’t been fully ground back! I gotta finish this!)

 








These photos need no real explanation. The fuel tank lip was rotten so it got replaced! 

[Deanodynosaurs]

The gutter had also started to lift in a few places, so these were removed, and sand blasted underneath, with new steel being folded over and welded on.

 

[Deanodynosaurs]

So that where I’ve got to!  I hope it hasn’t bored you to much! 

The next step is to finish the small (but one of the most difficult so far!) repair to the corner of the front window pillar. Then its the day I been waiting for for ages when I can finally turn the car round and see what needs doing on the other side! Or maybe I’ll try and straighten the genuine vert deck lid I got that looks like its been run over by a steam roller! 

Dude 

[Turtle001]

hey -- the car you have in mind -- looks a bit like mine ;-)

http://turtle.skynetblogs.be

[redbluebug]

Nice work dude!

[j-f]

Lot's of surgery to get this bug a new life 

Keep up the good work. 

[Deanodynosaurs]

hey -- the car you have in mind -- looks a bit like mine ;-)

http://turtle.skynetblogs.be

Wow! Your car is stunning! If mine looks anywhere near as good as that I will be very very happy!

Whats colour the paint? Is it Fyord Blue?

Dude 

[dubnut62]

Dude,

Your enthusiasm and energy are making me tired!

Got my lazy ass oustide yesterday and started clearing the '62 so we can tow it over to Bobs and get on with it.  Found a programme in it from Big Bang 2001, the last time I drove it   

Good work mate, just hope I don't find as much rot as you 

See you at Tatton?

George

[Deanodynosaurs]

Dude,

Your enthusiasm and energy are making me tired!

Got my lazy ass oustide yesterday and started clearing the '62 so we can tow it over to Bobs and get on with it.  Found a programme in it from Big Bang 2001, the last time I drove it   

Good work mate, just hope I don't find as much rot as you 

See you at Tatton?

George

Hi Dude!

What do you mean rot! She's had a few minor repairs! 

I cant wait for yo get the 62 sorted! I heard about it, but never seen it! Bet its finished before my 58 is!! 

Not sure about Tatton dude? If i can convince Nat to have a round trip to my folks as well we might come up _{(in the mini!)}

Hope you and Rach are cool. Everything cool here as ever, busy working on my 58, Nat's splitty, were doing major building work in the house (I sledge hammered a wall down last night! It was great!  ), oh and some actual work sometimes!!

I'll give you a call at the weekend for a gossip!

Dude 

[dubnut62]

Dude,

Your enthusiasm and energy are making me tired!

Got my lazy ass oustide yesterday and started clearing the '62 so we can tow it over to Bobs and get on with it.  Found a programme in it from Big Bang 2001, the last time I drove it   

Good work mate, just hope I don't find as much rot as you 

See you at Tatton?

George

Hi Dude!

What do you mean rot! She's had a few minor repairs! 

I cant wait for yo get the 62 sorted! I heard about it, but never seen it! Bet its finished before my 58 is!! 

Not sure about Tatton dude? If i can convince Nat to have a round trip to my folks as well we might come up _{(in the mini!)}

Hope you and Rach are cool. Everything cool here as ever, busy working on my 58, Nat's splitty, were doing major building work in the house (I sledge hammered a wall down last night! It was great!  ), oh and some actual work sometimes!!

I'll give you a call at the weekend for a gossip!

Dude 

Dude,

I would'nt put money on me finishing before you as we are planning on working on the notch too and putting in some lovely fresh heater channels.  Add Bob's cars to the list and we might be done by 2012!

Be good top see you at Tatton but it is a hell of a round trip for you!
Smashing walls down with sledge hammers is great, especially if you do it late at night, neighbours love it.

Speak soon mate.

George 

[SteveW]

Dude!

The '58 is looking cool!!  I'm definately going to employ you to help with the rebuild on ours  and you George 

We just had our shell media blasted at Marrawise in Cov and they've done a cracking job!! It only cost me £100 and they put in primer afterwards too!

[Deanodynosaurs]

Dude!

The '58 is looking cool!!  I'm definately going to employ you to help with the rebuild on ours  and you George 

We just had our shell media blasted at Marrawise in Cov and they've done a cracking job!! It only cost me £100 and they put in primer afterwards too!

Cheers 58 brother!

You know i'll always help you with your car!

Thats a cracking price on the sandbalsting! I could be very tempted by that! I know some people say it bad as you cant block all the holes up and you get media inside, but then i plan to build a jig to rotate the shell 360 degress anyway, so hopefull i can get most of the grit out!

I also plan to give you a call soon dude!

Oh, and if you email me your paypal details i'll sort that money out from EBI by the way! 


Dude 

[dubnut62]

Dude!

The '58 is looking cool!!  I'm definately going to employ you to help with the rebuild on ours  and you George 

We just had our shell media blasted at Marrawise in Cov and they've done a cracking job!! It only cost me £100 and they put in primer afterwards too!

Oh I see, Dude gets an invite before me and I let you ride in the notch at EBI And what about Ade?  Mind you he's having far too much fun now he's got the new motor running right.  I predict a new gearbox soon.  You supply the Jupiler and we'll be there mate.  Hope you and Adele are good.  Need to talk soon too.

George 

[SteveW]

 

So Ade's finally got it in and running! Cool!!

Yeah we're all good, just working hard but more so at 'work'  Your NOS heater channel is still safely tucked away at ours too 

[dubnut62]

So Ade's finally got it in and running! Cool!!

Yeah we're all good, just working hard but more so at 'work'  Your NOS heater channel is still safely tucked away at ours too 

Thanks mate.  Six NOS ones have come up for sale this week in Manchester  but all are O/S and I need a N/S one now.  Got a text from Ade yesterday, part of it said full throttle in second on boost rules     I knew there'd be trouble when he got in with that bad crowd 
PS work sucks.

George 

[stretch]

PS work sucks.

George 
[/quote]

Yes, yes it does.

Hi guys. 

[Deanodynosaurs]

PS work sucks.

George 

Yes, yes it does.

Hi guys. 
[/quote]

Ello dude,

Yep works sucks, but it nearlly home time!

Bring on the welder! 

Dude 

[dubnut62]

PS work sucks.

George 

Yes, yes it does.

Hi guys. 
[/quote]

Hello mate, welcome to dude's 58 ragtop beetle restoration thread 

Hope you guys are good.  Was good to see you at EBI even if was brief and in the pouring rain.

George 

[stretch]

It was great to see you guys.

Your car is the nuts mate, I love it.   

[dubnut62]

It was great to see you guys.

Your car is the nuts mate, I love it.   

Thanks mate    it takes a lot of blissful ignorance to create that much patina  that and a lack of garage space. 
When are we going to see your lowlight? 

George

[stretch]

It was great to see you guys.

Your car is the nuts mate, I love it.   

Thanks mate    it takes a lot of blissful ignorance to create that much patina  that and a lack of garage space. 
When are we going to see your lowlight? 

George

Soon.   

[Deanodynosaurs]

Update!

I done a bit more! Not loads, but it was a quite a tricky repair, as it was really awkward to make the inner and outer panels needed (Cheers Phil for making it on your shrinker stretcher! Brilliant tool! ), and also really awkward to get the welder in.

Anyway here’s the repair to the hole in the front window corner.

At last! Time to turn the car round and see how bad the other side is!!

Dude