Hi, I've been lurking for a while and finally signed up.
I have a 1966 Beetle, in Pearl White with "Pigalle" (red) interior. I bought it back in 1990 from a friend who owns a garage and who had bought it for his son to learn to drive....
Fortunately he realised that it was way too good to give to a 17 year old, and after much pestering on my part, sold it to me.
It was bought as a divorce present to myself as my ex wife hated the Beetle I had when we met, and did her best to trash it, so it seemed appropriate.
Over the years I have owned in the region of 17 Beetles, and built a beach buggy, so I know these cars pretty well.
It is essentially a one owner car, as it was never registered to my friend, and the first owner only covered around 70K miles in it over 24 years. Being elderly, he did scuff all 4 corners, but every scrape was hand painted over, so the car has all of its factory metalwork.
Now the best bit....the car has never been welded. The channels are like new, and the floorpan was regularly coated in old engine oil, so still wears a lot of its original paint.
When I got the car, I gave it a light resto, involving a respray, and gearbox rebuild as it kept jumping out of 2nd, and used it as a daily until 1995. It was then I drove it into my garage and due to work etc didn't touch it for around 10 years.
Fast forward to around 2008, when I decided to start work on the car, unfortunately working away meant that progress was very slow, but as of last week I have retired and now have more time to dedicate to it.
Work to date involves:
Removal of the 1300 engine and original gearbox.
Fitting of a Rancho Pro Street gearbox and race axles with one on one mid mount.
Dropped spindles on the front - didn't have the heart to cut the original beam.
Disc brakes on the front in Porsche 5 x 130 bolt pattern.
The same on the rear - CB performance roto hub kit.
Porsche steel spacesaver wheels with early 911 stainless hubcaps.
CSP master cylinder for brakes using a Porsche 944 master cylinder.
2056 cc Type4 engine converted to Type1 upright cooling - I made the cylinder shrouds in GRP taking moulds from some I had made in steel using Joe Cali's method as detailed in his conversion manual.
The current plan is to get the car painted and back on the road for summer.
I'll update with pics etc over the next few days, as I have to sort out a photo hosting account etc.
I have a 1966 Beetle, in Pearl White with "Pigalle" (red) interior. I bought it back in 1990 from a friend who owns a garage and who had bought it for his son to learn to drive....
Fortunately he realised that it was way too good to give to a 17 year old, and after much pestering on my part, sold it to me.
It was bought as a divorce present to myself as my ex wife hated the Beetle I had when we met, and did her best to trash it, so it seemed appropriate.
Over the years I have owned in the region of 17 Beetles, and built a beach buggy, so I know these cars pretty well.
It is essentially a one owner car, as it was never registered to my friend, and the first owner only covered around 70K miles in it over 24 years. Being elderly, he did scuff all 4 corners, but every scrape was hand painted over, so the car has all of its factory metalwork.
Now the best bit....the car has never been welded. The channels are like new, and the floorpan was regularly coated in old engine oil, so still wears a lot of its original paint.
When I got the car, I gave it a light resto, involving a respray, and gearbox rebuild as it kept jumping out of 2nd, and used it as a daily until 1995. It was then I drove it into my garage and due to work etc didn't touch it for around 10 years.
Fast forward to around 2008, when I decided to start work on the car, unfortunately working away meant that progress was very slow, but as of last week I have retired and now have more time to dedicate to it.
Work to date involves:
Removal of the 1300 engine and original gearbox.
Fitting of a Rancho Pro Street gearbox and race axles with one on one mid mount.
Dropped spindles on the front - didn't have the heart to cut the original beam.
Disc brakes on the front in Porsche 5 x 130 bolt pattern.
The same on the rear - CB performance roto hub kit.
Porsche steel spacesaver wheels with early 911 stainless hubcaps.
CSP master cylinder for brakes using a Porsche 944 master cylinder.
2056 cc Type4 engine converted to Type1 upright cooling - I made the cylinder shrouds in GRP taking moulds from some I had made in steel using Joe Cali's method as detailed in his conversion manual.
The current plan is to get the car painted and back on the road for summer.
I'll update with pics etc over the next few days, as I have to sort out a photo hosting account etc.
