Hey all,
Just thought id show you guys a lil project im doing. Im pulling apart and bringing my 55 oval back to bare metal in my garage atm in preparation for a full resto. I really should be out there now stripping paint instead of writing this thread but the old girl can wait a few more minutes!

I bought the oval off Lex Cowley (one of the nicest guys on the planet! Thanks Lex!!) about 4mths ago, give or take a month here or there.. my memory isnt what it used to be due to years of abuse and the paint stripper fumes arnt helping much either!!!! Haha!

This is what it looked like when i purchased it off Lex:






I had to source a w decklid as the oval had a later one fitted (as you can see from pics) and I also had to get some oval snowflake taillight assemblies over from america as these had also unfortunately been replaced with later ones. I shouted myself a fully restored "oval" steering wheel from "Koch's VW Restoration" in the states as well The first few bits in a long line of things to come!!

AND here are some progress pics...







and here is the boss keeping an eye on progress and making sure I dont cut any corners!!

And further along.... Bonnet stripped and sanded back to bare metal

Roof back to bare metal. No ugly surprises yet. When I took the back window out noticed its rusting around edge in a couple of small spots as i pulled away the old rubber on one side. No biggy. The bonnet will need some repairs to the front edge as it is full of filler and is cracked a little. Some repairs to the bottom rhs rear panel and near the rhs of decklid. Minor.

Few more progress pics

ha ha nice action shot

well done! ill give it to you for the hand sanding! far out.

and what's with the cats? they're freakin everywhere!

nick

Thats an awesome job youve done there hey very well done!
Keep the pics coming as im on the coast too n will look out for your black betty in the future
El

Love your dedication, keep it up. look forward to seeing this evlove....good luck

Thanks for the kind words guys
Yeah the sanding is hard work but its kind of therapeutic....? I think?

My friend (we will call him "The Panel Beater") has been working with me for the last 2 weeks now so its coming along quite quickly

Looking for a W deck lid if anyone has any info on the whereabouts of a good one Id appreciate hearing it. Ive put a post on the wanted parts thread on here as well so will see what that turns up. I want one that is prepped for painting already if poss or in pretty good nick. Ive got one but its too rough and will cost too much to bring up to scratch for me atm so ill just hang on to it and try and get another.

Bringing the guards back to metal at some stage today (or tomorrow). Will wheel the ole girl out into the sun a bit l8r and take a few update pics

Hope you have plenty of fresh air while you are paint stripping. The smell and fumes get to you after a while. Have you had any fall on your uncovered skin...it burns like hell. Silly me decided to use some wearing thongs (foot type not the booty type) and had a blob land between my toes......not *^*%^%^ good. Coming along well , should be done by the end of spring

Always makes for a good time going bear metal Luckily my oval was sand blasted 20+ years ago and only need one coat of primer removed.

Quote:

Originally posted by DUBB61 Hope you have plenty of fresh air while you are paint stripping. The smell and fumes get to you after a while. Have you had any fall on your uncovered skin...it burns like hell. Silly me decided to use some wearing thongs (foot type not the booty type) and had a blob land between my toes......not *^*%^%^ good. Coming along well , should be done by the end of spring

Well didnt get a chance to push her out in the sun but took some more pics quickly after roof and drivers side got rust converted just b4 it got sprayed with etch primer. Looking sweet but not so shiny now.







There was a bit o rust here just under the channel piece. It got repaired and a little tidy up b4 etching went ahead

Have to take some photos of the roof and drivers side in etch primer yet so ill post them when i do. It looks pretty sweet

Looking at your project auraofgabriel has got my beetle juices flowing again. 20 odd years ago I drove a 1970 type 1 and also had a 56 oval Baja(forgive me), it even had a hole in the inlet manifold where the previous owner had run NOX!! I noticed that you mentioned Lex Cowley. I sold my type 1 to him when I left Australia to come to Japan. I have been in Japan since and have lost contact with Lex. I would like to get in contact with him again. I would appreciate any information that you can give me or if you would prefer please contact Lex and let him know that I am here and looking for him.
Thanks

Well done for all your work so far.

Is that red beetle winking in the background?

LOL

wow how shiny ,beautiful job ,congrats

Wow, awesome job so far. How lmany hours has it taken to get it that far?

I remember seeing this car for sale a while back.
I thought it would have to be full of rust for the price that was on it. I am shocked that it actually looks very solid.
Congrats on the purchase and top effort on the work done so far.

Yeah - beautiful work. Well done. Mate, I notice you have stuff in your garage (the mattress, etc) that wouldn't like dust too much, so do you mind if I ask what your cleanup procedure is with the stripped paint and how you keep the work area clean? I'm about to take some stuff back to metal myself in my garage and am interested in other people's processes.

Cute cat

Looks great and good to see you have an expert (the cat) watching over you.

please keep us posted on your developments and lots more pictures!