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1959 Alabaster Beetle
baggyaggy - June 21st, 2021 at 06:40 PM

Hi All,

Picked up a '59 bug a couple of weeks ago, seems to be a solid car with original pans and heater channels all intact.

Has a few quirky bits, retrofitted seat belts could have been done better (bolts through the outside of the B'post just above the semaphore though to the inside of the car for the top anchor point),

it has a fuel gauge but a tank with no sender :-) and the 6 to 12 v conversion will need looking at.

But it runs great, stops ok (after adjusting up the brakes a tad) and I have a bit of time to get the above fixed up.

Bizarre - June 21st, 2021 at 06:52 PM

Nice

beetleboyjeff - June 21st, 2021 at 08:16 PM

Wow. Looks like a damn good start

viiking - June 21st, 2021 at 09:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by baggyaggy
Hi All,

Has a few quirky bits, retrofitted seat belts could have been done better (bolts through the outside of the B'post just above the semaphore though to the inside of the car for the top anchor point),


That's not so unusual. When they first started introducing seat belts in the '60's many cars did not have a top anchor point as some cars only came with lap belts (c.f. lap/sash).

Early Holdens, Fords etc quite often just had a bolt through the B pillar to allow the fitting of lap/sash belts. I agree, bit rough, but that is what it was like back then.

beetleboyjeff - June 22nd, 2021 at 06:19 AM

My first beetle was a 59 and it had the seat belt bolts through the pillar

baggyaggy - June 22nd, 2021 at 10:44 AM

Out of interest what suppliers do people use? I've sent an order over to VW Heritage in the UK for some bit and bobs, but I'm thinking there must be a Aus supplier that is reasonable on price rather than having to go back to the UK or US.

hulbyw - June 22nd, 2021 at 11:09 AM

Vintage Veedub, Das Resto, Mick's Motors, Australian VW Performance Centre plus many others but I still use Heritage sometimes because if the order is over $250 freight is free.

Cip1 in the US are ok to deal with and often give a choice of budget or top quality but freight costs hurt.

Not sure if they do retail but Tooley Imports supply parts to many of the Australian retailers.

Happy shopping

baggyaggy - June 22nd, 2021 at 05:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by beetleboyjeff
My first beetle was a 59 and it had the seat belt bolts through the pillar


Back in the UK I had a early '58 ghia that I fitted three point belts to using the seat belt mounting points from VWH which worked a treat. I've had a feel around the tunnel carpet but can not find the depression for the mounting point there... which is another oddity.

Plan is to get it through the next rego, then strip out the wiring, get a new loom from VWH, there seems to be some quality upholsters on the coast to sort the front seats (blue) and door cards and a recommended car resto place at Tuggerah for the seat belt mounting points.

Looking at the car is there any way of telling what it's history is? So what it came off the production line with (the tank is from an oval, it has indicators and semaphores and I've like to know the interior colour details)? I'm guessing this might be available via VW for a fee ... the birth certificate... but does anyone know if it goes into detail of interior colour code/ bumper choice (I have blade up front/ towel rail at the back) etc etc. Or just when and where it was produced?

Thanks chaps

baggyaggy - June 22nd, 2021 at 05:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by hulbyw
Vintage Veedub, Das Resto, Mick's Motors, Australian VW Performance Centre plus many others but I still use Heritage sometimes because if the order is over $250 freight is free. Cip1 in the US are ok to deal with and often give a choice of budget or top quality but freight costs hurt. Not sure if they do retail but Tooley Imports supply parts to many of the Australian retailers. Happy shopping


Top advice, many thanks !

viiking - June 27th, 2021 at 12:55 PM

If your car is an Australian built VW, the birth certificate will be of little use as they don't have that info for our cars.

This will provide you a lot of information about the history of our locally built VW's and might help you with how it came off the assembly line.

https://www.clubvw.org.au/vwreference/vwchassis/ 

viiking - June 27th, 2021 at 01:00 PM

Also remember that when buying parts for Australian RHD cars, these may not line up with what is available overseas. Better to try and deal with the local guys. They have a lot of experience with our cars. The ones baggyagy mention are local ones and I have had great information and service from the first three. I haven't dealt with VW Performance Centre so can't comment.

baggyaggy - July 7th, 2021 at 04:39 PM

Thanks Viiking, much appreciated.
I've been busy with the wire brush on the underneath of the pan and heather channels and after some liberal Zinc black it looks great. It is a very solid car but the wiring is proving interesting, the later addition of the blinkers/indicators made me smile the other day, there is a wire running under the rear valance just above the exhaust and joined in at least two places up there... so I will be running that through the engine bay at the weekend... will not be perfect but a tad better route and should be able to get the brake lights and indicators working again.

On another note does anyone know if the rear amber lens (which I think are US spec rather than AUS/UK) are legal here with an amber brake lens rather than red?

Bizarre - July 8th, 2021 at 08:22 AM

I think you will find they are just faded?

baggyaggy - July 8th, 2021 at 07:14 PM

Thanks Bizzare,

I'm using that at the rego :-)

Much appreciated.

L