Hi Folks,

I've been trying to join AVD for nearly 6 months now and finally worked out how

Thought the best way to introduce myself would be to share some pics of the restoration ( for want of a better word ) of my wife's 69 bug. The Beetle was her first car which she purchased from her Grandmother when she was the tender age of 16, her Gran had owned the car since 1971 and was the second owner so the car is pretty much a family heirloom. I reckon 40 years in the one family is pretty special.

I realise you blokes have probably seen threads like this a million times over and done sooooo much better than this but it's nice to be able to share what we've accomplished so far, especially with others who have a passion for VW's. This is a budget Resto in all sense of the word so it's not going to be that ground breaking. But it's for a someone I know will appreciate it and that's all that counts.

She loved this car so much and it meant the world to her considering it's history, problem is she loved it nearly to death. She'd cut and polished it so much it was back to undercoat in places, also the fact she was/is a bit of a wild driver accounted for the odd scrape, knock and dent here and there.


Hardest part about this resto is that she knows nothing about it. The car has been in storage at a mates farm since 2005, keeping an old NSU Prinz company. It was last driven on our wedding day 9 years ago and then retired due to it's condition, lack of brakes being the first that comes to mind. Her family has also come to the party with some cash to help fund it which which is great and a big help.

Start of this year the idea was born whilst I was considering what to do for her 40th Birthday which will be in October next year so I've got another 14 months to complete the project, also decided it was best to try and put it back to the same as it would have looked when it was new colour wise so sticking with the Savannah Beige with Red upholstery.

My neighbour has not only offered his garage but his guidance and knowledge as well which is a huge help. Bloody amazingly generous considering we've only been living in our street for a little under two years.

So the car was snuck down on a tandem trailer while my wife was asleep ( night shift worker as a nurse ) and the resto began. It's being garaged at my neighbours house two doors up which also adds to the difficulty of keeping it hush hush.

I'm completely new to the world of working on cars, mostly motorbikes for me before this so I'm sure we've mad lot's of mistakes. This is by no means a complete resto more a revival but we are doing our best with limited knowledge and budget but either way it'll be a nice surprise and great to see the old girl back on the road again.

I'm now officially hooked on VW's, by the way if anyone has or knows of a front bumper for sale please feel free to get in touch.

The day My wife (Donna) at 16 yrs old purchased the dub, notice the cut and polishing has already began :roll: .





Last day the old girl was driven before storage.



Pick up day








Strip down











Discovered the floorpan completely rusted out.


Old one cut out





New floorpan installed, went the body on method.



My 2yr Old Benji testing out the strength of the new floor pans, he approves.



Trying to get the body work done before winter sets in.



Engine out.







First coat of high filler.













All sanded ready for first coat of colour


















Engine freshened up so to speak, she was still running after sitting all that time so decided not to focus too much engine wise at the moment. will look at a complete rebuild some time in the future. Did the clutch, thrust bearing, new muffler and pipes, carburettor, heater boxes, distributor, leads, plugs and oil.




Engine back in.



Front Brakes redone, new disk rotors, callipers, brake lines, master cylinder and shocks.



Rear brakes, including drums, pads, cylinders, bearings and shocks



Old wheels ready for the sand blaster, my wife's choice of custom colour on her old rims :? .



Back from the sand blaster and ready for a fresh coat of paint.



Paint done, back to factory spec colours, new set of hub caps as well.



Time for the fun bit, sanding down the clear coat with 1200 grit wet and dry paper and then countless hours of careful polishing with a mechanical buff.



But well worth the effort. Time to start putting her back together.




New tyres on rims, as well as white wall inserts. I was a bit dubious about going for the white walls but I think it works quite nicely.



From the front.



Closeup of the wheels.




Running boards installed, pretty quickly realised parts for bugs are plentiful but didn't count on sorting out the good from the shit in regards to quality. I had to send back 3 different pairs of running boards until I finally received a satisfactory pair.



Well that's it for now, just wanted to share any and all opinions and advice will be gladly taken on board.

Regards Ryan

Nice work man,she is going to be sooo happy..fun times for you both....enjoy

Fabo....

Cool,I reckon there's going to be quite a few brownie points there and plenty of time up you sleeve to get the job done. :

That's such a cool thing you're doing for your wife / family, good on you.

Vintage VW @ campsie, or online Cip1 for your parts

Nath

Great job mate - when you said budget resto I was expecting seeing a few rattle cans, but you have done a great job in a relatively short time.

Fantastic Job! Looks quality to me. I love the wheels, really sets the whole car off. You will discover there are plenty of rubbish parts on the market but there is an equal amount of good quality parts as well. If your unsure just ask on here and some one will help you out.

If you need a front bumper Vintage Vee dub supply's sells Wolfsburg west high quality new bumpers for $429.00

where do you get your white wall tyres from? I'm looking for a set for my Beetle.

Looks great mate - I'm a fan of that model, that's what we've got. You don't happen to have the chassis number by chance? Just interested how far apart ours are.
Re. the running boards, I found the new ones I looked at were rubbish. I ended up peeling back the rubber on the originals, treating the metal (it was rusted in spots) and putting the rubber back on. They were tougher than the new ones, warts, dings 'n all.
Good luck with it, Rob.

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words, very much appreciated.

Gotta admit I it's become a real guilty pleasure doing this and I'm looking forward to getting out with the family on some day trips. The kids will have a ball crusin' around the country side, at least it'll get them away from tablets and games.

Always had it in mind to return it to the factory colours, a few mates suggested the typical mods like modern seats and lowering it but I'd prefer to keep her in full 1960's regalia. Want to be able to hit some isolated country roads and imagine we are back in the past, at least until the latest commodore rounds the next bend..

Rob : I'll check the chassis no. for you later this arvo, odds are the two have met before as Donna's Gran lived in Coffs where it spent nearly the first 20 years of it's life. I think she purchased it from the original owner around 1972 who lived somewhere near Dorrigo. Unfortunately the original running boards couldn't be salvaged as they were too far gone.

I love this build. Maximum brownie points and a very sweet premise for a restoration! It looks great mate. Same colour as mine!

Would like to know where you got those tyres from so I can grab a set for my bug. They look awesome!

Yeah sorry forgot to add that, the white walls are Atlas inserts ( flappers? ) on standard tyres. Got them from this mob : http://whitewallsaustralia.com.au/index.php 

Look good enough and fit very well, think I paid roughly $150 for a set of five delivered.

cool, thanks for that!

Been a while so thought I'd share some pics of whats been done recently.

Had a bit of a delay at the start of the year as my neighbour who's helping out with the resto and a place to do it, had a fairly serious health scare so we put it on hold until he got it all sorted. Thankfully he's now been given the all clear.

With that great news we got stuck back in to the secret resto, a good reminder of how life can whack you and not to waste time worrying about shit that doesn't matter. Makes this old dub seem even more worth the effort as it will be a huge part of our families life for many years to come and create some awesome memories especially for our kids.

Managed to talk my wife into a two week trip with her Mum a month or so ago which was awesome as I was able to get in and have some decent time on the old girl.

Here's what's been done since:
Managed to score some great bumpers from a bloke in W.A. $80 for the pair the freight to Melb cost more.



Sound deadening in and no that's not the battery I'll be trying to fit under the rear seat.



Door trims where actually in fairly good condition just the arm rests were cracked on the tops, managed to get some of the correct colour vinyl and re covered the tops hiding the join beneath the chrome trim. Worked a treat.

Beginning the Headliner

Door glass all back in.











All done very pleased with the results, heat gun and a few small adjustments have since gotten any creases and pulls out.

Back seat upholstered, nice to able to work at home while Donna's away for a change.



Just waiting on the Newton carpet kit to arrive from the UK and front seat frames need a few zig zag springs repaired and replaced.

Cheers Ryan

Geez that looks good, you should be proud of the work you've done.

Great looking job, your wife is going to Love it.

Chalee

Very Nice...
I owned a 69 at one stage, same colour, same interior..

Keep us informed!

Amazing Job... Good to see another beetle brought back to its former glory.