Hello folks, chrisdebug reporting from Singapore...

After some 9 mths in the making, my ragtop has finally come out of the workshop. As expected the process was painful and frustrating (on the pocket too!), but it's def satisfying to see the end results.

It's actually a 70 rego, but I've changed the fenders, lights, seats, rims etc. to make it look closer to an early 60s model. Also added A/C for the tropical weather here.

An interesting bit of the bug: the rag top section is from one of the cars in the new HERBIE movie. BFY in the USA got hold of 4 of the cars after the movie ended and was selling the clips for a cutthroat price of US$500.00 each. I guess they knew being close to the airport, they could help you save the inland transport cost, hence killer prices (B**TARDS).

Anyway hope you guys like the results. Special thanks to Dasdubber for advice on the rag section. Cheers mate: yr bug is scarily beautiful.nn[ Editedon 15-8-2005 by chrisdebug ]nn[ Edited on 21-8-2005 by chrisdebug ]

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Hmm.. the interior pic's not loading..

thats beautiful maye.

maybe the pics are over 50kb here they have to be under 50kb or they wont load :sandrine

That looks mighty fine. Congratulations. I bet that you are thrilled with the end result

Oh. Let's c if it works this time

My mate's early bug

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Thanks mscabrio for the compliment. Yes it's wonderful to finally see the results.

Still feel the pain the the pocket though..

that is awesome mate.
i would love to have a car like that. great work. great car.

steve

Nice couple of Beetles. I like the air conditoning set up. Under dash vents look great.
Notice you have a locking bonnet latch too. Rare accessory.

beautiful mate!! it looks beautiful and i like ya air con setup what is it out of? got any engine pics with how ya compressor is mounted etc
cheers
rhys

Thanks for the kind words fellas.

Here's a pic of the a/c setup taken before the resto (notice the rust on the firewall). The compressor is mounted on t left (I believe its a toshiba).

A/C setups are common here due to the humid weather. Blowers are placed usually in the rear tray, or in the front (as in mine), and I've seen one mounted on roof, just above the doors. Very very cool looking but the most efficient method is to have it on the front..

Perhaps I should make up some kits and export them to australia!

rear mounted vents..

another type of blowers/ vents..

hey mate nice bug mate i like the ac setup im coming over there in a month or two hows the vw scene over there.

BTW Grey 57, I never knew that the bonnet lock is a period accessory!

Mate that is awesome considering you are in Singapore. I lived there for a year and a half and if had of seen a bug even half as good as yours I would have thought I was dreaming. How hard is it to get permits to drive old cars there? Are there restrictions on how often you can drive them? I only had MRT and pushbike when I was there.

Hi Barls, do drop me an email (chris@hobow.com) before you come over and we can have a beer together.

There is a rather small but enthusiastic scene of bug lovers in Singapore, probably ard 200 or less nos... My estimate is that perhaps 1 out of every 5 is restored to good to pristine condition.

Bug lovers do tend to spend quite a bit on their cars here, coz alternatives are so expensive anyway (A Toyota Camry would be around the $95K mark).

Having a small scene means we are not so lucky when it comes to stuff like parts, mechanics. They tend to rip you off for every little thing here! What some bug lovers do is to get their spares from Bangkok where beetles are aplenty.

If u r heading to bangkok u should go look at this workshop where they transplant subaru legacy engines into bugs. Hell fast if u r into this sort of thing.

For me, I'm pretty happy with the original stuff.

Hi EgeWorks there are a few vehicle schemes here for old cars.

1. Normal scheme - u have to buy a COE which entitles you to drive the car 24/7. The COE is valid for 10 yrs and cost $1000 when it was first launched, worked it's way up to $80,000 during the heydays of asia, and has come down to abt $18K now. So it works out to be $1800 per yr to keep yr car on the rd, 24/7.

And you pay 50% more rd tax than a car below 10 yrs old (usually in the region of $400 or so dollars more per annum, if your annual rd tax is $800).

2. Classic Car Scheme - you can convert your vehicle to a classic car plate once it turns 35 yrs old. You pay a lot less tax and a marginal COE, but that allows you to drive the car only 28 days per yr. And the conversion is irreversible. Silly if you ask me.

You can also import cars more than 35 yrs to Spore but can only place them on classic car plates. I would love to get an aussie oval here but 28 days per yr is just too little!

Hey das gd to hear from u and tks for the compliments. Yes ragtops are just so darn cool. They do flap around a little when u get up to around 60 miles on the freeways. But what little sacrifice for the beautiful window to the sky.

I really love yr engine mate. I'm still using my old 1200 - Will look at upgrading to a 1600 when the time comes.

The inspiration behind the colour scheme..