1970 bug refresh.

Not much of an update this weekend, due to pikey invasions and the wifes car needing gentle coaxing to be legal again.

But i stripped the interior and found old newspaper peices under the carpet with lilac overspay on them dating to 1991, one mentions Norman Lamonts policys! How retro!
I love finding stuff like that in cars. So its been in its current paint since 1991, that was a good year for body filler shares as well! It was loaded!

One problem I had was the rust free californian door I bought didnt fit the passenger side, it turns out thta some lardy yank had been levering himself or herself out and twisted the hinges and inner door. So I've had to source a brand new one.
The brother came round with one of his Californian doors, and when we looked his was the same, twisted and rotten in the hinge mounts.
It goes to show they may be rust free, but the hidden damage is just as bad. So scratch £90 worth of doors.

All thats left is
Hang the passenger door
Weld a few holes up
grind the front weather seal off and flush the area
repair 3 small spots on the gutters,
Remove the fuel tank
Prep for paint.

The end is nigh! Well the paint bit, I'll re-assemble it over winter.

'90's lookers mate amazing how much pud you find in them!

Remember the "Hot Tuna" bug that was about early 90's? Mate had it in for some work and had to give the owner the bad news that the channels and floors were kipper!

My first Bug "The Atomic Apple" was 1/4 fibre-glass (mostly from the battery tray and "rear boot floor" all the way over the body mounts to the rear valance!) but done in the style of pukka repair panels! Complete with mock welds and seam sealer! A work of art, albeit a dangerous one!

Also Cris had a £14k splittie come in that had started to bubble on the base of the a-pillars, turn out to be Pud. As was the bottom 4" as well after the client took it away to be media blasted "just to make sure".

So that's £6K welding (at Mates rates) plus £4k Paint, all to get it back to the way it looked when he handed £14k over! But with more metal content!



Gotta love old motors

The doors are the worst part, and they will be skipped. They were so bad that after I knocked about 4mm of filler out of the bottom 6 inches, I laid them flat, when the sun caught them you could see dents, and either side of the dents 2 parrallel lines where the filler spatula was used. I dont think they bothered rubbing it down!

I knew it had plod in it as the evening sun used to make the doors look like a pock marked teenagers face!

The rear 1/4's have a skim, but only thin, covering the join of some properly welded in sections. Thankfully.

Now the carpets out, the channels, bulkheads and floors are rock solid. A few areas in the boot floor have been repaired but properly. The gutters are good as well, I expected alot worse!

Last night

Top work fella, should be awesome when you've finished.

like I've been in a knife fight!

Stu

So Stu waht was the original colour?

Been squinting at the phots and acn't see any of the "usual suspects" that are missed when the Lilac went on...

If it's a 70 vintage I'm guessing either Polor White, Bahama Blue or Tangerine Orange?

I'm not sure of the exact name, but I'll call it invalid carriage blue, like those bluey green 3 wheeled cars with handle bars that were rife in the 80's.

I'd be interested in knowing too.

I have an old photo from a previous owner somewhere. Its always been a local car. Its a cool pic, she's cleaning it and all the edges are crusty, and its a bit tatty.
I'll try and dig it out.

Probably bahama blue..

Basically all 70's UK bugs seemed to came in either

"fridge" white
"invalid" Blue
"Hearing aid" Beige
"RAC" Orange

Except my 75 which was Apple green!

And my Beetle which is officially Miami Blue.
And the red ones.... Actually I have a few brochures that tell you the colours available for that year, they cycled through them so they were not always available from year to year.

But yours is later and Miami's just bahama with a touch of white!

is it finished yet ???or have you severed your hand

nice job there mate cant wait to c finished pic

Slowly slowly catchee monkey.

Good to hear it is still going, push though to get it finished if you can as it will be a weight off your mind as soon as it is complete. Anyhow, I miss us not being able to go out for a drive to a show or something.

Being painted is only half way.

Then its the turn of the steering column, rear seat support bar, handbrake, gearstick and petrol tank to be painted black, then restore the seat frames, fit the new TMI covers, carpet, door cards, new narrow beam and dropped spindles, renew all the brakes (as the rears kept grabbing on the way home from Stonor) and fit it all up.

The goal is March next year for VolksWorld show if its painted this year, and whenever its finished if its next year the paint goes on.

I'm expecting a kind of shiney rat look car.

Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever tackling a whole cars bodywork on my own with my current resources ever ever ever again.

I used to complain about weekend engine and 'box swaps. Thats a walk in the park compared to this.

Stu

Sounds like it but the out come is going to be a new, rejuvenated car. Worth it mate, if you need me just let me know and I will tell the new little lady I have to help you. ;-)

UPDATE!




Weather so crap, its now a long term project.
I may replace a rear quarter over the winter if it goes on that long.

There'll be pics still.

Bloody weather and maybe me biting off more than I can chew dictates the extended (read open ended) deadline.

Bugger...

Stu

Moral of the story

cool thread

Good work there Stuie.... cant wait to see this man! them chrome steels mmmm!

very interesting knighty..................keep it comin

vr6brew wrote:

Good work there Stuie.... cant wait to see this man! them chrome steels mmmm!

the chromies will be swapped for black puddings and fried eggs

good work stu

Glad to hear things are rolling again, ready for Volksword?